Monsters University - Take 2

One of the most unusual additions to my list of favorite movies is Monster's University. The 2013 addition to Pixar's Monsters Inc. is one of those feel good movies that's enjoyable regardless of age. The story portrays the introduction of Mike Wazowski, And James "Sully" Sullivan two rival monsters with dreams of becoming scarers in a world fueled by the screams of children. After both being failed out of the scaring program at Monsters University, their only way of pursuing their dreams is through proving themselves in a scaring competition. After assembling a team of unlikely monsters, the group have to prove themselves to be scariest monsters around so they can return to their program.

This 3D animated film uses entirely CGI to show the events of the narrative, but it does so in a way that we almost forget it is an animated movie at all. The camera angles, choice of shots and story line are all exactly what we would expect a standard camera-filmed movie to show. The movie has editing choices, cinematography, and narrative that set the movie apart to create a unique film, and but still show how animated movies such as this, follow the same structure as any.

The movie's editing allows for choices to be made that affect how we see the movie in very effecting ways. Therefore, it is very useful to look into what choices they made and what effects these choices had on how the story was told. Starting with the first scene of the movie, we see a school bus full of kids arriving at what we will recognize as Monsters inc. We are introduced to our protagonist; Mike, and his goal. The next scene shown after a chronological jump is of Mike moving into college. By showing this scene, setting up a normal world, we are given a motivation for the character that drives the story, and the type of world it's set in. The movie is all shown in chronological order and there is no serious jump, apart from the one just discussed, from one scene to the next. There are two montages that the film uses to show part of the plot quickly. These parts of the plot are important enough to include but not to spend much time over. The first montage is Mike studying his way through his first semester up until the final. Second is of the events in the scaring competition and the training the team goes through to prepare, improving drastically from the beginning to the end of the montage. Montages can turn normal plot events and combine them into a more interesting format.

Though there is no real camera used to film the movie, the animation portrays events from a variety of angles, almost as if there were. The film's cinematography can be examined much the same. Characters are shown in a variety of shots that change how much of the character should be visible in the frame. Movies all vary in which shots are used, some with a prevalence to one or a couple shots over the others. In Monsters University many of the shots used, show the entirety of the characters in frame: long shot. This may be a result of the characters sizes; some of the characters, Mike for example, do not have much of a body besides their head. Next, the angle at which the characters are shown effects the way the film to be seen at. For the majority of the film the “camera” is in a position near the ground, sometimes having to look upward depending on the character shown. I view this to be a reflection of our protagonist, Mike's, shorter view of the world. POV is used only rarely in the movie, and each time is used almost in necessity. Firstly, and most memorably, we are given young Mike's point-of-view when his view of the Monsters Inc. scare floor is impeded by the other students on his field trip. This is used as a motivation for his next actions; sneaking onto the floor for a better view. All the ways the movie is filmed in alters what we take from the film.

This movie as a narrative follows the same set of rules that guide the plot of all narratives. It's progression follows the same format; normal world, rising action, stakes rising, climax and resolution. The normal world: Young Mike's field trip to Monsters Inc. Rising Action: Mike studying for his final, with a mini climax of the final itself, continuing on with the scare games. Climax: The final scare game event. Resolution; Mike and Sully working in the mail room and eventually making their way to be scarers. It has a variety of characters and types of characters that have different roles in continuing the plot. The protagonist, Mike, is a very round character, changing greatly as the story progresses. He starts off very confident and hard working, with the belief that he doesn't need anyone else's help. By the end of the movie he has gained a greater perspective of teamwork and finds in himself a very capable leader. Sully the main support character has a even greater change from the beginning of the story to the end, instead of coasting on his family's name, he becomes intrepid. Finally, the omniscient narration style allows the audience unimpeded view of plot events. However, it does in two places leave the omniscient view in favor of the protagonist's restricted narration; we are only aware of events that Mike is aware of. One such example is Mike and the audience not knowing that the scare simulator has been set on the lowest difficulty by Sully. This and the other points in the plot with restricted narration are used to build suspense and make us surprised by how it turns out. Even though narrative structure is always similar the way the story is told and all the choices made all make the film unique.

Works Cited

Monsters University. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2013.

Monsters University (Shot-by-shot)

I couldn't decide which movie I would call my favorite if my life depended on it. One of the most unusual additions to my list of many favorites is Monster's University. The 2013 addition to Pixar's Monsters Inc. is one of those feel good movies that's enjoyable regardless of age. It does include elements to cinematic form that are both easily appreciated and interesting.

