Thursday, October 20, 2011

Tower Heist

Blog 2: Sound and Image relationships
For my 2nd blog, I decided to talk about the trailer from the film Tower Heist to see how it relates to sound and images. The basic premise of the story is about the hard-working staff of a Columbus Circle high-rise find out they have fallen victim to the Ponzi  scheme of one of the tenants, a wealthy Wall Street businessman named Arthur Shaw, they conspire to rob his penthouse residence. The story is based on the real life Bernie Madhoff Ponzi scheme in which he defrauded celebrities and investors by $65 billion.
            I would have to say that in terms of the relationship of the sounds to the images, I would say that it shows a sense of wealth, privilege and power. One example in particular that I can think of is a  wide shot that establishes Arthur Shaw in his penthouse suite swimming in his pool and the Benjamin Franklin $100 bill enlarged in his pool in both wide and closeup shots. Another example that I can think of is when Josh Kovacs mentions to his employees how anyway who invested with Arthur Shaw was defrauded and a shot intertwines with the old man smiling at a chess board showing that his sense of wealth and power has made him smug and arrogant.      A scene in particular is when Arthur mentions to Josh that he owns a private island on Belize but says that he is a Astoria boy deep down which seems to add a sense of arrogance to his character particularly the way he belittles him.                                                                                                                                 It also shows a sense of beauty, since one wide shot shows the gold plated doors Columbus circle penthouse as Arthur Shaw is departing.  In terms of the sound images to one another, I would say that it adds a sense of intrigue and mystery. I guess what I mean by is especially now knowing if the employees will succeed in their plan to get their revenge. What I mean by is when Josh hires a man named Slide who happens to be crook as a way to help the employees in their plan for revenge against Arthur Shaw.  Slide even attempts to explain how a robbery can change at any moment and how to prepare for it. A particular one in which I can think of is when Odessa attacks a security guard with a mail a cart. Chase mentions that Odessa might have gone wrong which interplays with a moment in which she is waiving a gun which shows that she might have an agenda of her own.
            In terms of how the shots are organized, I would have to say that they are organized based on the pre-fraud scheme and after the scheme happened in which the gang are plotting their scheme to get their revenge.  What I think determines the lengths of the shots, is how important that they are to the film such as showing the staff members doing their jobs when Josh is mentioning what people love about their hotel particularly the employees and their devotion to the place.                                                                          Other ways that I can think of how the shots are organized is how the staff plan their revenge. One scene in particular that I can think of, is when Joshua and Slick get involved in a car chase, the confrontation between Josh and Arthur in wide closeup shots adding a sense of betrayal and anger.  In terms of the order of the shots, I would say it depends on how the events of the film unfold and its relevancy to the story. It is rather hard to find a right place to cut since it seems as though the shots seems to follow in just the right pace.
            I would have to say that the cuts are seamless because I think that the scenes that are shown in the trailer seem to be based on what is going on in the film and have a right rhythm to it.

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