Oscar Gold and Film Structure


© Darrell Banks

Oscar Gold- A study of three films byDarrelll J. BanksCrCr. 2005

All Rights Reserved

Last month we cNicole Kidman KidmaKidman Kidman has her little gold statue, named Oscar, she earned it for her role in "The Hours." The legend of Oscars' name, is that Betty Davis named this little gold fellow. See her biography. This month we cover structure and plot in three Oscar nominated movies from last year " Hotel Rwanda, the Aviator, and Ray."

Oscar gold is for those who want and need a struggle to create a film that according to Colombia DVD club includes Lawrence of Arabia ( 1962). For a list of Oscar winners by decade, see http://www.filmsite.org/oscars.html

As a screenwriter I suggest you read the scripts from last years Oscar nominated filmsDVD'st the DVD's and learn frPearsonis, Pearson, Hackfordnd Hackford. This past month I caught four Oscar named films. I will cover "Million Dollar Baby in a few months. As a writer one should know structure, for the blue print of an Oscar winner is not the same fogardeavant garde popular cinema.

These three films marvel at structure for though each year screenwriters are informed dramavouge not in vouge, dramas are the show piece of the major studios. The studios lobby hard for their starring films. The Oscars attest to that. Each year Oscar winners and their counterparts are inDVD'sed with DVD's, press junkets and other incentives to grab their votes. This year Jaime Fox won for best actor, his performance was great, exceptional. But little Oscar should haveCheadleo Don Cheadle.

Structure-

"In the Aviator" we are presented with a strong cast oCatehBlanchetted Cate Blanchett an Oscar for her performaHepburnKatheriSophiebOkonedot, Sophie Okonedo gave a stronger performance, and her written role had an imposed structure. In "the Aviator," we are faced with a protagonist who can do anyDiiCaprioeonardo Di Caprio portrays a strong Howard Hughes, but the structure of the movie does not allow character development.

From the opening scene of this epic film, we are shown that little Howard Hughes has a problem with his mother. From a long shot we watch mot as she stares at t his penis. Howard is around twelve. The imagery of this scene falls into play in Acts two and three of" the Aviator," yet the structure of act one limits the remainder of the film. The audience is driven to understand why Howard Hughes acted crazy one moment and sane the next by Act 1 Scene 1. But the premise of aviation, causes a loss of dramatic effect after Act one follows young Howard as he shoots a film with multiple cameras. Fixated or compulsive, your choice "the Aviator"'s premise is flawed after the first twenty minutes of the film. The pace is there, the plot established, yet it fails in so many ways that "Hotel RwanCheadleceeds.

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