From:
Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: Scheduled film for 4 June 2010
To: rdca25@gmail.com
Carolina, Mamie, Candy Jiang, Tiffany, Ivana, Juliet, Alice Huang, Christine, April, Cherry, Katherine, David, Joseph, Hazel, Alice Wang, Vicky Lin, Karen, Abby, Charlene, Emily, Tina, Vicky Shih, Chin, Hilary, Sophia, Eileen, Minnie, Max, Violet, Hansel, Vivian Yang, Jeanette, Christopher, Ida, Holly, Anne, Vincent, Vivian Lin, John,
CarolinaAudrey Hepburn is a gorgeous and radiant actress as Eliza Doolittle, the poor flower seller who later became the fair lady. Her acting as an uneducated girl is remarkable; however, maybe due to the length of the movie, the transformation to a fair lady is too fast. Some habits cannot be changed from one day to another, such as her accent or vowel pronunciation. I wonder if she really does the singing part as the singing voice seems not be hers, yet it is a beautiful voice.
Nearly at the end, the movie gets unendurable as Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle cannot admit their love and reconcile with each other. It would be better if Eliza has a monologue to explain her thoughts to the audience as I was a little bit confused when she gets upset with Higgins after the party. Doesn't she already know that she is just a tester of Higgins' experiment?
The ending was not satisfactory at all as Higgins asks Eliza about his slippers. I would prefer a more romantic closing or Higgins begging for Eliza's pardon. It seems to be that Eliza is always in the inferior position in their relationship – as an obedient student and later, as a submissive lover.
I really enjoyed the movie as it is an old romantic comedy with interesting songs. The character of Eliza is very charming, attractive and comic. And one more point, the wardrobe is outstanding. It really allures my eye!!
Mamie
The opening sequence of this film is various kinds of flowers. Accompanied with the cheerful music, the film is obvious a comedy. The flower motif in the beginning corresponds to the title of this movie. My Fair Lady shows Eliza's change from a rude woman into an elegant fair lady. There are two scenes that I want to mention. First scene is that when Eliza starts to have a day-dream of being a duchess, the director uses soft iris effect to show that it is unreal. This scene is very interesting because she even imagined the image of king. Second, I notice that when the noble are watching the horse's races, they all stand still and hold same position. They just act like robots. In my opinion, this is sarcastic because they are so well-behaved to such an incredible extent. On the contrary, Eliza's natural behavior (yelling out in public) seems more straightforward.
Candy JiangActually, I was quite disappointed at this well-known blockbuster, My Fair Lady. Most sequences are too long and thus become boring and annoying. Some lines occur too often and thus become irritating. Some parts that are used to create a sense of humor are not funny at all. Some movements of the characters are just meaningless. Moreover, for the first half of the story, it's really lengthy and the quarrels between Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins make me impatient. If I'm not forced to sit till the end, if I'm just looking for entertainment, I would leave.
One example for lengthy, boring and annoying sequence is when Eliza comes to Higgins and asks him to teach her how to speak correctly. That sequence contains Eliza's begging, Higgins and Pickering's bet, Eliza and Higgins' quarrel, etc. The quarrel irritates me. That bet sequence lasts much longer than I imagine. And Eliza's high-pitch yelling and screaming make me uncomfortable.
As professor mentioned in class, the line said by Eliza, "I'm a good girl, I am," occurs too many times and makes it annoying. I totally agree with him. Moreover, I don't think it is humorous at all at the very first time it was said. This line is kind of making me dislike the character Eliza, thinking her as someone disgraceful and shameful. Although my feeling fits the characteristic, the social status, and the background of Eliza well, I still don't think that it is a good strategy to make audience hate the leading female character at the beginning of the film.
The sequence that contains too many unnecessary movements is that of Higgins singing a song, telling that he'll never let woman in his life. He keeps moving, upstairs, downstairs, sitting girl-like in the sofa, and walking around. Those movements are so meaningless. One particularly movement that irritates me is when Higgins runs upstairs, the next second he runs downstairs. Then, what's the point of running upstairs?
Additionally, I don't appreciate the editing skills of the editor. The linking of some sequences is too jumpy and loses its continuity. Every time when the editor tries to cut from one sequence which ends with a song to another, the editor cuts when the music is still not finished. That means one sequence is not totally ended, it is stopped and cut to another. This cutting ruins my interest and anticipation to the ending of the beautiful melody and singing.
I also find it meaningless to the use of freeze image. People move and suddenly they are all freeze without any reason; shortly after, they suddenly move again. Again, what's the point of using this technique?
Last, no more criticizing. I observe there's a sequence using iris, but it's not black. Instead, it blurs the image to create the effect of iris, building a sense of dreaming. That sequence is when Eliza is daydreaming about she successfully becomes a lady and persuades king to kill Higgins at her will. The whole process of daydreaming has the effect of iris with blurring images. At this part, I appreciate the use of this technique.
