JAWS

I am pleased to say that I have seen Jaws and it is a classic favorite of mine. It was nice to have an excuse to watch it again. The music in this film is infamous. Everyone knows the Jaws music. Whenever I hear it I instantly think of Jaws and sharks. I love sharks and find them fascinating. I look forward to shark week on Discovery Channel every year. That being said,  I am terrified of sharks. I am aware of the odds of a shark attack. They talk about frequently on Shark Week. However, it still makes me nervous to swim in a lake let alone the ocean. This is why this film is scary. Unfortunately, shark attacks have happened and will continue to happen. This fact makes this film scary because it can happen. The ocean is full of mysteries and a giant rogue shark could be out there, who really knows?
The editing in this film also helps in giving this film tension and that scare factor. Cutting back and forth between people on the beach and people playing in the ocean and then to an underwater point of view that can only be the shark. Keeps the audience on their toes and makes them uncomfortable. There is one shot when the chief of police is on the boat with the two other men who are hunting the rogue shark and the chief is literally in the middle of a sentence and it fades out and to a new scene. That was a little wierd and the timing felt off.
As mentioned above the music from this film is infamous and most everyone is familiar with it. The use of music in this film helps to build tension and curiosity. The use of silence is also helpful in this film. It will be an underwater shot from the shark's perspective and you can only hear the water and the muffled sounds of children playing and people enjoying the beach and sunshine. It gives the audience an idea of what the shark hears while at the same time seeing what he sees.
I honestly feel like this film would still do well today in the box office. Imagine seeing a classic like Jaws on the big screen in 3D. Jurassic Park was awesome when they brought that back to theatres and I feel like Jaws would do just as well. Sharks are still real and attacks are still happening so the scary aspect is still there. Jaws is awesome and always will be.

DANCES WITH WOLVES

I had never seen this movie before this class and I was a little worried that it would be a snooze fest. I had a hard time watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and I was sure this would be another tough one to sit through. However, I was pleasently surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. It is a little bit of a western with the gun fights, monologue, and wide open landscape shots but I believe it is mostly a drama due to the real life characters in real life situations. It also has Man vs. Man and Man vs. Nature as well as diary entries. Throughout the film Kevin Costner writes in a journal about his experiences with the indians and such. 

Music plays an important role in this movie. It helps set the mood and scene for the movie. It is only instrumental music with no words or singing which is fitting for this movie. I think it would be odd to put songs with lyrics in this movie. It would throw things off. It can go from peaceful music showing the open landscape as Kevin Costner rides horseback to being anxious about the sound he hears in the early morning light creeping around his fort which turns out to be his beloved horse to pain and sadness when watching the infamous wolf Two Socks is killed. It really helps put the audience in the moment and feel the emotions the characters are feeling. 

Overall, this was a great film and I am glad that I have now seen some of these amazing films in class. The acting was very good in my opinion. Stands with a Fist is very believable. You feel her pain as she is mourning for her husband and her fear of the white men when she encounters John on the prairie. I love the way the actors portrayed the language barrier. Keven acting out a buffalo and then Stands with a Fist trying to remember how to speak english. Even later in the film when she's had practice she has some trouble and it is believable and realistic. It was a very well done film and it absolutely deserved to win the Oscar. There is a little of everything in this film. There is lonliness, trimph, sadness, anger, love and romance, war, drama, and even a little humor. It tells a believable and evertaining story.