Finding Nemo: Acting Styles

Mise en scène refers to different technical elements used in making a film such as lighting and sound, both of which you have already analyzed in this course. The term also encompasses the role of actors in a film, their physical positioning and movements within the frame, as well as the different styles and types of acting.

The three actors from the film, Finding Nemo, I chose to analyze are Marlin, Nemo, and Dory. This film is animated and the characters are voiceover, which means the actors have to rely a lot on personality rather than the looks. There are several different types of actors, such as impersonator, interpreter, personality, wild card, and character. I believe with this type of animation, the characters within the film need a great personality that kids will enjoy. The acting depends so heavily on a strong personality along with a great voice that fits each character within the film.

ALBERT BROOKS AS MARLIN

Marlin, played by Albert Brooks, is an anxious and over-protective father who tries to rescue Nemo, his son, who was abducted. Marlin is a nice and caring parent, but can be easily irritable by others. Brooks is known for playing characters that are usually nervous and short-tempered. This style Brooks uses is an example of personality acting. “Personality actors rely on a strong personality and are, on some level, playing themselves” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). The other acting style that is used is character acting, because Brooks has to think like a fish in order to fit the role and make it believable. “Character actors who are able to fit invisibly into a wide variety of disparate characters, adapting to the needs of each script and director they work with” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). Brooks has the ability to play any role, even one completely different than his personality type. Brooks typically plays in comedy films, but has also starred in some films that require a more serious role. The clip below shows how Brooks plays an over-protected and worried father.

Below is a clip showing a different side of Brooks in a more serious role.

ALEXANDER GOULD AS NEMO

Nemo, played by Alexander Gould, is an adventurous and energetic young fish who wants to explore the world. Gould was 7 years old during the making of the film. His view of life and personality at the age during the film is what helped portray the role of the character, which explains why he is a personality actor. He is also a character actor, because he portrays a fish who has human qualities. He was able to adapt to the needs of this role in order for it to become believable. For him to only be 7 years old doing this film, it’s quite amazing to see how well he did for the role Nemo. Below is a clip of Gould being a “kid”, testing his father, within the film.

ELLEN DEGENERES AS DORY

Dory, played by Ellen DeGeneres, is a cheerful and positive fish that has short-term memory loss. She helps Marlin on his journey to finding and rescuing Nemo. DeGeneres has one of the brightest personalities. Her natural witty and funny personality pours through any role she plays. This style of acting is personality actor. “Personality actors are, at some level, playing themselves (or at least that is the perception). Films with strong personality actors can make it difficult for audiences to differentiate between the actor and the character” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). I would have to say DeGeneres was the star in this film, because so many people fell in love with the character Dory. She is simply popular and famous on screen and off, because her personality is so magnetic.

“Stylized acting is used when actors and directors want to call attention to the fact that the actor is, indeed, acting” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). This film blends extreme stylization with a surface realism, because the film gives the impression of genuine human action and reactions although the characters are fish.

Below is a clip of Ellen DeGeneres announcing, Finding Dory, a sequel to Finding Nemo opening in 2015. However, the last I heard is that the film was pushed back to 2016. This is the film that I believe will be very successful, because of the love the fans have for Dory. This is one film that I am definitely looking forward to see.

 

References:

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

YouTube. (2011, September 14). Drive – Albert Brooks Featurette (HD) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgrhWUgrwOA

IMDb. (n.d.). Finding Dory (2016) – IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2277860/

IMDb. (n.d.). Alexander Gould – IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071252/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

YouTube. (2010, January 26). Best moments of Dory – Finding Nemo [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOnPbNfKcds

YouTube. (2010, December 1). Finding Nemo Drop Off [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSnPjiLEA2Y

YouTube. (2006, December 14). Nemo goes to school [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd43CoSmy88

IMDb. (n.d.). Finding Dory (2016) – IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2277860/

Marlin AlbertBrooks Fish [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/img6/MarlinAlbertBrooksFishBigFacetsrimg1.jpg

IMDb. (n.d.). Alexander Gould – IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071252/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Ellen DeGeneres Dory [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://media.irishcentral.com/images/ellen-degeneres-dory-finding-nemo.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding Nemo: Types of Sound

There are many types of sound in a film. Some are diagetic, which are sounds that are represented as coming from within the world of the film. Others are non-diagetic, which are sounds that come from outside the world of the film. The three basic categories of sound are dialogue, sound effects, and music. Each category is typically recorded separately and then mixed together during the final editing process.

Dialogue is the conversations, which take place in a film. According to our reading, “In film, there are three basic reasons to use dialogue: to further the development of the plot, to enhance characterizations, and to establish very quickly important information the audience needs to know to understand the action” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014).

Sound effects are enhanced sounds used to emphasize content of films. For example, when there are explosions in a film, the sound enhances the action for a viewer. Other sound effects are footsteps, gunfire, phone ringing, doors closing, punching noises, and many more.

Music has been a crucial part of the movie going experience. It can help set the mood or help create anticipation of the scene. For example, if it’s a sad moment in the film, the music will be softer or slower to help intensify the mood the viewer is supposed to feel during that moment.

