WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING
TRAILER:
The whole film can be found on Dailymotion here.
SYNPNOSIS:
Classic screwball comedy following palaeontologist David Huxely who is engaged to the dour and workaholic Alice. He faces a marriage trapped in hard work with little romance, who is determined that their marriage contain "no domestic entanglements of any kind."
He is about to meet a new woman in his life, Alice Swallow, a free-spirited and, possibly pre-cursor of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who will turn his life upside down in the pursuit of a leopard that he has been sent from Brazil.
The opening sequence introduces us to the engaged couple in their place of work.
One ident for one company responsible for both production and distribution, as was more common in those days, lasting for 15 seconds and then fading in and out to the titles.
It has a signature sound, that of s radio signal, appropriate for its name.
Separate inter-title sequence before the live action starts, which was the norm and convention back then, but can still be seen such as in films like This Is England and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and is still seen after a live action opening sequence in the Bond franchise.
THE OPENING SHOT:
An extreme longshot, an establishing shot which we are going to close in on
Instead of a title telling us date and setting, like we sometimes see, mise-en-scène is used to anchor the location.
We get introduced to one of the main two protagonists of the narrative.
TODOROV:
This is an equilibrium, the disruption will happen later with the introduction of
We are at the same location that the film will end on, when the dinosaur smashes to pieces, so the dinosaur at the moment represents the old equilibrium that must be destroyed for a new one to exist.
MISE-EN-SCÈNE:
For verisimilitude their are multiple scientific objects around the room to connote that this is a place of scientific study.
Huxley is dressed in a typical white garb which a majority of people know, making it one of Barthes's cultural codes.
At the beginning we cross-fade into shots.
GENRE SIGNIFIERS:
- The voices calling across the hall as diegetic sound.
POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:
- The slapstick elements
Howard Hawks, 1938
Running length of opening:
LEAD ACTORS: Katharine Hepburn
GENRE: Screwball comedy
PROD + DISTR: RKO Radio Pictures
BUDGET: $1.07m
BOX OFFICE: $1.11m
From wiki:
Despite Bringing Up Baby's reputation as a flop, it was successful in some parts of the U.S. The film premiered on February 16, 1938 at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (where it was a hit), and was also successful in Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.. However, it was a financial disappointment in the Midwest, as well as most other cities in the country, including NYC; to RKO's chagrin, the film's premiere in New York on March 3, 1938 at Radio City Music Hall made only $70,000 and it was pulled after one week[46] in favor of Jezebel with Bette Davis.[47]During its first run, Bringing Up Baby made $715,000 in the U.S. and $394,000 in foreign markets for a total of $1,109,000;[34] its reissue in 1940 and 1941 made an additional $95,000 in the US and $55,000 in foreign markets.[46] Following its second run, the film made a profit of $163,000.[34] Due to its perceived failure, Hawks was released early from his two-film contract with RKO[34]and Gunga Din was eventually directed by George Stevens.[48] Hawks later said the film "had a great fault and I learned an awful lot from that. There were no normal people in it. Everyone you met was a screwball and since that time I learned my lesson and don't intend ever again to make everybody crazy".[49] The director went on to work with RKO on three films over the next decade.[50]Long before Bringing Up Baby's release, Hepburn had been branded "box-office poison" by Harry Brandt (president of the Independent Theatre Owners of America) and thus was allowed to buy out her RKO contract for $22,000.[51][52] However, many critics marveled at her new skill at low comedy; Life magazine called her "the surprise of the picture".[53] Hepburn's former boyfriend Howard Hughes bought RKO in 1941, and sold it in 1959; when he sold the company, Hughes retained the copyright to six films (including Bringing Up Baby).[50]
CRITICAL KUDOS:
ROTTEN TOMATOES: Critics 95%, Audience 90% IMDb: 8.0/10
From wiki:
The film received good advance reviews; Otis Ferguson of The New Republic thought the film very funny, praising Hawks' direction.[38] Variety praised the film, singling out Hawks' pacing and direction, calling Hepburn's performance "one of her most invigorating screen characterizations" and saying Grant "performs his role to the hilt";[39] their only criticism was the length of the jail scene.[40] Film Daily called it "literally a riot from beginning to end, with the laugh total heavy and the action fast."[41] Harrison's Reports called the film "An excellent farce" with "many situations that provoke hearty laughter,"[42] and John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that both stars "manage to be funny" and that Hepburn had never "seemed so good-natured."[43] However, Frank S. Nugentof the New York Times disliked the film, considering it derivative and cliché-ridden, a rehash of dozens of other screwball comedies of the period. He labeled Hepburn's performance "breathless, senseless, and terribly, terribly fatiguing",[44] and added, "If you've never been to the movies, Bringing Up Baby will be new to you – a zany-ridden product of the goofy-farce school. But who hasn't been to the movies?"[45]
TRAILER:
The whole film can be found on Dailymotion here.
