Has Frank Darabont lost his technique in making Stephen King Films over time?

From the reserach I have done about Stephen King books and Frank Darabont, I have started to come to an answer about my question. At first I satered off with "How has his technique changed" But after researching more about "The Mist" (His latest Stephen King film) I soon start to learn that he wasn't losing his techinquie in making films but instead that it was more the produection companies behind the films who were forcing him to change.

When "The Shawshank Redemption" came out, it had a lot of reviews about the brilliance of the film, but wasn't going down to well in box office sales. Only over time has the film really become a favoirte amoung alot of people. Rated number one on alot of film webistes, "The Shawshank Remption" has come along way. But when you come back to the present time and find out that Darabont has made a new hit "The Mist" Immedialty film fans are excited, a new fresh idea of Darabont and King together agine, the perfect combination. And with every film reveiw from film blogs and review in newspapers it sounded like he had hit the jackpot again. But when you move away from the branded hype of "The Times" Or "Imdb" and move onto the fans, you find out that the film wasn't such a great success.

It usess modern technquies and speacial effects. With monster tenticals coming out and grabbing at anyone, and huge bugs flying around, the effects have grown up quite alot from "Shawnshank". The biggest hype of the film was "The Twist at the end" and everyone raved about how good it was...apart from the fan blogs. I have seen the film, and I have got to say I was diappointed in the ending and the rest of the film. The film has a good idea, that it fouces on putting people in a situation and are all boiled up together and see what happens next, but to me the film didn't have much of a story line but more who can shout the loudst and have the most serious face wide angled shots.

Compare the treatment of power, poverty and conflict in 'A Prophet' with one other film studied for this module

Power, poverty and conflict are the themes in “A Prophet” and “City Of God”. Both films highlight all these themes in similar ways and are presented in the narrative very differently. “A Prophet” is set in France, and is about a man who has been sent to prison for a minor crime, beating up a policeman. While in prison he soon becomes very heavily part of the main crowd in the prison who runs the place and starts to earn respect. While “City of God” is set in a slum, and is about a boy trying to stay away from the major crime that occurs there, he encounters a number of problems living there and the narrative is told in a non-linear way. Though both films are different in story and culture, the main themes of the film; power, poverty and conflict are very similar.
“A Prophet” focuses on the life in prison of Malik, a young man who goes into trouble for assaulting a prison guard. Early on in the film he runs into trouble with the prisoners with the power and authority they get him to murder and inmate who has just arrived at the prison. This is an example of power and conflict first enters the film. Malik is forced to do something he doesn’t really want to do. If he doesn’t do it, it is his own life on the line instead.
Very similar, “City Of God” also has power and conflict shown early on in the film. Instead of being the inner workings of prisoners in a small building, it is instead, about the power and conflict the government has over the people living in poverty. Like in “A Prophet” Lil Dice (The main hood of the film) is influenced a lot by what the tender trio say. Instead of being forced to crime, he is instead “nurtured” into it. Like “A Prophet”, conflict and power are presented in bother films through a hierarchy, with the people at the top saying what goes, and the main characters at the bottom, with not much of a say in what they can do as individuals. This is presented to the audience in many different ways, and which than as an audience member you can feel sympathy for the characters.
“A Prophet” starts the story of Malik prison life from the begging. The film is presented in a linear way so we can almost grow up with Malik and see how he develops over time. While “City Of God” starts at the end and then goes back to the beginning, so we have a taste of what’s to come and then follow rocket as he grows up in The City of God. The Films show conflict in the boys lives, and how hard it is to live where they are. The characters are both trapped and are trying to get out, but there is no easy way out.
Another point that is brought up in both films is working your way up the hierarchy and into a better standard of life. This can link to both power and poverty. “A Prophet” demonstrates the power of moving up, with having to carry out a task, in this case Malik has to murder a man. This is a main part of the film and happens quite early on. While in “City of God” It is important to move up and make yourself know. Though it is not really highlighted, there is a scene where Lil Zè is out looking for “the runts” and when he does find them he asks a teenager to prove himself as a man and kill one of them. In both films this is represented in the same way. The top of the hierarchy have the power and the people at the other end are in poverty. In the prison it is not so much poverty but more protection. Malik does gain some power and when people ask him why does he work for people he always says that he works for himself and doesn’t need to work for someone. This is another example of how the films are trying to represent the force of power that you can have in your life and you are unable to do anything about it.
Narrative is very different in both films, even though similar messages are very similar. “A Prophet” follows Malik from the begging and no commentary is made. The camera sometimes moves onto other people, but for most of the film it is focused on Malik and there is never any narrating. While in “City of God” It is all from Rockets perceptive and the narration is done by him. This does make a different impact on the film’s themes for there is a different focus. With Malik as the audience you see him as a bit of a weak link following people around, but with Rocket you feel sympathy for he is in a place he can’t get out.
In conclusion, even though both films are set in a very different place and are about different types of crime the main occurring themes in the films; power, poverty and conflict come up over and over again. Even if it is through the top hood of a gang, or the head leader of a prison, both films show how life can be difficult in the countries, and make some inspiring film stories.

