Acting and Acting Styles

Actors Sylvester Stalone, Carl Weather, and Talia Shire all classify as a personality actor. A personality actor plays similar types of characters in other films that they star in (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2014). Sylvester Stalone is often a good guy that must define all odds. Whether it be a cop in Demolition Man who is unfrozen to combat a killer that the future is unable to stop, Rambo II First Blood Part II where he is a military veteran and called back to duty in order to save POW’s, or even Over the Top where he must overcome an adversary that is much larger and possibly stronger than him in order to win an arm wrestling match (IMDb, 2015). Like Stalone, Carl Weathers is also often what is considered a good guy that must take down a bad guy. In Rocky, he may be the opponent, but he is still fighting to keep his Heavyweight belt. In Action Jackson Weathers is a tough cop, and in Predator he stars along with Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop and kill what seems to be an unstoppable adversary (IMDb, 2015). Talia Shire stars as Rocky’s girlfriend and later on his wife. She started off by being a shy woman who took care of her mentally abusing brother. Later she become comfortable around others, more outspoken and helped Rocky through his battles in the Rocky series. In the Godfather, she went from being an innocent abused wife to a strong willed person who was active in the family business. All three act naturally within their respective films (IMDb, 2015). They respond to each encounter as they would in a normal setting. An example would be Talia Shire coming to Stallone after the fight. Rocky is yelling for his girlfriend Adrian after the fight and she in response is running to the ring through everyone in her way. She even has to ask Polly for help lifting the rope so she can get to Rocky. This is a what people would naturally due in this situation therefore it would be classified as realism acting.

Sylvester Stalone will most likely always be within the same category. This is because of his physic, personality, and what he is perceived as, a guy who is involved in some kind of action. Anyone who watches a movie that stars Sylvester Stallone are already anticipating that the movie is going to have action, be good versus bad, and most likely will put Stallone in a place where he is the underdog as well as the odds will be against him. Also this goes to show that actors that fall into the “personality” category of try to play similar parts of other movies they have stared in.

 References:

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc

IMDb. (2015). Carl Weathers Biography [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001835/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

IMDb. (2015). Sylvester Stallone Biography [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000230/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

IMDb, (2015). Talia Shire Biography [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001735/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Igor Gubečka. (2010, April 7). Rocky is calling Adrian [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1yzIeBRh5o

Importance of Sound in Rocky

Dialogue, sound effects, and music make up the three basic categories of sound which are usually reordered separately until the editing process. Dialogue is what we hear coming from the characters themselves. In today’s films, the use of everyday language is used instead of formal theater language, which was used in the past. This is important because it reminds us of our cultural language from the past. Sound effects enhance the action within a film. These sounds of explosions and other over-emphasized sounds are what keep the audiences heart rate up during a movie. Music within a film adds to the visual theme within a movie. Sometimes it is the soundtrack of a movie, that which popular music is selected to be added into the movie, which is used in a scene. Other times it is the score, music often played by an orchestra or a synthesizer, which was written specifically for the movie, which plays in the background of a scene (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014).

In the opening scene of Rocky, we are introduced to the film with music. This song, Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti, later becomes the theme song to Rocky’s running scene later in the movie as well as the overall theme song for the movie. Gonna Fly Now, which was number one on the charts in 1977 (IMDb, 2015), was also used as the running theme songs in all of the other Rocky sequels.

Sound effects are used especially in the boxing matches of this film. When you hear a jab or a big left hook coming from Rocky, it is so loud that we hear it over the announcers and the audience of the boxing match. These sound effects add to the boxing theme of the movie as well as show us the power of each punch that the two fighters have.

The dialog can be heard from the boxers saying “come on” and their grunts as they hit each other. We also hear the announcers during the fight as they talk about the two boxers punishing each other.

The score, Going the Distance, serves as this scenes music and is used throughout the sequels to the first Rocky as their fight songs. This score is what the whole theme of the movie is about, Rocky just wanting to go the distance with the World Champion Apollo Creed.

If you were to just listen to the sound effects of this movie during the boxing match, or during Rocky’s training, you would know right off the bat that this movie falls within sports, to be more specific boxing drama. The soundtrack within this film signifies that this movie has a genre of drama in it as well. The lyrics dictate that someone is trying to overcome an obstacle and doing what they can to train hard to be successful.

In this movie, if the sound effects during the boxing match were over exaggerated, then the viewer may not have been as interesting thinking, “Oh, that could never happen”. Instead the punches in the fighting scene were realistic sounding, although louder than what they would sound like if we were at the match. At the same time, if the sound effects weren’t exaggerated a little, then we wouldn’t hear the hard punching sounds when a boxing glove crushes the face of Rocky or the ribs of Apollo. These sound effects of these blows were also strategically placed within the scene. When Apollo connects with Rocky’s eye, the sound is even a little more exaggerated. This is because Rocky’s eye is his most serious injury in the match. When Rocky connects with Apollo’s ribs, the sound is a little more exaggerated because Apollo has internal bleeding.

If you removed the soundtrack Gonna Fly Now, we wouldn’t have the impression that Rocky is training hard for what seems to be an impossible task. The movie wouldn’t have the same feel, we wouldn’t get amped up for the boxing match, and we wouldn’t get the notion that Rocky is ready for the match. Without the sound effects, we wouldn’t get the idea of how powerful the punches are that the two fighters are enduring. Finally if you removed the score, Going the Distance, the overall theme of the movie, Rocky going the distance, wouldn’t be so direct. During the fight, not only does this score add to the drama of the boxing match, it also gets our hearts racing and keeps us cheering for the underdog Rocky.

References:

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

IMBd.com, Bill Conti. (2015). Biography. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006015/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

MaximRecoil. (2012, January 6). Rocky (1976) Opening Scroll [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GR1mkwCF3g

Movieclips. (2014, February 19). Rocky (8/10) Movie CLIP – Gonna Fly Now (1976) HD [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YYmfM2TfUA

xEGC92x. (2008, June 25). Rocky 1 best scene [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25NmudB2fqg

Lighting Techniques

The lighting techniques throughout the film “Rocky” changes from scene to scene. I want to pay particular attention to the end of the movie, the fight between Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa. During the fight when the camera is in a medium shot mode, it seems that the use of three-point lighting is used. We only see the two boxers in detail while everything else is a blur. Then when the fight is over and all of the reporters enter the ring, we have long shot and the lighting is more natural. Finally when Adrienne is trying to make her way to Rocky, low-key lighting is used to enhance the idea that Adrienne is desperately trying to get to her Rocky after his grueling match and because of all the people, she is having a hard time.

The way lighting was used in this movie, particularly the ending, was necessary in order for each part of each scene to come together properly. This brought in the romance of the movie into the boxing drama of the film. A boxing drama film would need to emphasize the lighting on the two characters in the boxing match, thus three –point lighting is the best option. The drama with songs sub genre portion of the movie was just after the fight when the camera angle switched to a long shot and the lighting changed to a more natural approach accordingly. Finally the romance of Adrienne making her way to rocky needed the use of lo-key lighting in order to give that dramatic effect.

If the use of either low-key or high-key lighting would have been used during the match, the boxers may have gotten lost in the shadows or the over use of light. We may not have noticed the punishment each fighter was enduring. When the camera angle changed and we saw a long shot of the arena, we may not have noticed everyone jumping in the ring, giving us the feeling that the fight is over and everyone is anxious to get a word in, if the lighting would not have been a more natural approach. Finally when Adrienne runs to rocky, she may not have looked so determined and we may not have noticed the struggles she was having if the use of low-key lighting would have been used.

In this photo of Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa after their fight, three-point lighting was used in order to set the two boxers apart from the rest of their surroundings. Here we are able to see the details of the punishment the two boxers received during the match. The boxing shorts with blood on them, Rocky’s right eye completely swollen over, and Apollo’s face swollen are easily displayed because of the use of three-point lighting.

References:

Fanpop.com [Photograph]. (n.d.) Retreived from http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=rocky&view=detailv2&qpvt=rocky&id=4E12FBB80258FF2217727E73FC0E9A3ABCE77645&selectedIndex=10&ccid=mIefI4XR&simid=608044830079847488&thid=JN.01ifNPIad9cS4vd6f%2bAqmQ&ajaxhist=0

Hagg, M. (2010, Janurary 29). Rocky Balboa VS Apollo Creed [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_qhLRUh66k

WK1 Rocky

Rocky
Wrote by Sylvester Stalone
Directed by John G. Avildsen
Starring:
Sylvester Stalone, as Rocky Balboa, Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian’s brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky’s trainer Mickey Goldmill, Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed
Released 1976

Summary and Plot
Rocky is a movie about a boxer Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa who is an enforcer for a loan shark by day and a failing boxer by night. Apollo Creed is in need for a new opponent, because his scheduled one has an injury and due to the short notice, nobody will accept his invitation to fight. Apollo then comes up with the idea to give a local of Philadelphia the chance to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship on New Year’s Day. Because Rocky is a poor man, often being called a “Bum”, he uses whatever he can in order to train. This includes using hanging meat as a punching bag and wearing old dingy clothing as a running suit. Balboa then accepts Mickey as his trainer and begins to train for the fight of his life.

While training, Balboa meets Adrian, who is the sister of his friend Paulie, and begins to fall in love with her. Adrian is a shy girl who works in a pet store and takes care of her alcoholic brother. Paulie begins to notice Rocky’s success as he is training and begins to become jealous. Rocky notices this so he agrees to have Paulie’s meat business advertized on his robe that he will wear out to the boxing match.
The night before the fight Rocky tours the arena in which the fight will take place. He is unable to sleep and is very depressed and realizes that he has no chance in winning. Instead he only wishes to go the distance with Apollo and he confesses this to Adrian when he returns.
The boxing match begins with Apollo coming to the ring dressed in patriotic form. He puts on a show as we walks to the ring while Rocky looks to be half way scared to death. As the match begins, Rocky comes out quickly knocking startling Apollo. After that Apollo goes after Rocky beating him over and over again with punishing blows. Both contestants suffer severe injuries. Rocky has an injured eye while Apollo has internal bleeding. At the end of the match, round 15, both fighters hold each other up and state that there will be no rematch although everyone will want one.
About the Film
This film is presented in a chronological order. In the beginning of the film Rocky being an untrained boxer who gets an opportunity like no other in the world. Then he is trained to become a more skilled boxer so that he is able to compete at the same level as his opponent, and finally Rocky meets his goal by going the distance with the Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed.
Rocky being able to complete his goal of going the distance with Apollo was a great aesthetic choice in this film. The audience wanted Rocky to go the distance, they expected him to, but still because of the script the audience wasn’t quite sure if he would be able to. If he would have actually beat Apollo, then there may not have been sequels to this movie.
Rocky goes from being a lousy boxer, known around town as a “bum” to being an idol that many look up to and they cheer him on in his boxing match. His town is behind him and wishes him well because he is representing the city of Philadelphia.
In this movie, Rocky is the underdog who must overcome all odds. Everyone is behind him and wants him to win. Rocky must prove to himself that he is a good boxer and that he has what it takes to stand in the ring with the best. If the presentation style was different and Rocky would have already been a champion, then the movie’s meaning would have been different. An example is Rocky IV. In this movie Rocky is already a champion and he is out to get revenge on another boxer who killed Apollo Creed. The movie had completely different meaning.

References

Movieclips. (2014, February 19). Gonna Fly Now: Rocky . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YYmfM2TfUA
Movieclips. (2014, February 19). The Meat Locker: Rocky . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjX20gL-rnc