The Actors of Gone in 60 seconds

Title: Gone in 60 seconds

Writer: H.B. Halicki, Scott Rosenberg (Screen Play)

Director: Dominic Sena

Year: 9 June 2000

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Duvall

In every film there is a particular feeling or tone set by the director using Mise en Scene and actors. Mise en Scene consist of setting and set, lighting, colors, props, costumes, makeup, and actors including their positioning and movement (Goodykoontz, 2014). In this blog we are going to our attention to Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, and Robert Duvall three main characters in my favorite movie Gone in 60 Seconds and what particular type of actor/actress they are.

Nicholas Cage role as Memphis Raines in Gone in 60 seconds with out a doubt exposes his acting type of Personality. A personality actor is an actor whose own personality tends to define all the characters he or she portrays, so that the actor’s name alone lets audiences know what the screen character will be like (Goodykoontz, 2014). This could not be more so true for any other actor then Nicholas Cage. Look at his character roles in Gone in 60 seconds, Con Air, national treasure 1 & 2, and Lord of War all share what I believe to  be Nicholas Cage’s true personality as a natural leader who is well organized, meticulous, resourceful, cunning, and quick on his feet to adapt to changing plans due to outside forces.

Angelina Jolie role as Sara ‘Sway’ Wayland in Gone in 60 Seconds also places her in the Personality type. Angelina Jolie  cares the personality much like Nicholas Cage as she is a strong independent female that skillfully kicks ass and takes names in her films. Angelina Jolie can also be classified as a star.”A star is a distinctive screen persona who is well known and popular with the movie going public, often to the point that some avid movie fans become deeply curious about the actor’s private life” (Goodykoontz 2014). The media’s attention to Brad Pit and Angelina Jolies not only personal life but their relationship, children, and every day aspect to their life lands them as not only famous actors but celebrities and stars. 

Robert Duvall small but critical role in Gone in 60 Seconds as Otto Halliwell places him as the character type actor. Character type actors are who specialize in playing a wide variety of characters, most often supporting or minor roles rather than leading roles (Goodykoontz, 2014 ). Duvall is a seasoned actor with many key role characters found in classics like Apocalypse now and The Godfather. As actors get older they occasionally find themselves as character actors accepting small but sometimes more challenging roles for either the money, just for fun, or maybe even both. I found this most fitting as Duvall is getting up there in age and like myself i am sure he doesnt just want to retire and sit around the house as he would get bored, so he takes on smaller roles to keep himself busy and from going insane.

Reference:                                                                                                                                   Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The sounds of Gone in 60 Seconds

Title: Gone in 60 seconds

Writer: H.B. Halicki, Scott Rosenberg (Screen Play)

Director: Dominic Sena

Year: 9 June 2000

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Duvall

On June 9th  2000 Gone in 60 Seconds by director Dominic Sena was released, edge of the seat action packed crime thriller staring Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie. Throughout the film Dominic Sena used various techniques of sound such as Dialogue,sound effects, and music to attract the audience into the film feeling part of the action as if they were part of the crew boosting the cars.

The dialogue Dominic Sena chose to use throughout the film set the tone for a realistic while still attention grabbing thriller that anyone in the audience felt part of. In the film Memphis Raines played by Nicholas Cage cares along a dialog that is not only witty, clever, but well thought out that gave Memphis the leadership and stable role in the film. For the rest of the crew the dialog was very open and friendly, this is important for this film because it emphasizes the point that the crew is not only business but rather a close group of friends that share history.

Sound Effects did not play a role in the film, rather the cars throughout the movies spoke for themselves.  The story’s theme is Memphis returning to Long Beach California from retirement to save his brothers life due to a failed heist attempt, the stories plot is Memphis and his handpicked crew stealing 50 cars in 72 hours to save his brothers life. I believe the direct decided carefully to avoid using sound effects simply because it would take away from the focus on the cars. Each rare car they stole has its own personality and attitude, the director allowed the cars themselves present the audience there own characteristics from the exhaust tones and purring of the engine.

http://youtu.be/RedV7vhVKHY

The music selection for the film was absolutely on point, the director did an amazing job to match the music to individual scenes setting the mood for the audience to feel part of the film themselves. The particular scene i chose was the Eleanor introduction scene. In this scene Memphis along with three others from the crew walk into a parking garage to find the rare 67 ford mustang gt 500. The music is a classic violin for a classic car with a slowly heart beat rhythm building the anxiety felt between the actor and the history of the car.

Director Dominic Sena’s use of dialog, lack of sound effects, and music allowed him to collaborate a film that developed the story’s theme perfectly through the heist in its entirety.