Finding Nemo has all three categories of sound that work together perfectly. In the clip above, shows all three categories in effect. You can hear the dialogue between Marlin and Nemo while they are swimming towards school. The sound effects you can hear throughout the clip are: fish swimming, fish screeching to a halt when stopping for Marlin and Nemo to pass intersection, the teacher landing on ground and then rising from ground, and teacher swimming. Other sound effects you can hear throughout the film are the sound of bubbles, explosions of mines detonating, sounds of creatures swimming, the breathing of the scuba divers, the camera flashing, the bouncing on the jellyfish, and many more. In the clip, you can also hear light music in the background which sounds like an orchestra playing,

The use of sound informs the mood of the scenes very well throughout the film. For example, the clip below has the softest music in the background. If it was happy or upbeat music, then the death of Coral and the eggs would not have had the same impact as intended to for the viewer. There would have clearly been a disconnect between the death and selected music.

The sound effects and music work together to reveal the various moods of the film. If the characters are in a fun, happy mood the music and sound effects are upbeat and louder than usual. They are well placed and the music changes accordingly to the dialogue of the scene.

The voices used for the characters are often cartoonish sounding. This indicates it’s an animated film. You can also hear the teacher singing in one of the clips, which is also an indication of it being animated.

The dialogue within this film uses words that children can understand, but also has humor that appeals to the adults. The scene below is one of my favorite, because of the aftermath of the mines detonating is unexpected. As the mind field detonates, there are bubbles that float up water. The scene cuts to two pelicans as if they were on a date and the bubbles float out to the top of water as if the female pelican passed gas. The male pelican says, “nice” and flies away from her. This was an unexpected sound effect that made the scene that much better. However, there are other sound effects that helped make the viewer feel as if they are under the ocean. These were the realistic sound effects. For example, the swimming and bubble sound effect is spot on within the film.

References:

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

Finding Nemo. (2011, February 24). Nemo Coral Reef HQ [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4TrLRUqUs8

Finding Nemo. (2012, March 16). Death Scene: Coral from Finding Nemo (2003) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1k0IIpJOLM

Finding Nemo. (2010, December 25). Finding Nemo – Nice [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MnK2DxEp8

FINDING NEMO LIGHTING TECHNIQUES

Title: Finding Nemo

Writer: Andrew Stanton (Orig Story)
Andrew Stanton (Scr)
Bob Peterson (Scr)
David Reynolds (Scr)
Ronnie del Carmen
Dan Jeup
Jason Katz

Director: Andrew Stanton (Dir)
Lee Unkrich
Oren Jacob

Year: 2003

Actors: Albert Brooks (as the voice of Marlin), Ellen DeGeneres (as the voice of Dory), and Alexander Gould (as the voice of Nemo)

Genre: Animation, Adventure, and Comedy

Mise en scene is a term meant to encompass the arrangement and use of a variety of design elements in creating the visual theme of a film. In any film, the intensity and direction of lighting will influence how an image is perceived by the viewer, and it can establish or enforce particular themes.

Although the music helps set the emotion of a scene, it’s the lighting that really helps provide the viewers the underlying emotion of every scene. In this film, Finding Nemo, the lighting used is low-key lighting, high-key lighting, and also three-point lighting. I believe all three lighting techniques was used in this film in order to have a better understanding of what the scene is portraying. The cinematographer did a great job with the lighting.

Low-Key Lighting

“A low-key lighting design looks dark overall by comparison. It is marked by extreme use of deep shadows, with very high contrast between the brightest parts of the scene and the darkest parts, which are obscured in shadows” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). In low-key lighting, there is often only a single source of light coming from either the back or side of the character. One scene that demonstrated low-key lighting is the scene with the light bulb. In the photo below is when Marlin and Dory are attempting to make their way out of the dark when they notice a light that looks like a light bulb from a distance. They get closer to it and Dory tries to touch the light. The light starts moving upwards, while Marlin and Dory follow, and it gets closer to the face of a huge, terrifying fish. The source of light shows the features of the huge fish that tries to eat them within the scene. If this scene had used either a high-key or three-point lighting technique, it would not have made the same impact that it did initially. By using the low-key lighting design in this film, it makes the viewer wonder about the light. If it was used by any other technique, it wouldn’t have made it suspenseful and frightening.

High-Key Lighting

High-key lighting is also used in this film. This type of lighting allows the colors to become brighter. This reflects in the scene below, showing the colors almost as if light is reflecting off. “A high-key lighting design has very bright light over everything, with few shadows and relatively low contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the scene” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014).

Three-Point Lighting

This lighting is demonstrated in the below photo. This type of technique shows the balanced lighting within the photo compared to the other techniques. Three-point lighting looks a little more natural than the other techniques in my opinion.

Although this film is animated, lighting is still an important factor in order to achieve a successful film. Lighting helps emphasize the mood of the scene. The benefits of these types of lighting used in the film are that they fit the film perfectly. The high-key lighting help create the feeling of happy, fun, and funny. The low-key lighting help create the feeling of scared, sad, and worried.

