Medium cool film analysis

Haskell wexlers acclaimed film may have made its first minor mistake by combining a fictional story or two with the actual presence of the upcoming democratic national convention in chicago 1969. In 1969, medium cool blew peoples minds because it was one of the first films to purposef. For me, as an ethnographer and filmmaker, jean rouch once remarked, there is almost no boundary between documentary film and films of. Film clip from medium cool, by haxell wexler, usa, 1968. In fact, the tagline of the film beyond the age of innocence and into the age of awareness could not be more befitting. Gimme shelter is the film ive seen more than any other. The best thing about this film is its ability to plunge us back into the unhinged summer of 68 in america where memories of kennedy and kings. I chose to read a poem written by gwendolyn brooks, titled we real cool. A fourth viewing of medium cool convinces me more than ever that this is a great american document, one of the most important films of this political and social period. There is also documentary footage about the riots during the democratic convention. With his soundman, gus peter bonerz, john films such events as gruesome car wrecks with frosty detachment, considering himself a mere recorder of circumstances, his only responsibility to get his film in. Medium cool s muchvaunted verisimilitude doesnt strike me as a big deal, partly because the seams show in a big way. Haskell wexlers medium cool 1969 is remembered as one of the great political films of its erawho could forget its climactic melding of fact. Because we are so aware this is a movie, it seems more relevant and real than the smooth fictional surface of, say.

Dec 05, 2016 i chose to read a poem written by gwendolyn brooks, titled we real cool. Medium cool zappas mothers of inventions who needs. It features outtakes of medium cool and filmed interviews with its cast and crew, as well as commentators and historical figures. The scenes in medium cool in which harold unleashes pigeons may be a comparatively trite metaphor for the wish for escape, yet his performance, and the film altogether, remains one of american cinema s few efforts to illustrate the unquenchable appetite for liberation amidst the entanglements of class and the encroachment of the powers that be. Cameraman john cassellis and his sound man gus work for whjptv news chicago, channel 8 on the dial. Jan 05, 2011 my understanding has been along the lines of resolution that is, how much work the audience needs to do to fill in the gaps to create the fuller picture. Medium cool was wexlers feature debut as director and remains one of the greatest treatise on the relationship between features and documentaries. Medium cool is a very deep and interesting look at america through one its great social imbalances. Not only did he seem to be in a relationship with over 3 women, he was extremely disrespectful to them as well. This website contains a large number of public data on films such as the title of the film, the. Often, an important part of this exercise is to assess the relevance, validity, and reliability of the data. With robert forster, verna bloom, peter bonerz, marianna hill. Haskell wexler on medium cool conversations inside the. Because we are so aware this is a movie, it seems more relevant and real than the smooth fictional surface of.

Film analysis is the process in which a film is analyzed in terms of miseenscene, cinematography, sound, and editing. Although the 1970s opened with hollywood experiencing a financial and artistic depression, the decade became a creative high point in the us film industry. Today medium cool is a vital late60s film for its incisive narrative, formal dissection of the truth of visual politics and its awareness of the blurred lines of depicted violence received. He has made an almost perfect example of the new movie. Medium cool, american film drama, released in 1969, that captured the fractious spirit of its day and highlighted the many social and ethical issues of the late 1960s. With its mix of fictional storytelling and documentary technique, this depiction of the working world and romantic life of a television cameraman robert forster is a visceral cinematic snapshot of the era, climaxing with an extended sequence shot right in the middle of the riots surrounding the democratic national convention in chicago.

More than any other american film of that time, medium cool learned from johnluc godard how to. Free for educational use education resource guide to film analysis page 9 explain. It influenced more than a generation of filmmakers. Summary of concepts and terms i general information, background cast actors, director, storywriter, editor, producer, setting time and place theme, genre source, relevance ii plot, narrative characters protagonist, antagonist, character development, character complexity structure.

There is a fictional story about the tv cameraman, his romance, his job, his girl and her son. Film analysis usually begins by identifying the different channels and sources of information in order to assess their individual contribution to, and function in, the filmic composition as a whole. I guess you could say i was obsessed with it for a spell. Rent medium cool 1969 starring robert forster and verna bloom on dvd and bluray. Saw it a bunch of times when it hit the firstrun theater in chapel hill. Learn film analysis with free interactive flashcards. Taking looks at different perspectives and an interesting approach to film making and film makers a like. The merchants of cool film analysis examples and samples. Medium cool is a 1969 american drama film written and directed by haskell wexler and starring robert forster, verna bloom, peter bonerz, marianna hill and harold blankenship.

