Al Franken Blog thing.

Due to the fact that I realized that prompt A would work better for this assignment, I chose to use it instead of B.

Word.

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As we discussed in class, the camera angles and mood of the first scene play an important roll. The movies opens with a man and a woman sitting on what is obviously a movie set. The set is comprised of a couch and a decoratively papered wall. As the man and woman talk about Fox News' lawsuit of Al Franken the camera shifts around and cuts suddenly to frames where the people have changed position.

The voices of the people, however, are never cut and they are often shown looking away from the camera, mouth closed, looking off into the distance.

To me, this signifies that the director is trying to make the people out to be more authoritative than they really are. When statements are presented by someone whose face is stern and resolute they seem more real. It seems as if they are being given to you emotionless -- just as facts truly are.

Directly after this scene we see Al Franken dressed as Moses and holding the ten commandments. A voice from heaven booms down onto him and God instructs him to take on the corporate giant Fox News. Franken's version of God differs slightly from the Romantic idea of a loving "Father" -- his is more like the alcoholic uncle who, upon listening to Franken's doubts, exclaims that they're all "utter bullshit!"

That whole scene is a huge juxtaposition to the previous one and serves two purposes: to lighten the mood (Franken is a comedian and therefore needs that sort of thing) and to show that he isn't afraid of anything; not even God. Of course, one could argue that the entire purpose of that scene is just to get the Conservatives angry ("...and he made fun of God, ma! I'll kill that yellow-bellied bastard!"), but I'll give Al the benefit of the doubt.

The rest of the movie is simply cuts between a comedic speech, given by Franken, and interviews with people involved in the Fox News suit. Franken is shown as being a tall man (why else would the camera be pointed up at him?) and Bill O'Reilly is portrayed as an ass (which he didn't really need help doing in the first place).