...Dominic Kacich Professor Collett MUSIC 206: 3:00 P.M. 7 December 2011 Little Shop of Horrors Film Critique The 1986 film version of the Little Shop of Horrors directed by Frank Oz was based on the musical under the same name. Alan Menken wrote the music, while Howard Ashman wrote both the lyrics and book. The musical received very positive reviews and won several awards including the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. The story is very well thought-out and has some interesting turns. I am going to analyze/critique the film version and discuss the following: the book, music (lyrics), dance, and screenplay. As stated in the introduction, Howard Ashman wrote the book. I believe it was a very well written comedy musical turned into a film. The simple plot line was easy to follow; however, it was hard to predict what exactly would happen next. The mixture of events that could actually happen versus those that could not added a very humorous side to the movie. The plot was very standard of the time, a store owner who is trying hard to keep business going along with a young, energetic man looking to make money and also find the woman of his dreams. The addition of the plant to the plot created many different opportunities for the story to go. The plant appealed to the people passing by bringing huge profits for the business, which was very good. However, on the bad side, the plants main intent was world domination. In my opinion, the plant was the reason...
Words: 1761 - Pages: 8
...pet shops. This is an issue that has been much discussed in the media recently and Towns is tapping into the general concern about the treatment of breeding dogs, simply to provide puppies for sale to an unsuspecting public. In a bitterly-attacking and assertive tone, Towns directs her piece to parents, pet lovers, pet shop owners and the general public, challenging them to question the mistreated and exploited. She also argues that the general public is often unaware of the source of the animals they later purchase and that making money from the sale...
Words: 1113 - Pages: 5
...so does entertainment. All forms of entertainment must change to continue to keep the attention of the public, and horror movies are no exception. In today’s world of remakes and sequels, it is hit or miss when it comes to doing the original film justice. Critics as numerous as they are harsh, so taking on a remake is no easy feat. When looking at the 1978 cult classic Dawn of the Dead and its 2004 remake, there are obvious differences and similarities. The original uses dark humor and wit to entertain audiences, while the remake uses more gore and violence, but both share a similar premise. While the original will always be a classic, but the remake puts a fresh spin on it to draw in younger audiences. The original Dawn of the Dead was first released in Italy in 1978 and then in the United States in 1979, grossing approximately $55 million worldwide up against a $1.5 million budget (The Numbers). The film, directed by George A. Romero, was quickly hailed a classic and one of the best zombie films of the century. The film follows group of survivors who are fleeing Philadelphia, which has been overrun by the reanimated much like the rest of the country’s major cities. The group commandeer a helicopter and eventually seek refuge in a large mall, where they reside for several months....
Words: 1227 - Pages: 5
...different era or background. Usually an author, relates their theme of their works with simple and easy literary devices, such as symbolism. So does Franz Kafka, but on a greater scale. All of the aspects and elements of his works seem unimportant, because of the different interpretations of his works. Most of his works , depicts his own thoughts and dreams. Like some authors, Kafka focuses on a single character symbolizing himself or his life. To fully recognized and understand this method , the audience must study his background and just basic history to understand his motive. He stands out against all these other authors because he goes against the flow of the writing norms. Some of the genre's found in his works are Kafkaesque, Magic Realism,Dystopia,Fantasy,Science Fiction,Modernism,Post Modernism and Existentialism. First time reading one of Kafka's predominant novel, "The Trial" was pretty overwhelming. Personally, I have nothing to compare his works to, other than his own work, in particular, "The Metamorphosis." While these two have some obvious similarities, there are some hidden and usually inconspicuous ones that readers, like myself, don’t usually pick out. Finding some common themes in “The Trial” and “The Metamorphosis” provides a great factor in interpreting Kafka’s purpose or thesis. In order to fully comprehend Kafka’s work, the audience will first need to knock out the themes hidden in the text. The themes found in his works are , society,social -justice, gender...
Words: 1673 - Pages: 7
...AMUSEMENT PARK Introduction: An Amusement Park is an attraction within a city that provides different kinds of rides that would cater tourist and also local people wherein they can enjoy their time. My topic will focus on building an amusement park here in Iloilo City to provide entertainment wherein no other amusement parks are locally located Defining the proposed problem: * An Amusement Park is composed of different rides and others facilities that cater the needs people for them to enjoy and relax within the vicinity Impact in the community: * The socio economic benefits of Amusement Park to the host community. Tourism activities as with any other type of economic development, brings about changes for economic, social, cultural and spatial structure of the settlement where it takes place. It is mostly regarded for generating income and employment, encouraging the entrepreneurial activity and eventually leading to improvements in the economic structure of the region. However since there are countervailing forces at play within an economy, the arising costs and benefits from tourism are not immediately quantifiable. The costs and benefits of tourism are not evenly distributed. What may be a benefit to one group may cost another group within the same community or area. For example, hotel and restaurant operators may benefit from tourism, but the permanent residents may suffer in terms of crowding, pollution, noise, and in some cases, a changed way of life...
Words: 2998 - Pages: 12
...meaning of the flowers’ colours is that they represent the girl in the lane, the young man and the relationship between them. The white rose represent the girl, it stands for innocence and ignorance, just like the girl that hasn’t done anything wrong and is unknowing about the man’s intentions. The yellow rose represents the young man. Yellow colour is often connected with lies and falseness as the man tricks the reader and the girl into believing that he is an ordinary man. The last colour is red, it stands for love and is the colour of blood, and love is what connects Nora and the young man. The young man is well dressed (s. 175 l. 11-12) ”he had that look about him. He was dressed in a light grey shit, the narrow tie pulled down a little”. He has got an ordinary face (s.175 l.13-14) “not an extraordinary face, but on this soft spring evening...” . The people that look at him see him as an symbol of spring and young love. You can see that in the way they describe him when he walks by the old lady at the end of the story. This is also what the reader sees him as until the man steps into the lane. Stephen King makes us believe that this is a love story, all the people the man walks by looks at him and think that he is in love, an example is (175 l. 8-10) “an old lady pushing to bags of groceries in an old baby parm grinned at the young man and hailed him: “Hey, beautiful” the young man gave her a have-smile and raised his hand in a wave. She passed on her way thinking: “he...
Words: 753 - Pages: 4
...Introduction Established empirical research suggests that highly successful media, principally moves, are successful by virtue of the fact that the audience closely associate with the general mood, temperament and “message” that is being communicated. It will be shown that the success of particular genres of film changes through time in tune with the prevailing human social mood. Human social mood is determined by the human herding instinct which is generated by the limbic system of the human brain and is an involuntary, unconscious, “hard-wired” human condition. In order to establish the correlation between highly successful movies and human social mood we require a quantitative measure of human social mood, this is provided by the “Wave Principle” which measures the wave behaviour of the major stockmarket indices. These indexes are a qualitative measure and ‘barometer” of social mood. We will discuss principally, highly successful movies, as these are believed to be most representative of the public mood since they reach the largest audience. Successful movies don’t just happen, but rather they result from having perfect empathy with the prevailing mood of the public en-masse. Highly successful movies, include groundbreaking movies which define a genre and we will look at the historical correlation of these with public mood. We will discuss numerous examples of how social mood has influenced the production of blockbuster movies over the past 70 years and how these movies...
Words: 3023 - Pages: 13
...of his life, Wing taught at an all-boys school. He was gentle man, touched the boys shoulders and hair. This turned out to be misconstrued by one of the boys. The boy had dreams about his teacher and himself. When he told his father, he searched Wing out and beat him up. Is he a child molester is left to interpretation. After the beating from the father, Wing decided that his hands were the offending part. He started fidgeting them and never stopped until one day he was having a lively conversation with George about dreaming and thinking of more than the narrow minded town allowed. Wing touched George for the first time ever. Wing was completely freaked out by this and ran away in horror. Okay, but can you clearly identify the climax? What is the resolution? 20 Section B. Number 3. The theme of "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is that people should let go of the past, and live in the present. Our first evidence is Emily lived in the past in her very old house, which she didn’t think she had to pay property taxes on. Second, she even didn't believe the sheriff in front of her is the "real" sheriff, so that she talked to him as talk to the Colonel who has died for almost ten years "See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson." This does not quite make sense. Third was the fact that Miss Emily had kept her father's dead body inside the house and didn't allow him to be buried. She has lived under his control for...
Words: 840 - Pages: 4
...an age without cinematic music." Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, The Conversation) "Music is a big factor in helping the illusion of the film come to life. The same way music brings back different periods of our lives." Roger Corman (The Little Shop of Horrors, The Trip) "Music best enhances a film when it evokes and modulates a specific emotional response in the audience to the unfolding story without the audience being aware of it. In Hollywood today, however, this can be difficult to achieve because very often music has to compete with louder and louder sound effects. As a consequence, there is a tendency for the music to oversimplify and overstate its themes. The manipulation of emotion in the audience has probably become cruder, generally speaking." Alex Cox "I don't think it does anymore, music is overused and someone should do a film without any music at all." Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) "The best soundtrack music by-passes your mind and goes straight to your soul. It sort of trips something in your brain, you know you're being transported." Lewis Gilbert (Reach for the Sky, Alfie, Educating Rita) "Film music is another weapon in the armoury of the director. The score should inevitably have a strong theme which reflects the mood of the film either in a leading character or the action of the film. Thus any form of music from symphonies through pop to synthesiser can...
Words: 1037 - Pages: 5
...A Brief History of Music in Film Going to the movies is one of America’s top favorite pass times; and no movie-going experience would be complete without the accompanying sound tracks. The music in movies often heightens the suspense and deepens the drama. The right background music can make us fall in love with a character, be terrified of the villain, or even adore an unlikely hero. Starting with Silent films and continuing until today, music has been an important part in the movie industry. In the beginning, movies had no sound and eventually the studios figured out they needed something for their movies to be more entertaining. Very quickly they figured out music would supplement and go along well with the action on the screen. Music has always been able to affect people emotionally, so it made a perfect accompaniment for movies. In the early theaters, pianos quickly became a well-recognized fixture. Organs quickly followed and music became a permanent part of the movie-going experience. At first, it was up to musicians to choose what music they would play during the films; but the music still didn’t have a true designated purpose, other than used as filler. Eventually the studios began producing music for the musicians that was more suitable for the film. The music became more and more specialized based on what the studio wanted, until music was specifically written for each film. In fact, Charlie Chaplin composed his own music for some of his films...
Words: 3299 - Pages: 14
...Now, every day of 8 A.M. to 5 P.M., band camp was given its own theme, you see. One day could have been section color day, section country day, or plain and simple costume day. Today, though, it was section swap day. When a majority of a section is girls, and the section they have to swap with is littered with guys, what could possibly result from this? Arriving early as per usual, I was allowed to watch guy after guy strut into the band room cross-dressing. In hindsight, this theme may have been a mistake; however, amongst all of the absurdity, most of the trumpets arrived wearing a T-shirt, cargo shorts, and some even had fake glasses, mt gut up. All of this was to dress up as me because we trombones were tasked to switch with the trumpets. This gesture really touched my heart. After revelling in awe, everyone grabbed their drill bags, assembled their instruments, listened to announcement with Mr. Norris (which were greatly dragged out because of our new transvestites), and headed outside to begin the final day...
Words: 1255 - Pages: 6
...months of marriage, Schindler began to heavily abuse alcohol. He also had several affairs resulting in two children out of wedlock. In 1929, during the Great Depression, the Schindler family business went bankrupt. At this time, Schindler’s father left his mother, and she died soon after. Finding himself jobless, Schindler sought work in nearby Poland as a machinery salesman. The saving of the first Schindler Jews began in 1939, when he came to Krakow in the wake of the German invasion. In Krakow, he took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of kitchenware products. In one of the businesses, however, Schindler was merely a trustee. Looking more for his own power, he opened up a small enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. Here, he employed mostly Jewish workers. This in turn saved them from being deported to labor camps. Then in 1942, Schindler found out through some of his workers that many of the local Krakow Jews were being sent to the brutal Plazow labor camp. This is where Schindler’s connections with the German government were so useful. Using his know how, he convinced the S. S. and the Armaments Administration, who had set up the Plazow labor camp, to set up a portion of the...
Words: 1926 - Pages: 8
...murdered Tynisha in her own home. The night before, Tynisha, along with Thomas and Big Lurch, had a party at their apartment that went on until the morning time. When they were all alone, they decided to smoke some PCP. Big Lurch said it was one of the strongest things he had ever felt, which is saying a lot considering he used PCP regularly. Eventually, a friend showed up to the apartment. This friend’s name is Derek. Derek was a wheelchair user who was also hooked on PCP. After someone helped him get up into the apartment, they all just smoked PCP together for some time before Thomas got up and said he’d come back later. He told Derek to keep an eye on Big Lurch and Tynisha because at this point they were so high off PCP. Derek stayed for a little bit, then Tynisha got up to go to the bathroom. When Derek and Big Lurch were alone in the living room, Big Lurch said “I'm gonna get me some pussy” and proceeded to follow Tynisha to the bathroom. Derek didn’t know the circumstances of the situation so he didn't want to intervene and he didn’t know the arrangements between Tynisha, Big Lurch, and the dealer so he just wanted to mind his business and leave. So, he left right after Big Lurch went to the bathroom. As he was leaving, he heard Tynisha screaming upstairs, but he just left anyway. A few hours had passed and Derek had seen one of Tynisha’s friends, Alyssa, while out and she had been trying to get in contact with Tynisha for a while now. When Derek told her what happened and Alyssa...
Words: 1991 - Pages: 8
...communications concepts that I am going to apply on Pulp Fiction movie. Each section will explain the communications concept and how it appears in the movie. The reason why I chose this movie is just simple. It is a classic movie released in 1994, written by my favorite director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino who has a little role in this movie as well. The story of the movie is divided in seven narrative sequences and in order the reader of this paper to understand, it is necessary to see the movie. 1. Nonverbal behaviors of Kinesics, Haptics, Physical Appearance, and Artifacts Kinesics, Haptics, Physical Appearance, and Artifacts are types of nonverbal behaviors. Kinesics refers to body position and body motions, including those of the face (Wood, 2011, p. 100). Body postures and gestures may say whether we are open to interaction. Haptics is a term for nonverbal communication involving physical touch (Wood, 2011, p. 101). Applying this to the movie, there is a scene when Jules has a conversation with Vincent about a foot massage. They argue about meaning and importance of physical touch of women’s feet. The story is about when Tony Rocky Horror was thrown out of the window after he gave a foot massage to Marcellus Wallace’s wife. Physical appearance is how we look like and how we present ourselves on public. Western culture places extremely high value on physical appearance and on specific aspects of appearance (Wood, 2011, p. 101). Like Jules and Vincent, they...
Words: 2147 - Pages: 9
...Brand Name: "Lucent" stands for glowing with light. The connect we are trying to create with the brand name here is that one can have glowing skin sans acne by using our acne strips. The conventional methods for removing acne are face washes and creams that often leave after-marks post their use. We not only ensure effective and painless acne removal but also lucent skin after the use. Brand Logo: Lucent Lucent The brand logo is a simple oval with the name "Lucent" written in a cursive font. The background is white to give a picture of illumination or brightness. The font is cursive to give it a personal touch and warm appeal. Brand Colours: Green and white have been identified as the colours to do the branding. These colours have been chosen as they are neutral colours and "Lucent" also stands for a Unisex brand. Further, "green" stands for being eco-friendly and is synonymous with Lucent's properties too. Lucent is an eco-friendly product as it makes use of organic and herbal ingredients and is biodegradable after use. The colour "white" symbolises purity and radiance which is how the skin feels after use. Brand Tagline: The tagline for Lucent has been given as "Perfect & You". This is mainly used to denote how a person feels after using Lucent. The idea of using the word "perfect" is that it makes the skin flawless and without any imperfections. Brand Vitality: The product is a One-time solution for removing acne from roots. It is so effective that a...
Words: 3389 - Pages: 14