The techniques of the lighting used in the film contribute to the theme very well. It helped influence the audience’s emotion that was initially intended. When it was scary during the film, the lighting was darker, which was intended to produce fear and anxiety in the viewer. When there were happy moments during the film, the lighting was brighter, which was intended to produce that good feeling within the viewer. The lighting used for the genre of the film helped create a more appealing film for the audience. As you watch this film, you can tell the colors within the film are brighter when it’s happy moments and darker when it’s scary or sad moments.

If the film used different lighting techniques at the wrong time during a scene, the viewers would not be as emotional involved as it was intended to. For example, if the scene is intended to be scary or suspenseful and the cinematography uses bright lights for the scene, then it obviously wouldn’t be scary or suspenseful. Also, the viewer would not connect if it’s supposed to be a happy scene and the lighting is dark. Overall, lighting is one of the most important features to have in film in order for it to become a successful hit.

References:

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

Retrieved from http://www.autorivals.net/fun/2010mktvswalrus/fishfrontside.jpg

(2007, October 20). Retrieved from http://radified.com/gfx2/nemo_med.jpg

(2012). Retrieved from http://cinemawriter.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/findingnemo_pic.jpg

Finding Nemo

Title: Finding Nemo

Writer: Andrew Stanton (Orig Story)
Andrew Stanton (Scr)
Bob Peterson (Scr)
David Reynolds (Scr)
Ronnie del Carmen
Dan Jeup
Jason Katz

Director: Andrew Stanton (Dir)
Lee Unkrich
Oren Jacob

Year: 2003

Actors: Albert Brooks (as the voice of Marlin), Ellen DeGeneres (as the voice of Dory), and Alexander Gould (as the voice of Nemo)

Story: Finding Nemo is a 2003 animated film about a clownfish, Marlin (Albert Brooks), along with a blue regal tang named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), searches for his abducted son Nemo (Alexander Gould) all the way to Sydney Harbour. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and let Nemo take care of himself.

Plot: The film starts out with two clownfish, Marlin and his wife Coral, who are admiring their new home in the Great Barrier Reef, along with their clutch of eggs when a barracuda attacks, knocking Marlin unconscious. He soon wakes up to find Coral and all but one of the eggs missing. Marlin decided to name the egg Nemo, a name that Coral liked. Due to the damage from the attack, Nemo develops a small right fin, which will limit his swimming ability in the future.

Once he is older, Nemo heads to a school field trip where Marlin embarrasses him. Nemo decided to sneak away from his overprotective father and becomes captured by a scuba diver. One of the divers knocks his diving mask overboard as the boat departs the area.

Marlin is on a mission to find his son Nemo. During the search, Marlin meets Dory who is a good-hearted and positive regal blue tang, who unfortunately has short-term memory loss. The two encounter several obstacles such as three sharks in a minefield and jellyfish, which nearly kills them.

They receive directions to Sydney, Australia where they believe Nemo is located based on the address listed on the diving mask they find. Marlin’s story is spread across the ocean when he shares details of his journey to a bunch of sea turtles.

While Marlin and Dory are searching for Nemo, Nemo is stuck inside a fish tank in a dentist’s office on Sydney Harbour. Nemo meets aquarium fish that soon become his friends. The fish learn that the dentist plans to give Nemo to his niece. They become worried, because the niece once filled a fish just by shaking the bag. They soon plan an escape plan for Nemo, but ultimately fails.

While Nemo is stuck inside the fish tank, a whale engulfs Marlin and Dory. After Dory tries to communicate with the whale, the whale expels them through his blowhole. They soon meet with Nigel, a brown pelican, who recognizes Marlin from the stories heard across the ocean and takes them to the dentist office. While they arrive, Nemo plays dead to try to save his life and escapes down a drain. Marlin, who believes Nemo is dead, starts to head home without Dory. After a while, Dory loses her memory and becomes suddenly confused. Nemo runs into her and Dory soon realizes whom Nemo is once her memory restores. She helps Nemo to Marlin and they finally reunite.

Suddenly, Dory is caught inside a fishing net with others. Nemo enters inside the net and directs the group to swim downward together to break the net. The group listens and finally escapes the net. Once they return home, Nemo leaves for school. Marlin, who is no longer overprotective, proudly watches his son swim away. Dory is of course by his side.

Chronology: The film was told in chronological order, which helped the ending of the film more meaningful. Throughout the film, you watch Marlin’s love for his missing son, and Nemo’s love for his overprotective father. They both realize the mistakes they made to get where they are. It makes the end more touching when they reunite after all the obstacles they had to encounter to find each other. The chronological story telling also helped to develop the character of Marlin as we got to see his process of grieving for his missing son to the determination he had inside himself to find his son.

If the film had followed a different presentation style, the audience might not have been as emotionally connected to the characters. The way the film starts off with a happy couple ready for a new beginning in a new home to all of a sudden lose everything and be left with just the father and son is the start of an emotional journey.

Resources:
AFI: 10 Top 10. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.afi.com/10top10/moreDetail.aspx?id=54273&thumb=1
Finding Nemo – Trailer. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdpNglLbt8