Week 14 – Film Analysis: Across the Universe

Film Analysis: Across the Universe

 

Summary

I watched the film “Across the Universe” directed by Julie Taymore. It was a good movie overall. The soundtrack was good.

Film Analysis

Film Title
PLACE YOUR RESPONSES IN THIS COLUMN (DELETE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE YOU WRITE)
Year 2007
Director
Julie Taymor
Country
U.S.A.
Genre Romance/Comedy-Musical
If you could work on this film (change it), what would you change and why? There was a huge 25min section that made zero sense what so ever. Where Jude was on the hippy bus and they were all drugged up. That went way too long. I would change it to be just the bus part maybe and shorten it. but then the whole hippy tent hting was just absolutely horrible. The blue people were wierd and the large dolls and puppets was just not necessary at all. Other than that part everything else was pretty good.

Film information can be found at imdb.com

As you view films, consider how the cuts, camera angles, shots, and movement work to create particular meanings. Think about how they establish space, privilege certain characters, suggest relationships, and emphasize themes. In addition to shot distances, angles, editing, and camera movement, note details of the narrative, setting, characters, lighting, props, costume, tone, and sound.

Ask yourself the following questions:

TOPIC YOUR NOTES
1. Who is the protagonist? Jude
2. Who is the antagonist? His life
3. What is the conflict? Jude needs to find his path in life.
4. What is the theme or central, unifying concept? (summarize in one or two words) Life and struggle
5. How is the story told (linear, non-linear, with flashbacksflash-forwards, at regular intervals) It is being told linear with Jude as the main focus.
6. What “happens” in the plot (Brief description)? Jude starts off in Liverpool and makes his way to America during the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War. Jude has a passion for art and painting and drawing, but cannot seem to figure out if that’s what he actually wants to do.
7. How does the film influence particular reactions on the part of viewers (sound, editing,
characterization, camera movement, etc.)? Why does the film encourage such
reactions?
The film shows a journey of Jude’s life on how he spent a portion of it. When a song came up usually it was something impactful that happened. They put these songs in the film to make it more interesting to follow along to so it lesses the chances of being bored of watching it.
8. Is the setting realistic or stylized? What atmosphere does the setting suggest? Do particular objects or settings serve symbolic functions? This takes place in a realistic setting. I think it takes place in the 1960’s becasue of the hippie scenes. There was symbolism in this film, some I was able to pick up and understand, but there was some sybolism when I knew it was it. But I didn’t know exactly what it was representing.
9. How are the characters costumed and made-up? What does their clothing or makeup reveal about their social standing, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or age? How do costume and makeup convey character? The costume design is pretty casual, but part of this takes place back in the 1960’s and 70’s so that style of clothing with the bright colors was shown in the film. The way Jude is dressed is more scraggely and poor but has some classieness to him. Lucy is wealthy and has better looking clothes.
10. How does the lighting design shape our perception of character, space, or mood? It has us look at the subject that is the main focus.
11. How do camera angles and camera movements shape our view of characters or spaces? What do you see cinematically? By giving us new outlooks of how to look into the frames of a film.
12. What is the music’s purpose in the film? How does it direct our attention within the image? How does it shape our interpretation of the image? What stands out about the music? The musics purpose was the Beatles which has build up in the songs. When there is an important moment in the film a song plays so we can remember what happened.
13. How might industrial, social, and economic factors have influenced the film? Describe how this film influences or connects to a culture? The Beatles and past historical events.
14. Give an example of what a film critic had to say about this film. Use credible sources and cite sources.Example: “The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review (1994) | Roger Ebert.” All Content. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2015. still looking.
15. Select one scene no longer than 5 minutes that represents well the whole film and shows relevant cinematic elements. Write a one-sentence description of the scene and record the time of the scene.Example: from 1:05:00 to 1:10:00.

Explain why you chose this scene.

PLACE THE TIME STAMP FROM THE SCENE HERE… Example: 00:00:00 – 00:05:00

1:55:00-2:00:00

This song represents the whole movie in a nutshell because Jude found his true love in the U.S.A. but got kicked out and then goes back. I chose this because Jude starts off in a bar and in the song it says this at the begining of it, “take a sad song and make it better”. I think this could be symbolizing Jude’s life, though he wasn’t rich he can still live a good life.

16. In the selected scenewrite a sentence for each of the elements below to justify why this scene best represents the film: towards the end of the film the 5min spot is.
a. Screenwriting: The actors feel depressed at the begining but then at the end the are happy.
b. Sound Design: some taps on a glass, a car whooshes by, and some rhythmic taps on trash cans.
c. Camera Movements/Angles: Steady anle movements but not much movement until towards the end of the 5min time slot I chose.
d. Light Setup: Starts off in a dark gloomy bar setting then ends in a bright lite area.
e. Soundtrack/Score: A version of the song “Hey Jude” plays.
18. What’s the socio-cultural context of this film? The context of the film is stating that you choose you how get to live it. Plus it shows that you can do whatever career path you want to take whenever you choose at any pojnt in time. Basically the point is just living your life and figuring out what exactly your ment to do for a living.

This worksheet was developed with ideas from many IB Film teachers, thus should remain in the Creative Commons

Begining of film shows pieces of history in the waves at aprox.0:02:00. Jude goes back and finds his father aprox 0:13:40. song at 0:20:00 new girl finds out news on a paper. another song 0:28:00 at bowling. song at 0:32:00 someone dies. Lucy and Jude get to know eachother better at 047:10. Lucy begins to like Jude after her boyfriends death in the war. aprox 0:53:00 song that chenges Lucy’s brother to be drafted. aprox 1:00:00 the eggman song depicting on drugs til 1:15:00. 1:27:00 depicting The Vietnam war. after that Lucya nd Jude’s relationship goes south and ends up not working becasue he is jealous of something. 1:45:00 Jude’s dad helps him out of jail. after that cool depiction of people in hospital beds. 1:53:00 Jude is back working in the shipyard. The song “Hey Jude” plays several times throughout the film. Jude is abe to go back to the U.S.A. w=he was kicked out temporarily.  Max finds his path, he was drafted and then became a taxi driver. aprox 2:00:00 song at the top of a building singing in front of people on the street.

Mr. Le Duc’s Film Analysis Resources

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