Author Archives: Wael Khairy

A Study of Celebrity Worship

There are several types of obsessions, from war veterans obsessed with the act of battle to over religious terrorists obsessed with the act of violence, the list goes on and on; however, the most widely spread type of obsession is most commonly known as celebrity worship. As time passed celebrating celebrities has become more and more active. It started since the dawn of time when someone who was regarded as superior than the average human being was idolized by his fans. Sportsmen, actors, actresses, artists and singers are just some of the people that could be regarded or labeled as celebrities. Since the media nowadays is more than focused on celebrities, we live in the age where celebrity worship is most widely spread, for never before has the concept of celebrity worship reached the standard it lays at today. Since it has become of today’s main factors of life, many researches have been developed studying this form of obsession. Some researches study the aspect of why people tend to lean towards celebrity worship, while others study whether it’s a good habit or a bad habit. The truth is the only way to fully understand celebrity worship is to take all theories and opinions into consideration and drawing up conclusions.

The Merging of Mise-en-Scene and Narrative Style (Run Lola Run and Hero)

Cartoon of Lola Running      When it comes to movies, one would find that there are numerous ways for the director to tell his story and just as much ways for him display it on screen. The narrative style of a movie depends mostly on the screenplay of the movie and unlike most people think,Continue reading “The Merging of Mise-en-Scene and Narrative Style (Run Lola Run and Hero)”

The Power of Sound and Editing (The Conversation and Psycho)

When most people think about movies, they usually judge them in terms of acting and directing, rarely does a person judge its editing or sound mixing. The reason for that being is because most editors and sound editors do all they can to make their editing as smooth as possible for the audience. When editing and sound mixing is used correctly there’s a certain flow that’s required in a good movie, the movie seems to fit better, and the truth is without editing and sound mixing most great movies wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are regarded. The 1974 Francis Ford Coppola thriller The Conversation and the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock horror movie Psycho are perfect examples of movies largely depending on the process and technique of editing and sound mixing. Each of those movies can be seen as perfect examples where the editing and sound mixing were used to perfection.

My Personal 100 Greatest Movies of All Time

This list is my personal preference of movies. While the list in order, it is subject to change. In fact it will change frequently, for this isn’t as easy as it seems. However, I tried as best as I can to place an order to these landmarks of cinema. Again, the list isn’t as accurate as many other lists for I do not measure by the greatness of the picture but by personal preference. For example, while I really like The Shawshank Redemption, I wouldn’t dare call it a greater movie than Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Strokes of Light and Shadow: The Impact of Citizen Kane

When one thinks back to the turning points of film history, the first few events that come to mind are the first edited fiction film, ‘Jazz Singer’ and the transition to sound or the first feature film in color. Some even mention the extensive use of deep focus in ‘Citizen Kane’ and while all these events are clearly revolutionary in terms of the development of film as a medium, the use of lighting creatively is often overlooked. Exploiting light and shadow inventively to express meaning and establish a desired atmosphere made Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’ a significant historical event that impacted both audiences and film genre in many ways. (Continued)

The Auteur Theory: Intentional and Unintentional (Hitchcock, Eisenstein, and Scorsese)

The auteur theory is possibly the most interesting theory of film for the simple reason that there is no true definition to fully explain the theory. It is a theory that concentrates or focuses on the styles and themes that are consistent in the films of an individual artist. Yet it is also a theory that explains that all the films of that individual artist or auteur is a basically a vision or view the auteur has on the world. It his vision and so the auteur usually uses the same themes to establish a point or message to the world. However, some auteurs are great artists without them knowing it, while others know of their themes and are not afraid to inject the audience with their message. Auteurs have a theme consistent in their work and that auteur doesn’t necessarily have to be the director, in fact it may be a director and an actor working together, each displaying his own vision.
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