Tiffany
The fair lady is kind of interesting film which composed of lots of songs. Director uses these songs to express characters' inner thought and feeling. The opening sequence implies the change of Elisa from a flower girl to fair lady. I note that there is an obvious cutting with the sound bridge to show the pass of six weeks which at first let me feel strange to connect plot. And the other part which attracts me most is when Elisa sings "Just You Wait" and imagines the funny penalty of Higgins. When the song comes to the end, the impact cut shows viewers an entertaining effect. I think that the whole film is too long to watch for people because they might get tired of looking actors' performance or listening to the songs.
IvanaI love this film, an interesting musical with good actors and songs. Audrey Hepburn is amazing. In the film, she acts as two opposite characteristics—a girl from slum who is rude and always talks in loud and penetrating volume with the "terrible" accent of English yet she later becomes a lady who seems to be well-educated, moving with grace and speaking in "standard" accent. Despite the great change, she handles it very well. The only song she sings in fantasy also impressed me. The scenes are shot in special effects, making it more unreal. When the cloudlike effect fades away, the appearance of Henry Higgins upstairs and Eliza's expression make the scene extremely comical.
The only thing I want to criticize is the "standard" idea that dominates the whole film such as the chauvinistic songs, the efforts to become aristocrat, and the efforts to a standard accent.
JulietIn My Fair Lady, the editing and the music usually create distinct rhythm in different scenes. For instance, in the beginning, the editor, William H. Ziegler, cut crowded people inside and outside to illustrate the hustle and bustle of the downtown area. Moreover, connecting slow movement of those people with the relaxing music enhances the crowded situation. After a while, it is started to rain, and the rhythm is changed from a relaxing tone to brisk one. Simultaneously, people move much more quickly than before. In my opinion, utilizing and combining music, action, and editing to create distinct rhythm in the film can enhance different atmosphere and even present the main themes.
Furthermore, I think that the mise-en-scène in the horse racing scene really illustrates the style of high-class people. First, the use of high-key lighting makes this scene seems bright and elegant. Second, most properties in this scene are white and black. For me, white and black are simple but elegant. Finally, those characters' graceful action and slow movement also show the manners of the aristocracy. According to these techniques, I think that this scene successfully portrays the aristocratic style.
Alice HuangI think this movie is not hard to study since the structure and the organization are clear and easy to understand. For me, though the title sequence contains not so many cinematic techniques, I enjoy the series of pan shots filmed from different directions very much. I think those flowers just stand for Eliza, who is originally a flower girl. I don't know all the names of those flowers, but I can tell that most of them present feelings of "elegance" and "nobility." It maybe symbolizes that Eliza's has these two essences, elegance and nobility, as those flowers; it's just that she need help to change herself from a humble flower girl to a graceful lady.
In this film, I am curious about one kind of shot which seems similar to a "freeze frame" mentioned in the textbook. The most effective one occurs at the plaza in front of the concert hall when everyone is on his or her duty. The director assembles the whole scene with three steps, each of which displays the more and more prosperous London city. This is the first time I see this kind of "special effect," which turns out to be very interesting.
The other scene showing the "freeze frame" takes place in the race course when people are changing their positions while dancing. Though it's quite interesting, what catches my attention is that the gowns those ladies wear are either black or white, and that the suit those gentlemen wear are almost grey. I don't really understand the art design in this plot. What I can come up with is that maybe the director or art designer wants to underscore the main characters whose dress is in different color compared with others.
Besides, match cuts are used well in this film. I think there are two of them: one is a match-on-action cut in which the previous shot shows Colonel Pickering suggests Professor Higgins to give up and then followed by another shot shows they are already on the day of "testing;" the other is also a match-on-action in which the former shot shows that Professor Higgins is laughing loudly in the party and the following shot displays that he is already at home.I like this film very much because the director usually makes one scene intriguing by applying special cinematic techniques. It's a pity that I can't finish the whole movie, but I'll try to return to the library to finish it.
ChristineMy Fair Lady is a Broadway show production that contained amuzement and beautifully sung underscores in a 3-hour-long film. I think it was the underscores that enhanced each characters' personalities. And due to the lines and rhythm they sang, emotion and inner thoghts were revealed to the audience. We also noticed that the vocabuary and accent Doolittle sang have gradually changed during the time in the film.