Lighting of Gone in 60 Seconds

Throughout the film there is a stead presence of Low-key lighting used with an added touch of natural light to really bring the effect together for the audience. Low-key lighting “is marked by extreme use of deep shadows, with very high contrast between the brightest parts of the scene and the darkest parts, which are obscured in shadows” (Goodyknootz & Jacobs 2014). Low key lighting helps create a suspenseful feel that is commonly associated with mystery thrillers, horror films, and in dramatic scenes such as ones you will find in this film as they prepare to steal a rare and valuable vehicle.

The use of Low-key lighting in this film had a huge emphasis on the importance of all the cars that Memphis and his crew had to steal. This is important because it shows that each of these 50 cars being stolen were not your typical Sunday grocery getter or the form fitting soccer mom vehicle, rather they were rare super cars and sports cars from all over the world. While the story of gone in 60 seconds focuses on Memphis saving his brothers life, we find out as the plot develops the vehicles are the emphasis of the film that ultimately aid Memphis in saving his brothers life.

The Ferrari scenes is among one of many scenes that i absolutely loved. The scene starts out with the focus on Memphis and his team of car thief in otto’s garage, the intensity builds as he says a few and short last words to his team before they head out the door to start there near impossible task of stealing these 50 super rare cars in just 12 short hours. The effect use of low key lighting and natural light from the shop lights and moon light shining throw the window highlights the suspense that not only the team is feeling but rather the audience is sharing in anticipation of the heist to begin.

The cinematographers decision to use low-key technic of lighting was spot on, if they had chosen another technic it wouldn’t have had the same effect. The change in technique would have removed the suspense of the heists, the emphasis of how rare and valuable each of the vehicles were, and the thrill from how dangerous and risky it was to attempt this magnitude of a job in just 12 short hours.

Movie Clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjbK9qSU-20

References:

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM) title.

Gone in Sixty Seconds. (2000, January 1). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187078/

Week 1 Blog: Gone in 60 seconds

Title: Gone in 60 seconds

Writer: H.B. Halicki, Scott Rosenberg (Screen Play)

Director: Dominic Sena

Year: 9 June 2000

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Duvall

Story: Gone in 60 seconds is about a retired car thief (Nicholas Cage) returning from retirement to steal 50 cars in just 24 hours. He returns to the car thief business to safe his brother’s (Giovanni Ribisi) life when he fails to meet a dead line for car broker Raymond Calitri (Christopher Eccleston).

Plot: Memphis Raines A well known car thief is forced out of retirement to save his baby brother Kip Raines life when he fails to fill a deal with a big time car broker Raymond Calitri. After receiving a phone call Memphis returns to Long beach after receiving the news about his brothers situation, Memphis is fallowed instantly after returning by detectives Castlebeck and Drycoff as car theft dropped almost 50% after Memphis left Long beach. Memphis meets with Calitri to broker a deal for his brothers life, Calitri offers Kip’s life if Memphis delivers 50 cars in just 24 hours. Memphis consulates his long time friend Otto to help assemble a team to complete the tall order Calitirs for Kips life. With the team gathered they proceed to plan the heist, scout the cars, and gather the needed equipment. The heist starts out smooth until Detectives Castlebeck and Drycoff start honing in on the team and snooping around Otto’s shop looking to pin this on Memphis. With the time running low and the heat of the Detectives being turned up the team makes a dash to complete the order till they attempt to steal the finally car on the list Eleanor a 1967 Ford Mustang. The cops along with detectives attempt to stop Memphis from stealing the car but with his expert driving manages to make it to Calitri’s shop late and with a very beat 67 Ford Mustang. Calitri is not ammused by Memphis failure and attempts to kill him but fails with Memphis ending the job by killing Calitri.

Chronology: This film is told in chronological order as it tells the story of Memphis Raines returning to Long Beach to save Kips life. The story progresses showing the process of gathering the team, planning and scouting the job, and lastly making the heist to complete the job. As you watch the movie you see why the characters were hand picked for the job as each one caries a different skill set that is vital to successfully complete the heist. As for foreshadow i believe the author included that mostly at the beginning with the detectives honing in on Memphis as at that point i had a feeling that the heist was not going to be easy and that the cops and detectives would catch on making it more difficult. If the author and director whent with a non-linear attempt i thing the movie would have been either hard to fallow or very short and boring as there would have been no timely build up to the job and development of the characters.

Resources:                                                                           http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187078/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
Touchstone pictures. (2000, June 9). Gone in 60 seconds movie trailer. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com

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