Juan Ortiz
COMM 3402-01
Annie Hall
Director: Woody Allen
Writters: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon
Cinematography: Gordon Willis
Box Office: $38,251,425
Awards and Accolades:
1978 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress in a leading Role (Diane Keaton), Best Director, Best Original Screenplay
1978 Golden Globes: Best Actress in a Comedy (Diane Keaton)
1978 BAFTA Awards: Best Actress (Diane Keaton), Best Direction, Best Editing,
Best Film, and Best Screenplay
Best Film, and Best Screenplay
In the Spring of 1977 film director Woody Allen realease what would become one of his most succesful films of his career, “Annie Hall”. In the romantic comedy, the main character, Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), is trying to find out why his relationship with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) did not work out. He looks back at his childhood and young adulthood to try to find a reason why. Singer reflects on his past relationships to understand if it is he who has the problem and not his partners. Allen’s character seems to have a hard time understanding his mistakes, since he is stubborn and persistent. In the course of the movie Alvy Singer realises that his fear of commitment and not willing to compromise with his partners was part of the reason most of his relationships did not work. Along with the funny parts of the movie, Woody Allen provides a movie that most viewers can relate to. Love and relationships are a hard topic that most try to understand why sometimes it doesn’t work out and Woody Allen provides insight as to some reason why that could be.
According to Louis Giannetti Woody Allen’s film Annie Hall is an example of a relistic film. The film has a sense of realism where its more about the story than the way it looks. If you were to watch the movie today it would have under the independent category because of the way it looks. It doesn’t have alot of effects, and not alot of editing. The movie is more about getting the story accross then having the eye be pelased. Most of the shots in the film are either medium shots or full shots. The movie is just pure dialogue. There is no action just talking. So a medium shot would be the right way to film this movie and that is what Woody Allen did. Most of the shots in the movie are medium shots because of the dialogue. The only time I can remember a long shot being used in the film was after Annie had her first performance at a nightclub and she was walking with Alvy in the street. Extrememe wide shots were rare. There were a couple close ups but mostly the movie was all medum shots.
Woody Allen did not play much with the angles. The angles remained consistent through out his film. He used the eye-level angle. This angle helped give the audience a feeling fo equality with the actors and characters. It makes them feel like they are going through the story with them rather than just watching them. Also, it allows the audeince to identify with the character and relate to him or her. To Giannetti the eye-level angel isn’t necessarily an angle it’s just a straight on look at the subjects. The lighting in the movie was basically natural lighting, most of the shots were filmed during the day and they were bright and nice which adds to the realism of this film. The shots that were filmed during the night, were very dark sometimes you weren’t able to tell where or what the character were doing. So Allen went for antural lighting instead of the studio lighting that added more the realism of the realism of this film.
In the year of it’s release Annie Hall, romantic comedies weren’t as popular. Movies that were big that year were completely different than Annie Hall. Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Smokey the Bandit were the top four movies of the year. What set this film apart from other films of its era was its sense of realism. The movie gave a sense of something that most people could go through. Also in this movie Allen used a technique of narration that hadn’t been used that often in film. In many of his scenes, Woody Allen’s character Alvy Singer would pause the scene, step out and comment on any given situation. It gives more of an insight into the mind of the character. I think with this Allen allowed the audience to get to know Singer better and a chance to relate to him.
In the film Allen was able to make light of topics that might be considered controversial. Allen covered topics like drugs, sex, women’s role in soceity and the most controversial, anti-semitic. He was able to joke about all those topics that usually weren’t metioned in films because of their sensitive nature. “The joke softens the pain but heightens the reality of anti-Semitism by appearing to distance it from everyone except Alvy, while in fact the joke's very ambiguity encircles the other characters, the author, and the audience” ("Desire and narrativity," 1993). Allen was able to lighten the topic, he was able to make fun of the topic but still make the audience aware that these topic and these problems were still in our society. What Woody Allen did was bring awareness with comedic relief to topics that may otherwise go unspoken of.
Personally the movie didn’t do much to me, I did not love but I did not hate it either. The movie had its funny parts but like Roger Ebert said in his review in 2002 the movie was just talking, it was simple. The comedy was hard to understand first because my mentality is not like for those who watched the movie in the 1970’s. They knew hat he meant and where he directed his comedy towards and so to them it was funny. The way the movie was filmed was very good, Allen made very good decisions when making this movie. He did use his surrounding to make a movie more about the story then for the eye. He wanted to show the life of a man who is not lucky in love. Throughout the movie he makes his audience aware of some topics that are not prevalent in a normal romantic comedy like drugs, sex, women, and anti-semitism. A movie that is completely different that other movies from its time, and a deserving Academy Award winnig movie Annie Hall provides a story rather than an adventure for the eye. Although not my favorite movie, Woddy Allen did create a masterpiece with Annie Hall.
Bibliography
Allen, W. (Director) (1977). Annie hall [Theater].
Ebert, R. (2002, May 12). Annie hall (1977). Chicago Sun Times
Giannetti, L. (2010). Understanding movies. (12 ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
Girgus, S. (1993). Desire and narrativity in annie hall. Explicator, 51(2), 122-125.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
- ( ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.
- ( ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
- ( ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.
- ( ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.
- ( ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.
- ( ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.
- ( ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.
- ( ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.