The story portrays the introduction of Mike Wazowski, And James "Sully" Sullivan two rival monsters with dreams of becoming scarers in a world fueled by the screams of children. After both being failed out of the scaring program at Monsters University, their only way of pursuing their dreams is through proving themselves in a scaring competition. After assembling a team of unlikely monsters, the group have to prove themselves to be scariest monsters around and return to their program.

This 3D animated comedy uses cinematic language similar to that you would find in many other styles of films, yet still is unique and intriguing. In this scene, early into the movie, the two main characters first meeting resulting from the rival team's mascot pig escaping. Sully and Mike are required to work together to recapture it. This "meet cute" scene, combines action and dialogue seamlessly through a variety of shot styles transitions. In the first shot of the clip, Mike and Sully are both shown on screen as a two shot, framing for the following scene. Most of the following shots used in the scene are focused on the main character involved with the action. For example, early in the scene, Mike is pushed under the bed to grab the pig. This is shown through a quick shot centered on Mike's face where he moves closer to the "camera" before it returns to the previous framing shot, showing Sully and more of the room. This shot gives us a better glimpse at the surprise on Mike's face, helping to characterize through emotion. It additionally is from an angle that is better enabled through animated movies, as the confined space and cuts on action would be difficult to achieve via camera.

It continues with a shot showing Sully lifting up the bed as Mike wrestles the pig, yelling, as he says, "Careful, he's a biter!". We can see his lack of concern for Mike, a stranger, caring only to capture the pig. Shortly after, Mike gets pulled out from beneath the bed by the pig in his grasp, presented through a sweeping shot, and thrown against the other bedpost. Through this whole series of events, the audience can hear the pig's squeals pulling us into the moment, as we root for the characters to capture the pig. The pig jumps up on Sully and a framing shot shows his attempts to catch the pig in a juggling appearance, building our excitement in the scene. The camera jumps to a shot of the pig climbing a bookcase, and then Sully follows, climbing to reach the pig. The bookshelf starts to fall and in a hidden match on action, expands into a wider shot showing all the characters. Sully is crushed under the bookshelf with only his arms visible sticking out from under it, as Mike looks in awe from the side. Finally, the scene reaches a moment of momentary relax from the action as Sully lifts the bookshelf up off of himself. He says to Mike, “That was awesome!” relieving the tension of the scene and transitioning to a dialogue. The important things to notice from these shots is that they correspond to what we regularly see in most movies. Cutting on action, sweeping shots, and the other shots employed are commonly understood by audiences but are unique in the order and variation they are portrayed.

The final portion of the scene is the part where the two are first introduced, and includes shots more typical with those involved with conveying dialogue. It begins with a hidden match on action as Sully spins around to shake Mike’s hand, saying, “What am I doing? James P. Sullivan”. The two shake hands, Mike by the appearance of his face, wanting the encounter to end and Sully to leave him in peace. He gets up and as he walks toward the door to open it, there is another match on action, Mike moves out of frame, face forward, on one shot and appears center shot of the next facing away from “camera”. Opening the door Mike says to Sully, “but if you don’t mind I have to study my scarring”, his hands ushering him out. This moment is presented in a wider shot with Sully’s shoulder in the foreground, appearing as a mixture between a over-the-shoulder shot with more showing than normal. With Sully’s reply the shot changes to be a single shot on Sully’s face. It quickly goes back to a sweeping shot keeping Mike in scene as he moves around the room, with Sully remaining relatively center shot. It then transitions quickly into a shot showing Mike again in an over-the-shoulder shot, as we hear his response. Also in scene is the pig who appears in the center but behind the characters, who grabs Mike’s hat off the desk. Finally with two quick match on action shots, we see as the pig scurries through the room and jumps hat in mouth out the window.

It can be equally useful in observing how the director decided the scene should play out as it is in looking at what common shots they chose to leave out. In this scene the most interesting is the lack of obvious point of view shots. It could just be the style the director likes of looks good, or removing this normal type of shot could be to make the movies cinematography different. In any event, shots and the way they are used to show the action of a scene, affect how the movie plays, and are thusly important in the study of cinema.

Works Cited

Monsters University. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2013.

Introduction

This blog has been created as a median for the analysis of cinema, as part of my Theater 201- Introduction to Cinema course at WWU. It will be a place where various aspects of cinema analysis will be discussed as they relate to a few films. It should serve to give my readers a new and individualized, in-depth view of what can be gleaned from an intensive study of cinema. - Thanks for reading.