SYNPNOSIS:
Classic screwball comedy following palaeontologist David Huxely who is engaged to the dour and workaholic Alice. He faces a marriage trapped in hard work with little romance, who is determined that their marriage contain "no domestic entanglements of any kind."
He is about to meet a new woman in his life, Alice Swallow, a free-spirited and, possibly pre-cursor of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who will turn his life upside down in the pursuit of a leopard that he has been sent from Brazil.
The opening sequence introduces us to the engaged couple in their place of work.
IDENTS:
One ident for one company responsible for both production and distribution, as was more common in those days, lasting for 15 seconds and then fading in and out to the titles.It has a signature sound, that of s radio signal, appropriate for its name.
TITLES:
Separate inter-title sequence before the live action starts, which was the norm and convention back then, but can still be seen such as in films like This Is England and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and is still seen after a live action opening sequence in the Bond franchise.THE OPENING SHOT:
An extreme longshot, an establishing shot which we are going to close in on
NARRATIVE, EXPOSITION:
Instead of a title telling us date and setting, like we sometimes see, mise-en-scène is used to anchor the location.We get introduced to one of the main two protagonists of the narrative.
TODOROV:
This is an equilibrium, the disruption will happen later with the introduction of
We are at the same location that the film will end on, when the dinosaur smashes to pieces, so the dinosaur at the moment represents the old equilibrium that must be destroyed for a new one to exist.
MISE-EN-SCÈNE:
For verisimilitude their are multiple scientific objects around the room to connote that this is a place of scientific study.
Huxley is dressed in a typical white garb which a majority of people know, making it one of Barthes's cultural codes.
EDITING:
At the beginning we cross-fade into shots.
GENRE SIGNIFIERS:
Two parts of the love triangle are present here, and conflicts about different opinions on family life.
REPRESENTATION:
GENDER: The female dominant in the relationship here. However the woman is shown as the typical torment for the man.
ETHNICITY: Just Caucasians present, this is pre-Civil Rights Movement.
SEXUALITY: Represents the norm of the time, heteronormativity, homosexuality was a punishable criminal offence.
AGE: This is a film mainly focussing on young middle-aged characters, teens and children are not present in the opening sequence. The old Professor stereotypically stands for intellectuality.
CLASS/STATUS: Middle-class, Alice Swallow has delusions of grander when she reacts to Huxley using the phrase: "I'll knock him over", she responds by saying:
David, no slang, remember who and what you are.
ABILITY/DISABILITY: Able-bodied, no physical or mental disabilities, unless you count the glasses of, which are more there to connote his status as a scientist.
NORMATIVE OR COUNTER-HEGEMONIC?
All in all this is a very typical representation in US cinema of the time, however we do get a more unconventional emasculated male who throughout the film will never be the true strong, masculine action hero.
David, no slang, remember who and what you are.
All in all this is a very typical representation in US cinema of the time, however we do get a more unconventional emasculated male who throughout the film will never be the true strong, masculine action hero.
SOUNDTRACK:
Start off with the first track for the titles from the soundtrack, we then get.
For the discussion between the characters we only get their voices as diegetic sound, with them projecting across the wide space, this adds a sense of realism.
For the discussion between the characters we only get their voices as diegetic sound, with them projecting across the wide space, this adds a sense of realism.
TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM:
There is no sound added, just a cross-fade into the next scene, the change of location is the main transition, the protagonist is now on his journey as Joseph Campbell would say.
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