Concerned with sympathy towards women, Ms. Doolittle was not only under the power of men but of social classes though at the end Ms. Doolittle and her heavy-drinking father lived a wealthy life and wrapped up with a happy ending. Although her father was looked upon as a joke in the film. Ms. Doolittle as her name, implied that she did nothing big in her own life, and will live her life as a flower-selling girl. She was in the labored social class that no one was well-educated and some of them idoled lives by drinking as Doolittle's father. Herself was like a property belonged to her father who later sold Ms. Doolittle to Professor Higgins. Higgins as a phonoligist was at first treated Doolittle as a experiment to win a bet and despise her behavior and ridiculous accent. However, the film at the very end broke the power of gender and class, Doolittle sought her own happiness and became a fair lady.
AprilThe director does a perfect job on mise-en-scene and the music score. Since this is a musical film, crowd movement is one of the essential components. The director needs to not only coordinate the crowd movement with the rhythm of the song, but also makes the movement among actors goes smoothly without obstacles. In addition, the exaggerate-oversized hats and those splendid costumes which get in the way, challenging the director. Take the hose-racing scene for example: the interweaving routes and overlapping gestures or even some action happen simultaneously. Therefore, the perfect match of time makes the scene impressive.
The film seems like a stage drama in its stage setting: the symmetric props in the background and the balancing number of the actors of both sexes in each scene.
CherryFirst in the begging of the film I found the flowers are most white; however, in the middle, most of them change to red. I think that indicates the change of the female character named Eliza Doolittle since she has the unexpected opportunity to make a difference in her life (not just stays at low social position). And the opening is also unique by showing the emergence of crowd step by step. What's more, between each step we also have stop though I am not sure of its function. Quite the same as shot from high angle to look down at the busy street, I think it shows much more when director shows the busy scene from very low angle (ex. From the ground. I think we have viewed a lot like in The Man with a Movie Camera.)
In this film, I noticed since Henry Higgins is a highly self-esteem phonetics professor, who we can see that characteristic when director shot the professor is having half singing and half conversion with Colonel Hugh Pickering in Higgins' house. Most of the time Higgins is standing high in the second floor facing down to Pickering, which I think shows his arrogance and sense of higher status than others. However how proud Higgins is, there is also scene that shows kind of contempt to him by his servants. This happens when Higgins is kvetching Eliza to speak correctly up to late three A.M., this time the servants stand high above singing helplessly at his torturing teaching to Eliza. In this scene, I think they all consider the professor is about to going crazy.
It is also special to see iris when Eliza is dreaming of her revenge to Higgins, though I think it is too obvious to show her fantasy in this way. I also noticed the quick change back to Higgins house when he is laughing happily for their success in the party. Finally, I still have the question. When people are watching horse racing (use telescope), I expected the distance between them and horse should be very far (if it is not true the use of telescope is meaningless). However, as the film continued, I saw horses are just in front of them, which I think is very unreasonable. I do not know why that scene is shown in that way.
KatherineIt's interesting to see Audrey Hepburn play such a lovely role. The people in the film all dressed very luxurious. On seeing their wearing, I associate Lady Gaga with them. The plot is so attractive that I almost forgot to pay attention to the filming skills. There's a quite special shot at the last part of the movie. When the they come back from the prom, they just keep talking about their success and neglect Eliza's feeling. And though the camera we can see that Eliza slowly merges into the shade, I think it means that Eliza seems to be invisible and it shows her sad mood. And very end of the movie we see that Eliza still goes back to professor's house, it stop at that moment, so we can know that in the end they will be together, without words to illustrate.
David
Taking London in beginning of the 20th century as the background, My fair Lady describes a story in which a vulgar girl, with the help of a phonetics professor, changes her accents and then becomes a lady. The conflict between Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins is the most attracting part of this film. Besides, Mr. Doolittle is the most impressive character. The song "With a Little Bit of Luck" somehow fits in with my opinion. It also clearly points out the personality of Mr. Doolittle. The scene of Eliza's fantasy song has a soft focus effect, which tells audience that the scene is not real.
JosephDuring the past few weeks, I had finished reading the part "editing" in the textbook. As students, we are constantly told that editing is really essential for a good movie. From this film, I truly learn how important the editing can be. If the film is lack of skillful editing, it may most importantly bring negative effect on viewers' emotion, including breaking their attention and interest towards the movie. However, if the editing is elaborately performed, there is no doubt the film will become charming.
One of the obvious disadvantages of this film lies in that the film itself is too long for viewers to keep paying attention to each scene. Also, some parts in this film are not that important, and those parts should be deleted during the editing process or the editors should make other choices between different shots.
However, a wide range of cuts, which function as different purpose, is used during this film. For example, there are crosscutting, intercutting, cut on action, cut on scale, and different match cuts. Each of them has their own function. For example, eyeline matches are mainly used during the party scene in this film. And I especially like this scene because, through editing, editor brings our focus on specific characters that the editor wants us to pay attention to, and at the same time, by cutting back to long shot, the editor immediately brings us to the atmosphere of the crowded party. That is why the order of shots must be strictly chosen, or the well-shot scenes are finally in vain.