Oct 06, 2014 the story of gone girl pits a feminist psychopath against a misogynist jerk in what might be the worlds most twisted marriage. Rather than rob us of the pleasures of watching films, this approach affords us the even greater pleasure of deep engagement. Haskell wexlers medium cool 1969 is remembered as one of the great political films of its erawho could forget its climactic melding of fact and fiction, shot in the streets of chicago during the 1968 democratic convention, in which robert forsters tv news cameraman is. A tv news reporter finds himself becoming personally involved in the violence that erupts around the 1968 democratic national convention. Marianna hill, verna bloom, robert forster, harold blankenship, peter bonerz. The story of gone girl pits a feminist psychopath against a misogynist jerk in what might be the worlds most twisted marriage. Choose from 500 different sets of film analysis flashcards on quizlet. Storius is an online magazine about the art, craft, and business of storytelling.

With the exception of the very next scene forster and bonerz in character talking to actual journalists, shot in 16mm medium cool. Summary of concepts and terms i general information, background cast actors, director, storywriter, editor, producer, setting time and place theme, genre source, relevance ii plot, narrative characters protagonist, antagonist, character development, character complexity. Wexler was already an oscarwinning cinematographer of such films as whos. Medium cool, and using normal filming methods of the time. With his soundman, gus peter bonerz, john films such events as gruesome car wrecks with frosty detachment, considering himself a mere recorder of. The colors are richly blended, classic and look expensive not dull as many people think but quite magical. Rent medium cool 1969 on dvd and bluray dvd netflix. He was more overtly drawing on the french new wave. Strangelove and the manchurian candidate or thrillers like failsafe have come out, haskell wexler sheds light on the nations growth without any. A director works closely with a director of photography, production designer and costume designers to create a color palette that fits the story of the film.

With andrew davis, assistant cameraman on medium cool, director of the fugitive 1993. You be the critic presents movie medium cool at the. Medium cool, a slick american drama about a tv news cameraman in the late 1960s, encourages that kind of participation through the evolution. Back home in north carolina shortly thereafter, i followed it through the celluloid food chain of the time. Restrictions on language, adult content and sexuality, and violence had loosened up, and these elements became. My understanding has been along the lines of resolution that is, how much work the audience needs to do to fill in the gaps to create the fuller picture. When the wife, amy, sets up her philandering husband, nick, for. Medium cool follows television news cameraman john cassellis played by robert forster as he shoots hardtoget footage of.

The muted neutrals match the soft richness of the armani style. Wexler took to the streets of chicago with a film crew to record how the city prepared for the 1968 democratic convention, and he put himself in the middle of the violent clashes between. One way of analyzing films is by the shotbyshot analysis, though that is typically used only for small clips or scenes. I love to shoot film is the sanguine motto of tv lensman john cassellis robert forster in haskell wexlers 1969 medium cool, a semidocumentary investigation of imagemaking and politics. Medium cool haskell wexler, 1969 while haskell wexlers medium cool is by no means a wellrounded or tidy ball of yarn, it is nevertheless, a revelatory and moving work of art. Cronins second docu sooner or later is a followup about harold blankenship, the film s child actor.

Director haskell wexler at one of his beloved eclair cm3s. Medium cool is still the most oneofakind movie ever made. I saw it first during its premiere new york run in late 1970. Nov 24, 2018 the internet movie database imdb is a website that serves as an online database of world cinema. One of americas greatest cinematographers, haskell wexler made his name as a socially committed filmmaker, working largely on features.

Its also evident, this time around, that medium cool succeeds in different ways than most movies. One of americas greatest cinematographers, haskell wexler made his name as a socially committed filmmaker, working largely on features and documentaries produced outside the heavily unionised hollywood film industry. She walks up to cops holding back protesters from going further, whispers something, and gets by. Film, medium cool, by haskell wexler 1424 words bartleby.

Color analysis mutedsoft can initially be difficult to understand. Because we are so aware this is a movie, it seems more relevant and real than the smooth fictional surface of, say, midnight cowboy. New lenses, including zooms and others that improved shooting in natural light. Wexler had read mcluhans book the medium is the massage but claimed not to understand it. So hot media is very high resolution there isnt any space that the viewer needs to fil. Few documents in any medium captured the political unrest of the late 60s with greater clarity than medium cool, a remarkably accomplished directorial effort from awardwinning cinematographer haskell wexler. John has to walk a fine line in his work, especially in this day and age of increasing public disenfranchisement due to antiestablishment feelings, with frequent civil rights protests, antiwar protests or other civil unrest taking place. Beyond the age of innocence by the 1960s, documentary film making began to benefit from the appearance of many kinds of new equipment.

