Humanity is narcissistic. We all seem to have an obsession with our own endeavors and achievements as human beings. A great example is the thousands of tourists that each year flock to places like the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China, or even more modern icons like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Even the cities that we build over generations have come to be revered as magnificent feats of the human race.
Okay, let me back up a little bit. What got me thinking about this topic in the first place was a recent article on National Geographic (read it here), which was about how tourists are flocking to Pripyat, a city located in Ukraine. For any of you that do not know, this city was located very close to the Chernobyl power plant that suffered a catastrophic nuclear accident in 1986. Due to this, Pripyat was evacuated and subsequently became a ghost town, where no one returned due to the lingering radiation in the area. But now, apparently, tourists are starting to trickle back into this town.
So, I got wondering why this was happening. Why exactly do so many people have a hankering to go see a town that was destroyed by a terrible disaster? I think that it is directly related to what I was talking about in the first paragraph of this post. Along with our utter fascination of human glory and achievement, we are as equally, if not more fascinated by the downfall of humanity as well. Ghost towns, disaster zones, and other similar locations are becoming tourist destinations because we can't seem to bring ourselves to look away. Anyway, let me know what you think about all of this in the comment section.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
What Makes A Great Movie?
What element can move a film beyond the point of being simply good and bring it to the point of amazing? There are obviously a ton of elements that help to make a good movie, such as the acting, special effects, story line, and even just the overall organization of the movie. But I really think that for me, the music plays an especially huge role in launching a movie to another level.
The music is what sets the mood for each and every scene within a movie; suspense, action, emotional moments, everything. When you think about it, a movie with no soundtrack would be void of most of the emotions that come along with watching a movie.
I'll give you some examples: the first is the 2013 science fiction movie Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise. As a movie in general, it's pretty good but in my opinion nothing out of the ordinary. It's the visual effects and, for me, the music especially that really make this film great. If you want a great example of how music can influence a movie, give Oblivion a watch sometime soon.
A second example of the influence that music has on a movie can be heard in virtually every horror/suspense thriller ever made. Just think about how the music always begins softly and builds in intensity as the climax of a scene is about to occur. It's this precise manipulation of sound that makes us as viewers jump out of our seats when something unexpected or scary happens on-screen.
Yet another example is in the form of movie trailers. In order to market a movie well and make it appeal to people, trailers always feature an epic song that accompanies the best scenes taken from the film. In many cases, I've found that the trailer for a movie is actually a lot better than the film itself. Take this trailer for the 2014 film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, posted below. I've seen this movie, and it wasn't half bad, however the trailer builds it up to be an epic masterpiece. This is done by using the song I'd Love To Change The World by Jetta that, combined with the clips taken from the film, creates a certain epic intensity that forces you to become sucked into what's happening on screen. Just think how you would respond to this trailer if it didn't have music. It would probably be pretty boring, right? Anyway, take a look and see what I mean:
This all being said, music clearly plays an incredibly massive role in making a movie great, and also in marketing it to viewers. I don't at all want to demote the other facets of a film, because in a way they are just as important as the music. But I think that the soundtrack to a film is what puts the life, soul and emotion into a motion picture. Anyway, these are my thoughts on music in movies. Let me know what you think in the comments.
The music is what sets the mood for each and every scene within a movie; suspense, action, emotional moments, everything. When you think about it, a movie with no soundtrack would be void of most of the emotions that come along with watching a movie.
I'll give you some examples: the first is the 2013 science fiction movie Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise. As a movie in general, it's pretty good but in my opinion nothing out of the ordinary. It's the visual effects and, for me, the music especially that really make this film great. If you want a great example of how music can influence a movie, give Oblivion a watch sometime soon.
A second example of the influence that music has on a movie can be heard in virtually every horror/suspense thriller ever made. Just think about how the music always begins softly and builds in intensity as the climax of a scene is about to occur. It's this precise manipulation of sound that makes us as viewers jump out of our seats when something unexpected or scary happens on-screen.
Yet another example is in the form of movie trailers. In order to market a movie well and make it appeal to people, trailers always feature an epic song that accompanies the best scenes taken from the film. In many cases, I've found that the trailer for a movie is actually a lot better than the film itself. Take this trailer for the 2014 film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, posted below. I've seen this movie, and it wasn't half bad, however the trailer builds it up to be an epic masterpiece. This is done by using the song I'd Love To Change The World by Jetta that, combined with the clips taken from the film, creates a certain epic intensity that forces you to become sucked into what's happening on screen. Just think how you would respond to this trailer if it didn't have music. It would probably be pretty boring, right? Anyway, take a look and see what I mean:
This all being said, music clearly plays an incredibly massive role in making a movie great, and also in marketing it to viewers. I don't at all want to demote the other facets of a film, because in a way they are just as important as the music. But I think that the soundtrack to a film is what puts the life, soul and emotion into a motion picture. Anyway, these are my thoughts on music in movies. Let me know what you think in the comments.
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