HazelWhen Eliza walks into the embassy ball, both Henry Higgins and Colonel Hugh Pickering pull her elbows. Mr. Higgins, all of a sudden, stops her and taps her arm.
I was curious about this unexpected movement and wondering what is the purpose of Mr. Higgins. Actually I do not really understand what it means, I guess maybe he want to do something to make her feel better, anyway, it seems not like that. All in all, the description of the lady's inner voice is gradually decreased and almost disappeared. In the ball, Eliza is like the goddess, but after that, she's nothing anymore. Other people are so proud of "they did it!" there's no one care about her. She's like a pretty toll that the only use of her is to be showed to others. The scene in the study room, there's no light on her, and she is separated. She's not the spot light anymore. It is conceivable that how lonely she feels at the time.
Alice WangThe movie My Fair Lady is mainly based on the world-famous Broadway musical with the same title. Because of this fact, it is not hard for the audience to find that the compositions of the characters in most scenes of the film are quite stagy. Also, the underscore and songs play quite an important part in the movie, since it was originally a musical itself. The way the characters express themselves in a musical is often through singing a song or dancing, which is also one of the most impressive features of a musical. Although most audience would look down on the movie due to the fact that they think it is too stagy and not impressive enough as a movie instead of being seen as a good musical; however, there are indeed some editing techniques that add interest to the film and make it a good one. For example, one of the special techniques that impress me most may be the match cut. The most distinct example of an elliptical match cut can be seen at the end of the first part of the movie when Pickering is talking to Higgins about the doubts he has about whether Eliza can success, trying to talk Higgins into giving up on the plan. Nevertheless, the scene changes all of a sudden to six months later when they actually are going to attend the ball with Pickering remaining the same pose, creating a rather interesting effect. Editing techniques like this in the movie truly add to the entertainment and interest of the viewers as they see the movie, creating an extraordinary feeling that can be very different from seeing the musical version of it.
Vicky Lin
The movie, My Fair Lady is one of my favorite movies that I have seen in this semester. Although the main idea of the film is not so interesting, the whole movie still can catch audiences' attentions. I think the most crucial reason is the good editing. Just like the professor mentioned in the class, the editing in this film is not so obvious to most of audiences. So I have the chance to analyze the movie and try to seek out where is editing. I notice there are a lot of long shot in the film especially when there are a group of people are singing or when the director wants to emphasize one of the characters. In these two different situations, the director will use long shot in the former one and use close-up in the later one. I am so impressive the long shot near the end of the movie when Eliza, Higgins and Pickering go back to Higgins' home. Higgins and Pickering are talking gladly about their success of teaching Elisa in the front part of the scene; however, I can see the sad and unhappy Elisa in the back of the scene. These two makes a strong contrast. If the director just takes the conversation between Higgins and Pickering, then I won't know Elisa's emotion.
KarenThe editing in My Fair Lady is less obvious than the previous movies that we have seen. I seldom notice the editing when watching this movie because shots between shots flow very smoothly. From the textbook, I find out that this is called continuity editing, which is commonly used in mainstream filmmaking. Probably the moment I will notice editing more is when song sequences moves to the next shot. Nevertheless, some times I feel that the song sequence is too long for the viewers, especially Alfred Doolittle's song "Get Me to the Church on Time." Every time when I think the song is about to end, they begin singing the song again. But indeed, all of the songs perfectly rhymes and add the rhythm to the film. Furthermore, the costume design is very resplendent throughout the movie. I particularly appreciate the costumes in the horse racing sequence. The ladies in the high society are all gorgeously dressed in fancy hats and gowns with only black and white. Also, there are no duplicate dresses among them, so I can admire more for the designs of the costume. Even in the end, Eliza is attired in a beautiful pink dress and looks indeed like a duchess. Therefore, the closure of the film realizes Higgins' prophecy and blends Eliza's past and present.
Abby"My Fair Lady" begins in an unusual way. There are kinds of beautiful flowers blooming. I guess maybe it is associated with the title of the movie, "My Fair Lady". There are stop motions in the film. I think it is a quite special method and makes a interesting effect. In the movie, we can see the progress and hardness of Eliza, but I think her achievement and development is too sudden. How can she is just like the talented and can suddenly learn to speak that beautifully. The party among the noble appears twice in the movie, which makes it also a familiar scene. And I like the depression scene after Eliza. It is like a turning point. The light or the position indicates her feeling and the atmosphere. And the most impressive scene to me is the horse racing part. The color of the scene is bright because most people wear the color black or white. And the arrangement of the scene is quite amusing too.