The making of medium cool was the subject of a bbc documentary, look out haskell, its real. Sep, 2015 watch the trailer for peter watkinss punishment park. Advertisement the films detractors have zeroed in on this, asking how the tv cameraman is mysteriously rehired after being fired, or why the uptown mother went looking for her missing son in grant park, or how in the world that final automobile accident happened. The sequence includes the first two tracks off frank zappas mothers of invention album, were only in it. Medium cool is an awkward and even pretentious movie, but, like the report of the presidents national advisory commission on civil disorders, it has an importance that has nothing to do with. First four scenes from medium cool, the 1969 film classic by haskell wexler which mixes documentary and feature film footage in. What did marshall mcluhan mean by hot and cool media.

Dec 30, 2012 have you ever wondered or noticed why certain films look a certain way tonally. Over time, viewers have been conditioned to believe. Why we need more films like medium cool in our posttruth times. Within the film the director lee daniels proposes the idea that the traditional ideology of the nuclear family is flawed and almost redundant within modern society. Film analysis enables us to recognize how the filmmakers have their magic on us, how all the constituent elements of the film have combined to create that magic. The poem is from the perspective of a group of seven pool players, and its about living fast and dying young. Cate blanchett in talks to play lilith in borderlands film exclusive medium. The scenes in medium cool in which harold unleashes pigeons may be a comparatively trite metaphor for the wish for escape, yet his performance, and the film altogether, remains one of american cinemas few efforts to illustrate the unquenchable appetite for liberation amidst the entanglements of class and the encroachment of the powers that be. This paper would then analyze the following sociological themes as based on the film, merchants of cool.

This character makes women look like they are just there for men to walk on and completely disrespect. It avoids the polish of popular tv shows and films in favour of a more realistic approach. With its mix of fictional storytelling and documentary technique, this depiction of the working world and romantic life of a television cameraman robert forster. Released in 1969, it predated the film network by about seven years. Medium cool on multiple levels roger ebert roger ebert. Medium cool was an attempt to draw audience attention to this. This is because the film is all about daytoday human sociology since it features the true essence of the largest population which is that o youths. For a long time, john cassellis is able to separate the shooting of film from the meaning of the events recorded. Regardless of that record, medium cool stands as a vital late60s film for its incisive. The most compelling extra is medium cool revisited, haskell wexlers new documentary about his return to chicago to compare the demonstrations in his 1969 film with the occupy movements protests against the 2012 nato summit meetings. Miseenscene the way each shot is composed within the frame has an effect on the way we respond to the narrative. A heartfelt and throughly enjoyable, funny and sad film. Medium cool is a film starring hollywood actors imdb.

Medium cool r 1h 51min drama 6 february 1970 australia a tv news reporter finds himself becoming personally involved in the violence that erupts around the 1968 democratic national convention. Featuring perspectives of professional and emerging authors, filmmakers, and other creators, it. Aug 27, 2014 that is one of the reasons haskell wexlers medium cool, which paramount pictures released 45 years ago on this date, is so extremely cool. Medium cool is finally so important, and absorbing because of the way wexler weaves all these elements together. It was notable for wexlers use of cinema verite style documentary filmmaking techniques, as well as for combining. From film to video still from kwadrat, courtesy filmoteka muzeum although every work in this series was selected because it is or was at the time of its making experimental in some way, not all are expressly concerned with exploring the essential properties and technological limits of film and video as media. It is not just a simple matter of color grading an image in postproduction.

Medium cool is a 1969 american drama film written and directed by haskell wexler and. Haskell wexlers film, medium cool, follows a news cameraman named john cassellis. Medium cools plot might seem at best contrived, at worst simplistic and hackneyed, but after a look at how, where and when the film was made groundbreaking as it was in its blending of documentary and traditional narrative techniques and wexlers brainchild begins to shine out among most of hollywoods other efforts of the late. More than any other american film of that time, medium cool learned from johnluc godard how to blur the line between fact and fiction and. Now that youve had a chance to see it, its time for some spiderman into the spiderverse analysis with a focus on how the film is really about art. Sep 16, 2015 the film explores the idea of family, while also touching upon the themes of race and accepting yourself. Haskell wexlers medium cool is remembered as one of the great political films of its erawho could forget its climactic melding of fact and fiction, shot in the streets of chicago during the 1968 democratic convention, in which robert forsters tv news cameraman is swept into the reallife chaos of. The title of haskell wexlers film of 1969, which suggested a critique of marshall mcluhans distinction between hot and cold media, medium cool suggests that video is an idea rather than a technology.

Dec, 2011 film and television have the ability to influence, change habits and behaviors. Medium cool does introduce remarkably threedimensional characters, but it tells their story in an awfully offhand sort of way. Medium cool is a critically acclaimed film from the 60s about the unhealthy interaction between a corporate media in search of spectacle and violence and a restless and angry populace. Its notable as one of the few films directed by prolific cinematographer haskell wexler whos also credited with the cinematography and the.