Film Art Event

1. The establishing shot of the film was an initial shot of women riding bicycles and some walking towards a gate.  The women all together looked happy and were talking and smiling as they rode. Next, there was a mix of pictures from the motor industry with music to accompany the pictures.  They were pictures and audio clips of Ford cars and factories full of workers. This was followed by facts from 1968 and the motor industry. This shot set the stage for my experience with the film by instantly letting me know the setting of the film which was 1968 in the Ford motor industry.  This shot also showed me that it would be particularly about women in the workforce.  This shot helped me see that the main theme of the movie would be something about women in the motor industry in the late 1960’s.

2.  This movie had a variety of camera angles. One camera angle that was used a lot was the long shot where the character in the film at the time was seen in a setting with their surroundings. Seeing the surroundings and the environment played a key role in this film.  This also helped remind the audience of the time and place of the movie.  Another commonly used camera angle in this film was the low angle shot. The low angle shot could be seen throughout the film mostly when the characters were talking. An example of this would be when the speeches were being given in the factory.  There were also a lot of close-up shots which could mostly be seen during the critical parts of the movie.  This helped show the emotion and feeling of the characters which helped the viewer of the movie get emotionally involved in the movie.

3.  The story line of the film was that of a true story about women in the late 1960’s. These women went on strike because they were not being paid the same amount as men.  The women were workers in a Ford sewing factory where they sewed seats together that were later put in Ford vehicles. The women were being paid less because they were women, so they decided to stop making the seats because they knew that their parts was essential for the Ford company. They knew that they were an asset and were needed and they wanted to prove that they were so they could receive equal rights. Ford ran out of seats and had to close down their factory. They were eventually forced to make a compromise and pay the women more. At the end of the film the women received 92% of pay and a promise that there would be a law set in place to ensure equal rights and pay. The overall theme of the movie focused on women’s rights and the history of how women gained the rights that we have today.  The scenes that drew me in were those that showed real emotion from the characters and made me feel what they were feeling. I felt uncomfortable during the sex scene in the back of the car because it seemed like a random scene that was thrown in and I was unable to figure out the correlation or even the reason for the scene.  The film did not feel staged at all.  The characters were so believable and the setting seemed so real that it was almost like you were not watching a movie.  It seemed like real-life. Mise-en-Scene for me was not necessarily seen in the movie in my opinion.

4.  The characters truly set the scene and stage for the movie.  They did the job of convincing the audience of the appropriate time place, and feelings of the people of that time. The characters were extremely believable and that is what made this film work and draw the audience in. The emotion from the characters seemed real like they were really there. The actors playing the roles did not seem like actors because they seemed like the actual characters that they were playing. The movie went not of been an emotionally moving as it was if the actors did not do their jobs of depicting the characters they played.

5.  The music from the film influenced my interpretation and experience of the film by setting the scene and stage for the whole film.  The music helped show the time period and feelings in the film.  Music was a big part of the film and helped show the feelings of the characters.  One part of the movie where the women were on strike there was music playing that made me think of determination and purpose. At the end of the movie, the women were happy that they were beginning to get the rights they deserved and the sound of the music showed this happy emotion. Music can emotionally move the audience and emphasize the feelings of the characters and in this movie it did just that.  The music helped involve the audience into the storyline and characters’ feelings.

6.  The genre of the film would be a documentary. This movie is a documentary because it depicts the historical reality of events that actual took place. This is the actual story of women finding their voice and sticking up for their rights in the 1960’s. Parts of the film could be seen as comedy but overall the film had a serious tone and the message was not meant to be funny. The message was to show what actually happened and to show the real emotions that were felt during that time as well as the way people actually lived and felt.

7. The movies theme focused around women’s rights, equality, and empowerment. This movie made me think that one person can change the world and that you should stand by what you think is right and how you feel.  Determination and perseverance will pay off the same way it did for the women in this film. This movie showed the struggles to get women to where they are today and what had to be overcome to get these rights and equality.