CharleneThis is indeed a fair movie for me even though this film lasts about three hours. I like the settings very much, with a wide screen format filled with lots of dukes and duchesses wearing exaggerated clothes, competing with each other for beauty of looks. I think it is very difficult to edit in such a big location. The editor needs to provide the establish shots, some specific shots for plotting and also some reminder of shots to remind the audience the situation. I like the Ascot sequence the most. It is very interesting and novel for me to see such an editing like this, with people moving and pausing, pausing and moving. That's very cool and it indeed provides a feeling of upper class meeting. Another thing I want to talk about is the musical parts. Usually it is the main character that sings the song alone rather than sings the song with the people around him or her. I think it is a little bit weird for the people who stand beside the singer when the character is singing and sometimes they seem to be embarrassed about not knowing what they should do now. For example, when Eliza's father is singing "With a Little Bit of Luck", I found that the two friends besides him seem little unnecessary. Or maybe it would be better if they sing with him.
I think the conflict between the two main characters is those one of the most impressive plots. Henry Higgins, the phonetic professor, is the typical model of traditional male—self-esteemed, superior, and confident. He has a stereotype of women. Women are sentimental and changeable for him. May be that is one of the reasons that he refuses to get married. He is kind of confused about why women cannot be just like the men, just as the song he sings, "I'm An Ordinary Man". On the other hand, Eliza is tough at the very beginning of the movie. She is not like the original women. She has thoughts and she has a job to support her life. She wants to have changes and eager for a better situation and that is why she comes to Higgins for help. She is the symbol of a new woman.
Emily
I think the plot in this film is very interesting, this film talks about how a linguistician changes a woman from a slum to the lady of high society by improving her accent. This film is presented like a musical film, because the characters sing and dance through the film. We can discover some editing methods in My Fair Lady. The editor chooses the shots very well. There are many invisible cuts that the viewers follow the actions of the character, or the scale change. Cross-cutting is repeated in this film. Besides, many shots are taken by high angle. There is an elliptical cut that the editor uses the music bridge to make up the six weeks of training Eliza.
TinaI like this movie very much. Although it is a bit too long (I could not finish it since I have following classes), the mise en scene is so beautiful and artistic that enables the film to attract my attention continuously. I particularly enjoy the scenes when Professor Higgins takes Eliza to the horse race. Obviously the costumes, decors, and props were carefully chosen not only for avoiding anachronism but also for an aesthetic view. The place is built with elegant all white fences, and the characters' costumes are fantastic, especially those of the female characters. All of their clothes share something in common; for instance, there are only black and white for the clothes. But everyone's garment is different as well, with all kinds of cuts, drapes, embellishments, and so on. If a fashion designer is searching for inspiration for his/her next season, this movie is definitely a good resource because it contains so many scenes like the one of the horse race.
The movie gives out a lovely and elegant sense, partly because of its mise en scene, and partly because of Audrey Hepburn, in my opinion. She herself is the embodiment of loveliness and elegance! It is a pity that there are not many close-ups of her face in the film.
Vicky Shih
After watching this movie, I like it very much! One of the important reasons is that Audrey Hepburn being the heroine who is my favorite actress. She is so beautiful and not artificial, making people being attracted in natural. In the beginning, Eliza Doolittle acts a flower girl meeting a gentleman. Her irregular accent makes her getting into trouble. Later, she followed the linguistics professor Henry Higgins to learn language. Henry Higgins transformed Eliza Doolittle into a fair lady successfully. They conceal the public in a dance! But after they return home, the conflict emerged. Eliza Doolittle feels that Henry Higgins only think about himself, not caring about her. So she leaves the professor's home without leaving any word. The next day, when Henry Higgins found that Eliza Doolittle has gone away, he was very anxious. Finally, he found Eliza Doolittle and understood that she has become independent and stands the important role in his mind. He couldn't live without her. They choose to be with each other again!
ChinComparing all the movies we had gone through this semester, I like this movie the most. No matter the shots, the characters, the scenes, or the background music, I totally fall in love with this movie. First, the characters in this movie have clear, intense, and manifest characteristic, respectively. I like especially Professor Higgins and Eliza. I like the changed of Eliza from a vagrant to an elegant woman. I also like those singing scenes, which I think they are cute and interesting. Scenes like when they are in the Ascot. People there stop and stare as mentioned in the study picture add more fun to the movie. I like the relationship between Eliza and professor Higgins.
Hilary
Because I have a class at 3:00 in Fri, I haven't finishing watching this film yet. Compared with previous movie, I like this one very much. Beautiful actress, exquisite clothing, and funny music cues are so charming. I love its music cues. There are some frames that people moved according to the underscore music. People moved and stopped and then kept moving as normal. And I like its underscore music. It had a big influence on the rhythm of this film. When people walked quickly, the music became faster and faster. This film looks likes a musical play. Sometimes they would sing and dance together and then go back to work just like there was nothing happened. I like lots of parts of this film. I'll finishing watching it recently. Audrey Hepburn did a good job at playing this role. She had to change her accent while she was a lady or a flower seller. And she also had to vary her bearing. First of all I just cannot believe that flower seller would become the graceful lady. After lots of training, she finally did it. It means that nothing is impossible. I like this movie so much and I just can't wait to see the left part.
