Relations between Films

After reading all our classmates' blogs, we found some similitaries between Elephant and the rest of the films:

-The main characters of "Brazil","Rebel without a cause" and "Elephant", feel uncomfortable with society in general and with people around them.

-"The Citizen kane", "Vertigo", "The thin red Line", and "Elephant," are from the same genre which is Drama and therefore they share a similar stucture.

-Movies with same Languague and Country:
The gold rush –from USA
Brazil - English Language
Citizen Kane - English Language
Corpse Bride - English Language
Rebel without – English Language
The Third Man – English Language
Vertigo - English Language
Manhattan - English Language/from USA
Wizard of Oz - English Language/from USA
High noon - English Language/from USA
White House - English Language/from USA
Cabaret - English Language/from USA
Manhattan - English Language/from USA
The wild Bunch – English Languge/from USA
The maltese falcon - English Language/from USA
The Wild Bunch - English Language/from USA

These are the similarities that we found between "Elephant" and the rest of the films.

Description of the scenes

Mise- en- scene
-Setting: a high school in Oregon, Pórtland
-Acting:Alex Frost(Alex)
Eric Deulen (Eric)
John Robinson (John McFarland)
Elias McConnell (Elias)
Jordan Taylor(Jordan)
Carrie Finklea (Carrie)
Nicole George (Nicole)
Brittany Mountain (Brittany)
Alicia Miles (Acadia)
Kristen Hicks(Michelle)
Bennie Dixon (Benny)
Nathan Tyson (Nathan)
Timothy Bottoms(Mr. McFarland)
Matt Malloy (Mr. Luce)
Ellis E. Williams(GSA Teacher)
A dog
-Costumes : Common clothes that people of these years use, except when the murderers go to the school wearing war clothes such as hats, belts,guns,bullets, etc.
-Lighting: Normal lighting but in some scenes the light gradually fades out.
-Make up : Nothing unusual , just a normal make up for people from high school.
-Print: diegetic text such as; the name of the school, the name of a book, a web page, etc…

Sound
-Music: classical music, a piano
-Dialogue: screen play
-Noise: people’s voices, laughs, steps, shouts, sound of bullets
-Use of silence: several silent scenes with no dialogue and no music

Editing
-Jump cut: the movie shows only “jump cuts”
-Virtual: “ralentti” or “slow motion” is used, for example, in the moment when the dog jumps

Awards and Nominations

Cannes Film Festival - 2003

-Best Director Gus Van Sant (won)
- Palme d'Or (won)

Independent Spirit Award - 2003

-Best Cinematography Harris Savides(nominated)
-Best Director Gus Van Sant(nominated)

L.A. Film Critics Association - 2003

-Best Cinematography (Runner-up) Harris Savides(won)

New York Film Critics Circle - 2003

-Best Cinematography Harris Savides(won)

Elephant's Genre

Elephant was inspired in the Columbine High school massacre in which two students shot 12 classmates, a teacher, wounding other people as well, and then they killed themselves.

This movie show us what we call Realism, in which what is shown is reality and facts. The main genre of this movie is Drama. Basically, this type of genre has to do with life situations. It shows the real problems that society has to deal everyday, such as alcoholism, poverty, drugs, mental illness, discrimination, among others.

Have you thought why the movie is called Elephant?

Violence, specially among teenangers, is a very serious problem that is happening in the last couple of year and people are not concerned about it enough. So, an elephant in this case represents violence because, for example, if you see an elephant in you living room, it should call your attention for is something unusual but it doesn't; people in this case see violence as a normal issue and it shouldn't be like that.

The Main Cast

Something very interesting of this movie has to do with the characters. Most of the character's names are their real names. Moreover, the movie was set in Oregon, Portland where the massacre occured and, also, most of the them come from that city. The purpose of this elements was to make the movie more real and some things were added to the character's performances.

In addition, some of the activities that they do are done in their real life as well. Elias is a photographer, and Alex plays the piano.

The principal idea is to show the students doing their duties as they normaly do, and for this Van Sant needed typical teenangers who were able to improvise and acting as they are.

Elephant's Director

Gus Van Sant is an american and well-known film director who was born in July 24, 1952 in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also a photographer, musician, and author. Something special about him is his sexuality. He is homosexual. Gus is a very opened-mind person and doesn't have problems to talk about it and face the theme.

At the very beginning of his career, he started directing tv commercials and little by little he moved into films.

His first movie is called "Mala Noche" which was produced in 1985, and it is about an autobiographical novel by Walt Curtis.

In addition, he had worked with many bands and singers directing music videos. He had directed videos for Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Stone Temple Pilots, Elton John, among others, having succes also in this area.

In the present, he is working on "Paranoid Park". This film is based in a book by Blake Nelson, and it is a story about a teenage skateboarder who kills a security guard by accident. The movie is schedule for December, 2007.

Filmography:

• Mala Noche (1985)
• Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (1993)
• To Die For (1995)
• Good Will Hunting (1997)
• Psycho (1998)
• Finding Forrester (2000)
• Gerry (2002)
• Elephant (2003)
• Last Days (2005)
• Paranoid Park (2007)

A Bizarre Movie

Elephant is one of those movies in which you have seen 45 minutes of it, and you don’t have any idea about what is happening .You don’t understand the situations .You don’t know if there are good or bad people.You don’t know if it is real or just a a dream. You only know that you are watching one of the most bizarre movies that you have ever seen in your entire life, or at least that's what we felt when we watched it for the first time.

The movie is basicaly based on the columbine massacre, that is one of the most important facts of violence at that time. It goes over the day of the massacre, showing what the kids did before killing all the people at the school. It is a very interesting movie because it shows a series of events that really happened, and as raw as it seems, is very interesting.