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Flowers in the Attic

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Flowers in the Attic
Wendy Lupton
ENG 225 Introduction to Film
Jonathan Beller
March 25, 2012

Flowers in the Attic
Introduction
The movie in this essay will be on the 1987 movie the Flowers in the Attic by Jeffrey Bloom. It is a movie where you will feel very suspenseful with all the drama that is happening to the children and what their mother does to stop it. Their grandmother treat’s them very awful when their mother is not home.
Storytelling
The story of the Flowers in the Attic is four children that fight to survive when slowly forgotten about by their mother played by Victoria Tennant. The mother of four children, who loses her husband and father of the kids, returns to her mother’s mysterious family mansion hoping to regain the love from her father to receive an inheritance. But when the children are imprisoned and abandoned by their evil grandmother, the children must find a way to survive a nightmare of brutal cruelty, forbidden passion and final shocking discovery that will shatter their innocence forever. The children consist of Chris, Cathy, and the two younger children, Cory and Carrie. Little do the children know, their mother has essentially given them over to their abusive, religiously-fanatical grandmother (played by Oscar winner Louise Fletcher), and they are locked away in the attic and kept there, while their health deteriorates and they are abused constantly. All the while, their evil mother conspires to receive the inheritance from her own dying father, and plans on starting a completely new life with another man - even if it means murder.
Acting
This film has method acting in it. The Method requires that actors draw on their own memories and experiences to reach the heart of a character, so that they more genuinely feel the emotions they’re portraying instead of just pretending to (Goodykoontz,B. & Jacobs, C. 2011). The children consist of Chris, Cathy, and the two younger children, Cory and Carrie. When the oldest daughter screams because she realized that her father has passed away, she has to pull from her own experiences of someone passing away that was close to her. Then when the kids were put in room just below the attic the two oldest kids had to start taking care of the little ones. They would pull off helping take care of their siblings in their own life or even the emotions of a close friend that might have had to take care of younger siblings.
Cinematography
The cinematography in the film Flowers in the Attic is mainly done in medium long shots. The medium long shots is where the human figures are visible between head-to-toe and head-to-knee in the frame (Goodykoontz,B. & Jacobs, C. 2011). Most of the shots that are shown in the movie Flowers in the Attic were done from the feet or knees up to head. For example, the shot of where the children and their mother were shown in the room under the attic from their grandmother was a medium long shot. It showed from head to toe in that shot. There were a few shots that were medium close-ups and close-up but not as many.
Editing
Effective editing is sometimes called "invisible" editing. This is because viewers often do not even realize when a shot changes from, say, a two-shot to a close–up of one actor, or even from one location to another, if the editor appropriately anticipates what viewers want to see and when they want to see it (Goodykoontz,B. & Jacobs, C. 2011). For example, the shot when the children were on their way up the stairs to the attic then the grandmother stopped them and told them to remember they are not allowed to be seen. That is a time when the editor uses the two-shot from the children to a close-up of the grandmother.
Sound
The sound is based on the little ballerina music box Cathy’s father bought for her when she was age twelve. Everything has a very Gothic, depressing tone, and the mood here fits everything very well. It's an eerie film, mainly because of the disturbing subject matter and the gloomy atmosphere that is present throughout. It makes you feel very sad but yet suspenseful of what is next in store for the children. There also are times when there are sound effects that take place in this film. For example, when the mother is standing in front of her father, you see the mother pull out a bull whip as the children’s mother takes off her shirt. Then you hear the sound of the whip cracking.
Conclusion
As the children get older they get a little bit smarter. They decide against going to the police as they do not want to risk being separated from each other and placed into foster homes—their priority is to get away and make it on their own, always staying together and being there for Carrie. At the time of their escape in November 1960, Christopher is nearly eighteen years old, Cathy is fifteen years old, and Carrie is eight years old. Cathy vows to herself that she will get revenge against her mother and grandmother one day.

References
Goodykoontz,B. & Jacobs, C. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.11.2/sections/ch00

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