Trailer:

Louisa Hausslein

Bill Muench

Foundations of Cinematography

7 April 2019

 

The movie E.T: The Extra Terrestrial directed by Steven Spielberg was definitely one of the most iconic movies from the ‘80s and I believe it inspired a whole new kind of movie in the film industry. The film is about some sort of alien or unidentified creature (later known as E.T. AKA extra terrestrial) who is left behind accidentally on earth. The ship he traveled to earth on left without him so he was stranded in a whole new unknown world. Later the protagonist, Eliot, sees him in the woods and immediately experiences a connection with the strange creature. After forming the connection, Eliot brings E.T. to live with him in his house, just telling his siblings but keeping it a secret to everyone else. The bond between Eliot, his siblings, and E.T. becomes stronger and stronger to the point where Eliot feels E.T’s emotions. Eliot's worry of people finding out about E.T. and forcing experiments on him becomes stronger throughout the film, and there are constantly these suspicious looking men in lab coats searching for traces of him.

 

I loved the combination of the setting with the lighting and sound throughout the movie. It's very strong. There is no dialogue in first ten minutes of the movie but the audience is still completely captivated, interested and understanding due to the way everything was set up. The dim lighting and the creepy sounds along with the beautiful shots allowed us to know exactly what was going on without having to hear a single word. I was impressed by the acting in this film for the most part, especially by the main character Eliot. Although sometimes it was a bit too over the top and melodramatic which took away from the story a bit...specifically the mother's role. I thought the other kids in the movie were really great actors as well though. Similarly to Eliot, they acted like real kids -- not a dramatized version. It felt more like I was watching real kids do their thing rather than kids pretending to be kids...that made the story more heartwarming and really allowed the audience to connect to the characters. Some of the effects used in this film, such as the scene where the kids and E.T. are biking in the air, were pretty funny to watch. I noticed the unrealisticness of it a lot more than I normally would especially because I’m in this class. Despite the effects not being perfect, it was still a great movie. I think that shows that you can still have an amazing film, with an entertaining story line and a really great message even without all of the special effects. And this movie definitely accomplished that. But it is super interesting watching older movies effects and comparing them to what we have to day. The film industry has come very far obviously!

 

I would definitely recommend this film. The little flaws I noticed are heavily outweighed by everything else good in the movie, and I feel everyone could learn a lot from watching this film! I especially loved this movie because of the message that was mostly shown towards the end which is that often humans are so selfish they don't even realize the destruction they are causing. I also really liked the message that a lot of the time kids are smarter than adults and they should be listened to. Also, I would recommend this film because its super interesting to see all of the modern day movies and television shows that were clearly inspired by this, and I think everyone would find that interesting as well.