Sophia"The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain" is the most impressive line in My Fair Lady. The original accent of Eliza makes the front part of the film interesting. Audrey Hepburn did very well on vivid facial expression and exaggerating movement before Eliza was taught by Professor Higgins. Also, the theme of the film is clear. It focuses on how Standard English affects people and how powerful language is. The film also shows the powerful masculinity of Professor Higgins and the arising femininity of Eliza. Apparently, the costume that Eliza wore was contracted to her former appearance. Her hair style and dress was too over in the ball. However, Eliza acted like a fair and elegant lady successfully. As for cutting, the film starts with low-angle shots as an opening. Most shots focus on conversations between two to four people, including the conversation between professor and the scholar and the scene when Eliza visited Higgins at the first time. These shots are processed from different angles. In addition, the stair could be the familiar image in the film. Eliza and the housekeeper had conversation there. The scene which Eliza was well-prepared to attend the ball happen on the stair as well. The stair could be a good place to show how surprising Eliza had been changed. Thus, the stair was used in an efficient way.
Eileen
This film reminds me of the film which named "The Sound of Music". The actors in film sometime transfer the lines into the song. It makes the lines more animated. The lines not just the lines, it can be a beautiful song. The plot in this film is interesting. It about the professor of phonetics teaches the flower girl phonetics to become the elegant girl. It's amazing that one's pronunciation can influence one's life. It's also astonishing that One's pronunciation can deceive one's thought about you. The beginning of the film with tons of the flowers impressed me. Is it represent of the main actress that she is a fair lady and also a girl that sells the flowers. In one scene there is a sound that makes people stop and they divide into three parts to come out. I think it means time goes on. Different time has different people's activity.
MinnieBefore I watched the movie, I really expected it how much would it be boring. However, I really enjoyed 'My fair lady.' Especially, I can't forget 'Just you wait' Hapburn was really cute and her acts really funny. It made me guess how much that study was stressful to her. And through that scene, I could learn how 'Impact cut' is used effectively.
I could see many long shots in this movie. So I could feel as I sat in a theatre to see the play. Long shot helps to make this movie lively, positively and funny. Although it can't catch people's move from A to Z, it shows the mood. For example, it let me show could see how the upper class people are different from the lower class by showing their slow walking and motion.
Music implied audiences that what kind of person Doolittle is. From the song, 'Wouldn't it be lovely.' I could guess how would be she changed. Although she was very rough and shallow, I could feel she will be a lovely girl at last.
Costumes, stages and lightings were impressive too. Due to there were existed 2 classes of the movie, I could easily find differences. For instance, open-market was something fast and disorder because of moving people and coach. On the contrary, in the upper class' party, white dresses gave a luxurious impression. Their hats made me felt kind of pressure.
Max
This film, My Fair Lady, is a musical. There are a great number of singing scenes. However, the time of singing seems to be too long and they are actually a little bit time-consuming. A special way of people's showing up in this movie is that the public go out in turn and stand at one spot standing still. No one moves until every one is ready, and the empty street suddenly becomes prosperous with a lot of people strolling around. The stillness, on the other hand, refers to the passing of time though we viewers are unable to know how long it is. Furthermore, the lines are writen well. The sentences which the lady learns during the practice of articulation, for example, are cleverly used to be the ones she reponds to the aristocrats watching the horse race.
VioletI think that in this movie the main character's acting showed by close up something like that is important as other movies does. But because of this movie is kind of musical movie, so it's more important that songs and setting of stages than acting. So the camera follows character's movements using dolly in and out, but we can't see often close up shot for explain actor's feeling. Instead of close up shots, we often see full shots or middle shots for showing overall stream of the story and majestic stages with songs and performance. When Professor Higgins gave a wipe over the knuckles on Eliza's loutish and vulgar English, we can clearly catch dynamic movements following his performance.
Extra actor's Singing reminds me to thinking about chorus in Oedipus the King. It is sort of important for developing stream of plot. For example, when the peak of the training the servants who work in Professor Higgins's house, sang together about how was the training going. It was of help to understand the story of film as chorus in Oedipus the King does.
I think that DP get inspiration from freeze frame. When people walk into square gradually, first crowd walk into square and freeze fame for just one or two second, it was interesting. When Eliza imagines she kicked Higgins in the teeth, except the center of frame was indistinct, it was also interesting too.