Comments on "A Prophet"

I was really surpried how much I liked this film. I thought that the cinematograhpy was amazing. That parts of the film that were very good was when Malik was having a dream about something that was going to happen. Like when he had the dream about the dear in the headlights.

City Of God: Power, Poverty and Conflict

• An appreciation of the messages and values contained within the chosen films. What is the film saying about the society it depicts? Is there a moral message?

City of God is set in a slum in Brazil and is known as the place to go when you have noe money or you are broke. It is set from the 60s to the 80s. It follows the charcter Rocket whos brother is in the orginal gang "The Tender Trio" He is a simple person who doesn't like any of the violence in The City of God. He wants to be a photgrapher and starts as a delviery boy at a newspaper. He stays away from the drug dealing as best as possible, but the top hood is Le Ze, who Rocket grew up with a knows as a firend. I think the film is trying to show how much diffrent the society is to what people think of Brazil. It is showing there is more than just violence and killings. There is actaul back stories to the people and there are many diffrent people living there than just the drug dealers. I think the way the film is layed out makes you think like that. Each character having a turn to have there stories told in detail, all making sense. I think this was really good for instead of just thinking they are the "drug dealers" in society you see them as regular people. I think the moral message of the film is that even in a place were deaths just occur and nothing happens, I think it made people think about the place. In brazil 40,000 people are muredered or violently killed every year. I think this highlights the issue of gangs and how much violence actaully occurs. Also City of God demonstrates how it got to this point of gangs and shootings. Violence breeds more volence.

• An understanding of the relationship between form and content, possibly with a particular reference to distinctive stylistic features, e.g. does it have a documentary style or does the cinematography reference another film from another genre? Comment on film language.

• An understanding of contexts, especially time and place. Do some background research on when and where the film is set. Was there any controversy when it was released?

When the film was released the socialest presidant of Brazil saw it and said "it wasn't a film but a fact" Which I think is very true That it has had an effect on everyone and it is not just a story but something that has to be addressed. I really good quote I found says "City of God is not only a portrait of our favelas, it is also our portrait, at 24 frames a second, our faces blurred with the faces of 10-year-old children holding machine guns. All the manifestations of our chaos become visible. This film will be seen by the whole country in terror, and I believe it will cause transformations in the political arena" Which was said by the same person. Which I think sums up

Has Frank Darabont lost his technique in Making Stephen King films Over Time

My foucus films for the question are "The shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile" and "The Mist" What do all these films have in common? Written my the same author and and 3 are directed by the same man. From all the information I have researched the answer would be no. Nearly every review and anaylis of the most recent film "The Mist" 2007 has been all very positive. Everyone loved the twist at the end, everyone loved the story line and everyone loved hwo it was made. But amongst of all of this, the main source I have found that is saying it is not as good as it used to be I Darabont himdlef. I countless interviews I have found he talks about how limiting it is to make horror films, how he regrets how The Mist was put on the screen and wished he couldv'e changed it. He wanted the orginal film to be in black and white but due to people "not wanting to see films like that and put people off" He put the film on the big screen in color and says he wishes he did put it in black and white for that is how it was meant to be seen.

