Responses 2A: Trailers, Etc.
Topics: How does the director use rhetoric in the trailer for Don Jon, the opening credits to Carnivàle, or the final scene of Mad Men’s "The Phantom" (S5 E13)? The final scene of “The Phantom” contains the song "You Only Live Twice," the lyrics for which are in Mad Men Notes. Remember that your response is only 50-100 words and doesn’t have to cover all the uses of rhetoric in the item. You might want to focus on a part of the item or on several aspects. For example, in the Don Jon trailer you might want to take a close look at time or repetition in the first 30 seconds. Or, you might want to look at the relation of visual repetition to music throughout the trailer. For the opening credits of Carnivàle you might want to contrast realistic versus fantastic spaces. For the final scene of “The Phantom” you might want to limit your analysis to the use of colour, music, or lyrics. Or you might want to look at how music and lyrics work together. It’s up to you.
In general, I start with good, slightly flawed responses and end with very good, more polished responses.
*** = my comments & suggestions
Mad Men Clip (from “The Phantom”)
During the final scene of Mad Men’s “The Phantom” (S5E13), began with a bright and shining of colour atmosphere, as if it were the “American dream” following with the first lyrics of Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice”. As the scene plays out, the dazzling colours that had initially set up the scene begins to fade into a bleak, darker shade, whilst the music remains to play the soft, romantic tune of faint optimism. As the music progresses, the tone has shifted from optimism to a noir setting, leaving a conflict between the music’s optimistic lyrics and the harsh atmosphere.
*** This response starts off with a serious grammatical error (the mixed construction, “During […], began”) and a fairly serious error (“Shining of colour atmosphere”), yet it makes good points about the use of colour and contrast. The student could point out that the lyrics in the song also suggest something noir and dangerous. Note that the student has used the correct way to refer to a TV episode, although a space in the middle makes it a bit easier to read: (S5 E13). Put episode titles in double quotes, and series titles in italics: Mad Men. For formats, grammar, and conventions, see Essay Structure, Marking, and Writing Tips & Conventions.
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This song has a dark side and hides the truth about life; the title says it all “You Only Live Twice”. The very definition of rhetoric. No one can live twice. But an egocentric person, like Don, thinks he can live twice let alone nine lives like a cat. He has a double personality; one with his family and another outside his family. This is emphasized in the scene as he walks away from the colour, light, and his wife into the darkness of the bar and his hidden desires. Without even looking back, he will indeed “pay the price”.
*** While starting off weak in both content and expression, this one makes good points about duality, light, and consequences. It could omit the vague sentence fragment, “The very definition of rhetoric.”
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The colors the woman is wearing, yellow and red, contrasts with the whole neutral room, bringing a lot of attention to her and valuing her importance to the scene. She feels happy after telling her feelings to Don but he does not mach her emotions, judging by his face expression. As he leaves the room, the song "you only live twice" starts playing, showing Peggy, Pete and Roger, who didn't find love yet. The lyrics say that love is a stranger who will beckon you on, the perfect connection to the last scene, probably how Don found the love.
*** While the final sentence could be more clear, and while the montage could be more clearly identified, this response makes good initial points about colour and contrast. Proofread carefully: colours … contrast; facial expressions; You Only Live Twice; will beckon you on, which is the.
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The song "You Only Live Twice" contrasts Don's dull life and his possible desired future by matching it to the apt final scene. Don's mundane ordinary reality with his wife represents one life for yourself. Then the scene expands to a lady gesturing Don for love despite the action can result in falling marriage life that suggests danger. Moreover, his desired womanizing and alcoholic life can be seen as his dream. The seducing lyrics indicates that Don will pay the price without considering the risk to capture his dream.
*** While the third sentence is awkward, this is very well written. The student does a great job matching the lyrics to the director’s point about Don.
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In the last scene of Mad Men’s fifth season, the use of contrasting colours provides insight to Don’s journey. At the beginning the audience is presented with Megan in bright and joyful shades of yellow and red, and she is placed on a well lit, lavish, and colourful set. The subsequent shot is of Don giving her a last look and walking away into darkness, leaving the bright set behind him. This illustrates Don leaving his life of marriage and commitment, the colourful and almost too perfect version of Megan, to pursue others (the women we later meet at the bar), the blacks and greys surrounding the window into this idyllic life.
*** This is very smoothly written and makes a consistent and insightful point. Make sure to put the title of the series in italics.
Carnivàle Opening Credits
The opening scene of Carnivale begins with tarot cards and hints at mythology but as the camera pans out it reveals moments from the Great Depression Era. Each tarot card seemingly symbolizes an unfolding story. The camera switching between scenes gives the impression of two different perspectives or stories being developed. As the story is building, the intensity of the music builds as well.
*** The student has the framework of a good analysis, yet needs to get more specific: What type of mythology? What unfolding story? Which two different perspectives? How does the music work in relation to the images? Improving this doesn’t require long explanations – for example, the student might write, “a story about the struggle between good and evil.” This response only has 64 words, which means that the student has space to deal with more of the rhetoric. For instance, the student could briefly explain how the story (of good and evil?) is hinted at in the camera work, the differing perspectives, and the mounting intensity of the music. Put movie and series titles in italics: Carnivàle.
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Carnival shows the contrast between fantastic and realistic spaces through gateways that acts as the cards. As the camera goes into what seems to be the inside of a card it is followed by great symbolism of a fantastic world which is then followed by a more realistic imagery of humans and the world. The cards seem to prepare the audience to enter its world by showing fantastic before realistic imagery as fantastic is less daunting than reality. These series of fantastic followed by realistic imagery is contrasted throughout the visual to show the world that exists inside these cards.
*** This starts off very strong, yet tends to repeat itself toward the end. It could also use more specific and clear points: What is the great symbolism? What world exists inside these cards? Why is fantasy less daunting than reality, especially given the complex allusions to myth, religion, and fantasy?
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Carnivàle uses strong visual imagery to introduce one of its major themes to the viewer before the show has even started. Because the show takes place during the 1930’s, it displays old footage of historical events from that time period, like Mussolini’s rise to power, and jobless workers during the Great Depression. Carnivàle then carefully entwines these events with the major arcana cards of a tarot deck, which is commonly used for divination and fortune telling. In this way, the show can present not only the setting, but the overarching motif of fate versus free will.
*** This is a very well-written and coherent response. A few points could be more specific: What type of “strong” visual imagery is used? (realistic? surrealistic? contrasting images of …?); How does the entwining work? What type of setting is presented? (or are there are there several types of setting?); What type of fate is suggested (ominous? triumphant?, etc.). In many cases, a specific adjective would help the reader get a clearer idea of what the trailer is driving at.
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Time and space are contorted in the Carnivàle movie trailer to compare and contrast the reality of the past with the fantastical aspects of religion. The use of tarot cards as the medium for channeling the past effectively relates the title, or theme, written on each tarot card to a real historical period or event. The concealment of true events behind religious images and the distortion of images on some of the cards that is needed to reach past reality, however, emphasizes how religion is only loosely founded in reality and how there may always be room for religious interpretation.
*** While the last sentence needs further clarification in order to be fully appreciated, the writing here is of high quality and the ideas are ambitious and insightful.
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The constant movement and change of imagery metaphorically depict the ever-changing and uncontrollable events of life. Tarot cards, tools for prophesying, are scattered about while the camera view zooms inside of the cards images creating a three dimensional view and seamlessly transition to real life scenes matching the particular theme and artwork of the cards. As we zoom out and into the frame of a new card the viewer is seeing many facets of life before arriving at the final cards of moon and sun, or Satan and God, again suggesting that worldly events are largely out of our control.
*** While the writing is a bit awkward in the second sentence (transitioning instead of transition?) and while the relation of Satan and God to control could be more clear, this is a very ambitious and insightful response. With a bit of proofreading and clarification, this could be a top-notch response.
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The most obvious rhetorical strategies employed in the opening credits of Carnivàle are pathos, comparison and contrast. The director is asking the viewers to contrast the mythical and dramatic depictions on the cards with the actual footage that succeeds them, while simultaneously comparing the parallelisms between them. An example of this is the card labelled “death” that portrays and embellishes human pain and suffering, followed by historical clips of genocidal dictators and the klu klux klan. This entices the viewers attention towards trying to decipher the meaning, which sometimes fails to be demonstrated through realistic representations alone, as it can be lost to subjectivity. Fiction is the tool being used to distill interesting experience out of reality.
*** This response is too long (117 words) and the final statements are a bit too vague, yet this response has many very strong elements: a succinct listing of strategies, a clear example of the relation between cards and footage, and a sense of the rhetorical aim. One rather small point: compare might be better than contrast, since compare is often used to imply compare and contrast, while contrast tends to exclude comparison.
Don Jon Trailer
The trailer begins with a beat about Don’s life, what he likes, and who he is. Many of the things Don enjoys, are of a selfish nature. As the Beat increases tempo, suddenly it is halted by the “girl”. The dialogue shifts from all about him, to about her. We see how Don faces a predicament of letting himself change into someone else, so he can have a relationship and sacrifice some pleasure for Love. As Don experiences change in his relationship, the Song at the end shows how he feels about his new relationship, as he sings “Good Vibrations!”
*** This response starts off well, yet it could be improved by replacing summary of content with analysis of form. The last two sentences mostly focus on content, and could be replaced with a more detailed look at how the beat is halted, how the dialogue shifts, or how humour plays a part in the song he sings in the car. Finally: beat, love, or song (unlike in German, in English nouns are capitalized if they’re proper nouns, in a title, or at the start of a sentence).
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The opening scenes of the trailer portray a stereotypical idea of masculinity and what men care for. The rapid transition from the portrayal of a man’s world influenced by porn to a woman’s world influenced by rom coms highlights the stark difference between the two. However, the overlapping visuals and audio of the two worlds towards the end of the trailer, portray how men and women alike, try to make the fake media their reality. This implication is evident when Don calls the female the most beautiful “thing” and she is swooned by it, reflecting their different interpretations of reality.
*** Apart from the final sentence, this is a very good response. The final sentence needs proofreading: one swoons; one can’t be swooned. In any case, swoon is an archaic verb that’s too strong for this context. The response also ends on a slightly unclear note: isn’t her response in synch with his compliment? This might be better: This eventually becomes clear when Don calls the female the most beautiful “thing,” yet her flattered response leads into several scenes which highlight their conflicting views on romance and sexuality.”
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The aim is to create a personal connection with the protagonist, and thus an interest in his struggle. The opening scene grabs attention with a zoom show of Joseph Gordon-Levitt bearing his unclad (and well-defined) torso, putting his halo effect to full use. The relaxed pose and intimate setting imply to the viewer that they are being acquainted with the protagonist on a personal level. The voiceover is the auditory equivalent - a low, gravelly register intimating personal conversation. The next scenes, repeating and speeding up serve the rhetorical aim in two ways: to make the viewer feel they’ve known the protagonist over a long period and to underscore the fundamental, long-standing place porn has for him. The result of the coming upheaval becomes a must-see.
*** This response is too long (126 words) yet it is well-written, it makes a coherent point, and it backs up the point up with detailed examples. To cut down the words, the student could omit the final sentence, shorten the third sentence (instead of, imply to the viewer that they are being acquainted with the protagonist on a personal level, the student could write, show a personal side of the protagonist), and omit some unnecessary words — in italics here: zoom show, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, serve the rhetorical aim, fundamental, long-standing.