The thing what I like the most in this film is the songs. Sweet melody and lyrics was good enough to express sensibility of young girl, such as 'Wouldn't It Be Lovely'.
And I found some contrast between animated flowers and derelict flowers, also between the songs does. Eliza sang 'I'm a good girl.', and Higgins sang 'I just an ordinary man'. Maybe it for explain differences between woman and man, as original novel does.
Lastly, when Fred who gets into Eliza waits for her in front of Professor Higgins's house, the camera angle was awesome. In the middle of the frame, there was a young man in gay suit between two colorful flowers; also there were white house and black railings. The camera was deep focused on young man; Fred, later on one man showed up and turned the light up and left. These are mixed and I confused that this is a black and white film and focus on flowers, light and young guy artificially. Even though this is not the fancy party scene, but I love this scene the most.
Hansel
At first I thought of My Fair Lady as a romantic comedy, but later I found it isn't. Romance is not the theme of this film, of course. It is only one of the little branches of the plot. I think this film is a satire. It is actually sarcastic in many ways. In the film, women are portrayed as those of lower status compared to men. Professor Higgins even openly criticizes women, expressing his strong hate and bias against females. He is totally a believer of male chauvinism. He is snobbish and haughty. He believes that he could live a very comfortable life staying single; however, he seems to have overestimated himself. At last he still has to yield to love, and he could bear being apart from the woman he is fond of. But even so, he is stubborn and does not want to reveal his real emotions, which he probably considers to be his weakness. On the other hand, Eliza plays the role of a weak woman in traditional times. She has no power and no position. She has to rely on a well-educated gentleman to grab at a slight chance to get into the upper class. Eliza finally achieves the decent way of speaking and has the chance to be with upper class people. However, the very thing that bothers her is Prof. Higgins' indifference to her. In the end she still submits to Higgins because of her affection for him. The songs in this film are not all very attractive. There are also too many scenes that are way too long and redundant; the director should have been more selective. It makes people feel like they are so eager to put everything in this film and it makes the audience feel bored listening to the same lines and melody over and over.
Vivian YangMy fair lady is quite an intriguing work as far as the melody and mise-en-scene are concerned. It is not difficult to tell that the editor puts so much emphasis on the harmony of each scene that there seems to be no painstakingly editing at all. For instance, the song "wouldn't it be lovely" sung by Eliza is natural though it is full of complex dance movement.
As for the mise-en-scene, I found this film had combined the elements of broadway musicals into the setting. Take the horse-racing scene for examlple, the chorus as well as the dress color (black and white) suggest the strong contrast between the methodical upper-class and absurd Eliza. Moreover, the way the upper-class people show excitement in horse-racing creates a surrealistic and somehow ridiculous atmosphere. And all these arrangements successfully impress the audiences.
To have a short conclusion, I think that it tooks great filmmakers and great artists (composers, choreographers, lyricists, etc.) to create a wonderful movie like this.
JeanetteI think the editing in this film flows quite naturally. Scenes are displayed logically. However, due to the fact that the first half of the film is too amusing, the other half, relatively speaking, seems plain even boring sometimes. And it's too long! Some scenes can definitely be deleted so the pace can be faster. Maybe the plot can be improved to somehow balance the amusing and romantic elements. Frankly speaking, the transition when Eliza realizes how to pronounce English properly is badly filmed. The performance is not convincing enough, since Eliza's facial expressions change in a sudden, as if she is impatiently waiting to get rid of the strange accent. Since the transition is a turning point in plot, the cut seems not appropriate.
ChristopherWe have so many aspects to comment on this perfect musical, e.g. Music, gender issue, cinematography, lyrics and so on. I would like to put especial emphasis on it┤s gender issue, through the analysis from the plot details.
we can rarely heard others called Eliza Doolittle's name, or any title before her name, but we heard lots of somebody called for a professor Higgins or Colonel Pickering. It is obviously that these two gentelmen owned the higher social status, but more important for us to concentrate is : when they called a man, it is always adding a title before, like professor, colonel, showing what is he contributing in. When it is a woman, 'Lady' is the always only way to call.
In the begining, there existed a big disctintion between professor Higgins and the *HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney"*Cockney* flower girl, one is rich, one is poor, one is learned, one is ignorant, it must have a common ground for two to get love with each other. Firstly, Eliza is beautiful, it is a premise of the magic, secondly, Higgins is one who hating fetter by unnecessary and overelaborate formalities. Finally, they can complete each other.