From my point of view, I would say yes, he has lost his technique. "The Shawshank Redepmtion" 1994 is my favorite film of all time. Great story line, great editing and great cinematography. The film is one of Darabont's first and the new ideas and technquies makes it great. The screen play is also wirtten closly to the book and I think this is what makes the film amazing. Then "The Green Mile" 1999 was realeased, same author, same director and even some of the charcters are the same. Like shawshank new techniques are used and the story once again is told fleuently. The interviews I have found about this talk about "making it more of a hollywood style" Which would suggest that Darabont is trying to make his style diffrent to conform to what people like to see within films. Then in 2007 Darabont realsed his first film in almost 10 years "The Mist" I have watched it and was not the best. The Shawshank worked for scenes that needed speacial effects, he worked arond it and hid some brutla parts of the other films which I think worked. But in The Mist he shows EVERYTHING, all the blood and guts and goore and to me that is now a Darabont film. It was just a wanna be Saw film with good acting.

4 Catalouge Entries

These are 4 more entries I have for my catalouge! :)

Magazine
Item 10: Sight and Sound: The Green Mile review

May only just be a review but it talks about how diffrent it is from Shawshank, and how it is almost not as good as shawshank.

Item 9: DVD Feature from The Mist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-64pR2ARecY

Says that he wasn’t allowed to present the film in black and white for the views would not be as high as a colour film. He talks about how people these days don’t tend to see black and white films and how people more enjoy films in colour. This is an example of where he has to change his ideas to make more money and make it less than what it could’ve been.

Item 3: Screen Writer Utopia

http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2741

Talking about how he is now doing a 10 year anniversary director commentary. He talks about how hard it was for people not wanting to go and see The Shawshank Redemption and that is was beat over forest Gump but now over the years has been more accepted and that it has become a favourite film to a lot of people.

Item 8: The Shooting Script; The Shawshank Redemption

Really good book has the whole screen play including the deleted scenes from the film and then in the last few pages it has Darabont’s comments on each scene and how he feels about them. When reading, I found in one of the scenes he talks about how film and fiction are two different things and sometimes things just don’t translate.

Homework Question About Setting and Narrative

Choose one of the films studied so far and another film with an urban setting (any language) and show how the city is a defining presence in the narrative.

La Haine is set in 1995 and focuses alot on the setting and were the 3 boys come from, a suburban estate in the outskirts of Paris. The city is always constanly there within the film. There is never one shot at the begining of a scene to show where in paris they are, but instead we are constanly reminded of the estate, and even if the men do go out of the estate the camera/audience is always brought back to the same place.

London to Brigton was made in 2007 and follows the story of a woman called Kelly and her Pimp Derek and the story of a young girl who is living rough on the street. 12 year old Joanne has left home from her drunk father in search of a better life, but get caught up in the world of prostiting and trying to stop gettting killed within 24 hours. The film is first set in london, with just shots of a public toilet covered in graffit and set in the present time. As Joanne and Kelly begin to talk more you learn they are in the centre of London and planing to leave for Brighton. As they leave to get the train, there is a long shot of Waterloo station and you can clearly see where they are and the setting they are in.

Both films have very similar story lines, both are set over 24 hours, both are about people trying to get away from conflict but just can't for they are always brought back to it and can never just stay away. Similar in story lines and similar in the setting foucus. The setting of both films are almost not a place but almost set as a charcter, always coming up amongst the narrative and never just background filler.

London to Brighton is shown in the narattive through converstions on a train and a quick passing montauge. A part were this is especially true is when Kelly is trying to get some more money for her and Joanne, so she goes out in search of "work" while Joanne stays to go around Brighton pier and play on the arcades. There is just long and meduim shots of Joanne playing around Brighton and visting alot of well known parts. This is a really goo way to get the point across that they are in fact really far away from the city and in a more open part of the country.

Again, La Haine is very similar, for there are alot of shots to show and remind the audience within the narrative that they are in fact in Paris even though estate is not a famous land mark. When the boys are in Prais there is a really good shot were the Vertigo effect is used. This is were the camera moves back at the same time is Zooms in. So as the audience are given a good feel of how close to paris they are, yet the estate they live is made out to be so diffrent.

In conclusion, both films focus on the setting almost as much as a character. In the sense that instead of just a background setting (Like Sex In the City with just New York there as a name of the fashion captial city of the world) In London to Brigton and La Haine, they are treated more kindly and are seen as places that need respect.