The first time I went to see The Fellowship of the Ring I was only 9 years old so even though I really liked the movie I could not fully appreciate it mostly due to that fact that the wraiths really creeped me out. I have watched all of them many times sense then and I think they are three of the best movies I have ever seen. I think they were successful for many reasons the most of which is how I was dragged into the story and how they used so many elements to portray what was happening. The first thing that pops to mind when I think of this is the music choices for lord of the rings. Below I have an example of how they used slow sad music to portray the death of Haldir. The music selection in this movie was excellent and I believe that was key in its success the producers did an excellent job of using music that properly portrays the emotions they are try to portray to the viewers.

The other element I wanted to talk about was the coloring or lighting used in the Lord of the Rings. Below I have a clip of Gandolfs charge at Helms deep, the whole sequence of scenes before this were of the intense battle to hold the fortress and the whole time it was night and dark which portrayed an dark feeling of lack of hope, it leads you to thinking that there is no hope. Then finally in this seen it is dawn and just when it seems they are riding out to die on the hill there is Gandolf in all white with the light of the rising sun behind him. That picture just changes your perspective immediately, you all of a sudden believe that there is hope and they will win. All of those emotions are enhanced by the great use of color and lighting in the movie if you take away that contrast and make everything bright and sunny there would the movies would not have been as intense or entertaining. I chose these to topics because they were the easiest to show with videos but there were many other factors that are the reasons why this movie was so compelling that it made it to the top 100 such as the acting, special effects, and plot/story but I just chose two so maybe another time on the other ones.

My favorite movie of all time would have to be “TAKEN” that came out in 2008. It is a movie about a retired CIA agent, who’s daughter gets kidnapped when she goes on a trip to Europe.  He has to go to Europe and use his skills to hopefully find is daughter alive. The reason why I love this movie is about it is action packed, it taught me little techniques to find hidden clues, and it showed just how much a parent would do to save their child. The first time I watched this movie, I fell in love. I have probably watched this movie 100 times LITERALLY.

In Ebert’s journal, “Reading A Movie” , he made a lot of points about movies that I have never payed attention to. The reading was very interesting and it made me want to watch more moves and pay more attention to them. Mainly for the “A shot a time” ; which is just pausing the film at random times and telling what you see. I picked up other key points from the reading that I want to elaborate one.

The first point I want to make is how Ebert talks about how the tilting of a shot can make a difference. Tilt shots symbolize that the world is out of balance. In this scene from taken, Liam Neeson plays the CIA agent/father, and he is talking to the kidnappers. You can tell by the look on his face that he feels helpless that someone has taken his daughter and he cannot find her. I am not a parent but I am sure that having someone take your child and you don’t know where they are leaves you helpless.

“Left tilts to me suggest helplessness, sadness, resignation. ” – Roger Ebert.

The next point Ebert made in his journal was how the standing positions can make a difference in the scene. When a actor/actress just stands in the middle of the screen it seems weird because it doesn’t really create a mood. If the actor/actress is standing to the right or the left they can make the scene negative or positive . A person that is standing to the right seems positive, a person standing to the left seems negative. I personally, never paid attention to that, until I thought back to “TAKEN” and found it present. In this scene, he is interrogation someone that might know where his daughter is. The “might be kidnapper” is negative, and the father is positive in this scene.

“the person on the right will “seem” dominant over the person on the left.” -Roger Ebert

I originally looked up the genre of this movie and then used the TV Tropes Site to see if they were the same. Sadly, they weren’t. Online the genre for “TAKEN” was an Action, Crime, Thriller. But in my opinion, and my research from the Tv Tropes Site and I think it is an Evidence Scavenger Hunt.  The definition of a Evidence Scavenger Hunt is “the section of a crime and punishment show where the cast chases down clues.” Throughout the whole movie the father, keeps finding clues that lead him to new people and places. Each time he gets to the next place, he finds more evidence that leads him someone else. Until he finally reaches his daughters location. I am not at all saying that the genre I found online was wrong, I just think the Evidence Scavenger Hunt suits the film more.