Two days beforc paper is due-.nearf inal draft form---rcreadyo ur paper for the followingp oints: and examineit
l ' ( ) en introductoryP afgraphc learlyi ntroduces thes ubjectA. topics tatemenist evident
2' ( ) rrre nextt wo paragraphesa chh avea single margin or mainc laim.N otee achc laim in the n a3-4 wordp h119eIf. you can'ti den-tifttt . .iuirn,p ut margin'I ftwo or more a questionm arki n the claimse iirt undt enat o aivf;g;;;r a coherentth ought, questionm arki n them argin. put a
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- 9oryIriog, put a questionm arki n the margin.
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8' ( ) Is eachc laim backedu p by a reference? If a claim standsn akedo f supporting evidenceo r argumentp, ut a big X in tt
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consider any X appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing.
Another thing:
9' ( ) Doest he paperd o more than simply but gloriouslyr estatet he question cases tudya ndc rosso ut all ? Examine the ideast hat appearin boththr.urc studya nd in your what remains-uncrossoeudt pap€r. is your analysisI.t shoull constituteth e majority paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven,t of your ione an analysis.
consider all question marks appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing.
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D.J.Ederp,h .D. Copyrigh@t 2 Ot2 deder@siue.edu
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checklistf or fditing Your sevenp anagraph-Anatyticpaalp er
Jwo days before paper is due-near linal draft form--reread your paper and examine it
for the following points:
l. ( ) An introductoryp aragraphc learly introducest he subject.A topic statementi s evident
within the paragraphT. he positiont akeni s clear.I f thep ositioni s unclearp, ut a question
mark in the margin.
2. ( ) The next two paragraphse achh avea single or main claim. Note eachc laim in the
margin n a3-4 word phrase. If you can't identift the claim, put a question mark in the
margin. Iftwo or more claims exist and tend to diverge from a coherent thought, put a
question mark in the margin.
3. ( ) The samet hing holds for the next two paragraphso n the opposites ideo f the issue.
4. ( ) rne four paragraphsa bovea ll focus on thelssie at hand;t irly do not wandero ffinto
irrelevant tenitory. If any paragraph wanders, put a question-r"ri. in the marlin.
5. ( ) The sixth paragraph weighs the conflicting claims from the nut p*ugt"pis above and
arrives at a conclusion.IlTty some evidence is-inore convincing than ltheievidence is
explained. The ensuing conclusion is clearly stated. Circle it. liyou can't find the
, conclusion, put a question mark in the margin.
6. ( ) The finalparagraphr eturnst o what was statedi n the first paragrapha nd, in light ofthe
evidencep resenteda nd weigheda bove,c onvincin$y rephraseit hJposition statement.t f
the conclusione xpectedb y the assignmentis to be.tinesiedj,u stifring statementsfo r the
variancem ust appearh erea nd flow from the explanationi n ihe sixthiaragraph of your
paper.
Consider all question marks appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing.
Next:
7. ( ) Is eachc laim in paragraph2s -5 supportedb y evidence?A re therea ny nakedc laims
supportedo nly by variationso f "I believe..."?If so,p ut a big X in the marginb esidet hat
paragraph.
8. ( ) Is eachc laim backedu p by a referenceI?f a claims tandsn akedo f supporting
evidenceo r argumentp, ut a big X in the margin.
consider any X appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing.
Another thing:
9'd( ) Doest hep aperd o moret hans imply but gloriouslyr estateth e question? Examine the
case study and cross out all ideas that uppeu. in boththe case study and in your paper.
What remainsu ncrossedo ut is your analysisI.t shouldc onstituteit re ma.loiityo iyou,
paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven'td onea n analysis.
D,J.EderP, h.D, Copyrigh@t 2 0t2 deder@siue.edu
Rewrite as necessatTW. hen you've finished,l et it sit at least one night befored oing the
final step below.
Finalty:
Up to now, you'veb eenw orkingo n substancea ndt hinking.N ow, on the final morning over
breakfast on the day the paper is'due, check out the mechanics. Sweep your paper with a
spell checkera ndc omb it for the cornmonf atale rrorsi n the list below.I f you find sucha n
error, put a check in the box.
10.( ) A sentenclea ckse itheras ubjectorav erb;a sentencdeo esn ot beginwitha capital
lettero r endw ith a period (citationsi n parenthesegso aheado f periods,n ot behindt hem).
I l. ( ) A sentenceb eginsw ith a relativep ronoun sucha s Which, Who, That, Where,a nd
When.
12.( ) A pronoun lacksa clear antecedentt;h at is, a word such as it, he, she,o r they doesn ot
havea n obvious link to a noun (especiallyn oticeablei f a sentenceb eginsw ith ,t, he, she,
or tha.
13.( ) A pronouno r verb fails to agreew ith its antecedenitn number;t hat is, a singlep erson
or agency is refened to as they, or a plural subject is given a singular verb (such as,-
"memberso f the schoolb oard....givesth eir vote...").
14.( ) A sentencer uns-ono r usesa commat o splicei ndependenitd east ogether;t hat is,
complex ideasa re not split into two sentencesb ut are linked, often by a cornma,i nto an
overly long, wandering sentence.
The five check boxes in the list above should be empty. If not, Iix the erronr.
When you're done, hand in the paper and take in a day at the beach. You've done a good job!
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