Ida
Although My Fair Lady is a three-hour long movie, I do not find it boring for the following reasons: First, the plot is outstanding. It is a rich and witty romantic comedy, I could hardly believe that a linguistic trainer will fall in love with his trainer in this way! Second, the music is great though it is a petty that Audrey Hepburn only sings one song in this film. Third, the editing and mise-en-scene are great, especially the horse race scene while all the people except the professor are dressed in white and black. By the way, the horse race scene is really funny as Eliza suddenly exposure her real personality and it shocks all the others. Fourth, Audrey Hepburn is extremely beautiful, her transformation between a cockney girl and a fair lady is admirable. It is really funny to see her practicing the same sentence 'the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain'. When I see her getting progress in pronouncing this sentence and sounds like a fair
lady, I somehow feel a kind of satisfaction. Lastly, the editing is credited though it may be something that really hard to distinguish. (However, after reading the assigned pix, I learn that some editing can isolate or evoke the scene.) To sum up, My Fair Lady is so great that we do not want to leave the library and go to have the other class, it includes a lot of happy laughable moments, but at the same time it also includes many humanly touching moments.
HollyThis movie is a musical. I enjoy the songs of the film when watching it. The fair lady, Eliza, is quite rude and discourteous. But then, the professor applies his specialty to turn Eliza into a well-bred lady. In the movie, Eliza wears the snow-white formal dress most of the time. In my viewpoint, the color white symbolizes purity, flawlessness and naturalness. The choice of Eliza's costumes reflects her pure mind and unadulterated character. What's more, the white is the symbol of women's strength and inner power. Eliza dressed in white usually stands out, not only showing her inside beauty and intelligence, but also reflecting her role as the pioneer in patriarchy. Although Eliza choose to go back the professor's house in the end, the rising of feminism does appear in this movie. As the professors entering his mother's house, he is totally restricted, behaving like a teenager instead of a mature and professional education or phonetician.
Eliza's words in certain scenes impress me. She says since she becomes a lady, she cannot lead a life as she did before. It's interesting that men in the movie change the girl completely. But in the end, the girl is unsatisfied for behaving like a lady is not her original style of living. And we can see that parts of Eliza struggle with the new values given by the men. Even the social status is another issue in the film. The poor is connected with the incorrect pronunciation or strange accent, which leads to poverty according to the professor. Eliza's dad is an example of altering his social status. However, he falls into the dilemma of being nobody or somebody.
The horse racing shot is impressive. The contrast between black and white adds color to the scene. Also, the racing game shows the emotional suppression in the upper class. Even in the exciting game, everyone still remain calm deliberately. The only one making noise is Eliza, forgetting about those matters and truly following her will, showing the vigor and energy in the silent moment. I really love the arrangement of this sequence. The colors and costume are well organized. And the actors' body movements make the sequence presented vividly.
Anne
This movie is so much easy and relax to watch , after seeing many Bergman's movie. This movie talked about a woman who pronounced English, her mother tongue language, very bad. Then a man claimed that he can bring the woman to high-class society ,as long as she can afforded the teaching fee and living in his house. After seeing this movie, I got a strong feeling about the unfair of woman . Especially , the scene, when people waving for the taxi and also the place where the guy and the woman met at first time , the different way between two man to treat the woman .One is kind and tender , but the other is a bit rude and aggressive. Why woman at that time always being treated depend on the mood of men .Besides , I loved the soundtrack and the clothing, both of them are delicate and luxury. On the other hand , the director added lots of musical which made the movie much more happy not instead of serious. I think this movie is interesting , though the director didn't using any experiment shot ,the topic and the way the interpreat attract me very much .
VincentMy Fair Lady is a famous film, and I've heard of it many times before. And Until this class, I finally get the chance to enjoy this movie. Even though that the film is too long (last over 3 hours), I can't watch it until the end, the music and dancing within it and the beauty of Audrey Hepburn still fascinate me!
After the studies and research about the film, I found that the story was from the irish musical drama. I think that's why My Fair Lady is full of songs! What's more? I think all these songs and rhythms has great benefit to English learning. Children, or even adults those who are not good at English can repeat the lyrics and the lines again and again, because the music is the best way of language learning, and the barrier between two cultures can't stop the audience from enjoying the beautiful songs. And I have to say, All these song need a perfect singer. Audrey Hepburn is just the one to make all the melodies become soulful!
Vivian Lin
The film is impressive and lovely. Especially, it seems that its original musical has a big influence on the film. Although, it is a encouraging story that mention about how a lower class become an lady who seem like a princess, the film reflects a conflict between women and men in that generation. The song is song by Audrey Hepbum at the beginning called " Wouldn't it be lovely?" is really lovely. I like the film's music which make the film full of happiness and joy.
JohnThe story of this film is really like the current film "The Princess Diaries". Both of them talk about an ordinary woman set foot in the high society. But the different way is that My Fair Lady talk extra about the feminism. I really like the characters of Eliza. She is very independent and has lots of self thinking. She will express what she thinks in direct way not hide in mind. And I think that is the main reason touch Higgins's mind.
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