I think of myself as a pretty creative person. When I'm in editing mode, my creativity can really flow. I find myself thinking strictly about which shots of film will grab an audience's attention the fastest and keep it...how can the text overlay the video in a way that's not distracting...etc. It sounds very technical, but there is a lot of creativity that goes into piecing something together. The thing I think about most when designing or creating something is my audience. Any form of entertainment is for the audience, in my opinion; not necessarily the producer of the work. I have such a desire to make an audience laugh hysterically or sob uncontrollably (or both) when I think about making movies someday. Someone who has produced movies and has really gotten me to laugh and cry in the same movie is Andrew Stanton.
Most people might not know him by name, but I'm sure many people know him by the movie's he's produced and written. One of my favorites, as you may have been able to guess, is his 2003 box office boom Finding Nemo. Although I don't want to go into animation, Stanton's work is something I admire very much, simply for the direction and cinematography. In the next two clips, hopefully you'll be able to see what I mean about how there are two extremes to emotional appeal in this movie he's worked on.
1. Andrew Stanton is an inspiration for me as a writer as well as a producer and director. Writing is something I struggle with when it comes to film-making. Where do I begin my story? Will the audience think this is as funny as I do? How do you end a great movie? I love Stanton's writing because it is very didactic. He tells the audience what to think through what the characters say or through the image sequence on the screen, and there's really never much room for guessing. A reason for this might be because he works mainly for a children's audience, although all Pixar movies are, in my opinion, appealing to adults as well as kids. A didactic writer does not really let the audience make their own assessments of what each character is like or what they're thinking. Nothing is really implied throughout the writing or scene transitions; it's all very straightforward.
2. In almost every movie or piece of music there is the tension and release factor. Something (music or an action scene) builds and builds until the audience almost can't take it anymore, and then there is a resolution that's comforting to the audience, known as the release. Andrew Stanton does a great job of this in all of the Pixar movies he's worked on. Even the first two clips at the top are great examples of tension and release. Tension in the first clip with the barracuda is very high even after Marlin blacks out and the screen turns black. As the audience, you still don't know what has happened. It's tense! As Marlin wakes up and realizes Coral and his unborn sons and daughters have been eaten by the barracuda, the audience may start to relax only because they think there's no hope for anything else. But then, as Marlin sees the sole fish egg on the reef, there is that release, and the audience can really breathe again. It's not all horrible. In the second clip, even Dory's singing can be a tension builder, especially because Marlin is talking over her the whole time trying to get her to stop. When Marlin finally shuts her up, there is a release, as that high pitched noise that was making the audience's ears bleed a few seconds ago has finally stopped.
3. A basic concept that Stanton has used very well in his movies is contrast and affinity throughout characters and locations. There are similarities and differences in every piece of media artwork, especially through Pixar movies in which Stanton has worked. Each movie has lots of characters who are of the same "kind;" for example, in Toy Story, most characters are toys. In A Bug's Life, every character is a bug of some sort. In Monsters, Inc., with the exception of a few human children, all characters are "monsters." I'll use this last example to further explain contrast and affinity and how Stanton uses it to influence his audience. Sully, as some would argue is the main protagonist in the movie, is a big, fluffy, blue monster, while Mike, his counterpart, is a short, round, green monster. There is much contrast in appearance between these two main characters. Even their personalities are contrasting; Sully is a big, huggable teddy bear, who wants to cause no harm to anyone, and Mike is straightforward about his work and wants nothing but success. And he's hilarious without even knowing it! The fact that these two characters are monsters, but are in no way scary the the audience, makes this contrast extremely funny. On the other side of the spectrum, whenever Sully and Mike are shown, it's usually in very good light; they're surrounded by other happy monsters, or are working in the daylight. However, their enemy, Randall, is usually shown in darker places, like the dimmed locker room, and he is shown working excessively at night in the dark. The fact that these characters are almost always shown in the same light reinforces for the audience what kinds of characters they are.
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