Reel World

  This blog may seem a bit of a mixed bag:  what do Westerns have to do with the celebrated cinematography of Conrad Hall?  At first and second glance....nothing much.  However, both are iconic in their own right, and both have a very special sense of "style." Read the article from Film School Rejects about the Western genre in Cinema.  In the article, is a link to a wonderful short video from the Museum of Modern Art about the characteristics that define the genre.  Here is a LINK .  Then, respond to the blog below with three noteworthy connections you saw between the short video and your experience viewing Tombstone .  Although this film was made more recently than the classic Westerns that defined the genre, it is most certainly made in the traditional fashion, and respects the conventions of the "All American" genre! Then, read the short article that celebrates the style of late cinematography great, Conrad Hall, who worked with Sam Mendes on Road to Perdition.

   In order to fully appreciate Brian De Palma's American crime drama,  The Untouchables,  every serious student of film must breakdown the very bloody, very pivotal "Union Station" scene shot by shot, noting every shot size, length, lens, and camera movement to explore how POV adds both depth and tension to an already by definition "intense" scene... One of the first things every film student notices about this scene is that it pays a very obvious homage to the "Odessa Steps" scene from Russian filmmaking legend Sergei Eisenstein's  Battleship Potemkin.   Although this may present as an example of "indirect intertextuality," make no mistake: De Palma is most certainly purposeful in his reference here.  Even the political and moral themes from  Battleship Potemkin  - the strain between the "bourgeoisie and the proletariat, innocence and oppression" are likewise factored into the narrative of  The Untouchables.   Eisenstein's