From: stella <>
Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Subject: Re: Scheduled Film for 26 February 2010
To: rdca25@gmail.com
Mamie, Juliet, April, Joseph, David, Max, Hansel, Tiffany, Katherine, Tiffany, Christine, Candy Jiang, Chin, Charlene, Alice Wang, Joan, Vicky Shih, Emily, Anne, Carolina, Hilary, Candy Cheng, Sophia, Tina, Karen, Holly, Vicky Lin, Ida, Eileen, Abby, Mandy, Ivana, Finna, Christopher, Vivian Yang, Hazel, Tiger, Vincent, Jeanette, Koch, Carter, Alice Huang, Vicky Liu, Vivian Lin,
MamieSome people say that life is just like a big stage, and we are all actors. This film brings me an extraordinary feeling. A common man's life is monitored every day; most of all, it is made into a television show for twenty years. It is ironic that the weather condition looks so real but is actually made by men. On the contrary, people are real but they are just acting. It sounds ridiculous at the beginning while the film really points out the indifference and affectation of human. The director of this film uses many camera shots and technique to create dramatic effect. For example, the TV framing makes us realize the protagonist is in the TV show. At first I guess he is an actor in that show but later I find out that he doesn't know he is the center of world. In addition, the repetition of his daily life also creates a comedic atmosphere. What is interesting in the film is the shift of scenes. I would like to see the audience's response to The Truman Show and feel I am a member of them.
JulietIn The Truman Show, the director, Peter Weir, uses TV framing many times. Namely, the spotlight follows Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), and the camera focuses on Truman's facial expression and action. With this kind of framing, audiences can easily find that Truman is observed by others. Moreover, Weir makes use of the point of view shots well. Most of the time, Weir shoots the scenes with Christof's (Ed Harris) point of view. In fact, shooting from Christof's point of view directly presents that Truman is watched by him. Take the scene which Truman is sleeping in his bed for example. Weir shoots on the TV image of Truman's face first. After that he shows that Christof touches the image of Truman's face on the screen. Since the second shot shows that Christof's touching on the screen, we can realize that the first shot of Truman's image is shot by Christof's point of view. In my opinion, Weir indeed makes good use of point of view shots. Also, it is a good choice to utilize long shot in the later shot.
AprilThe content of the film is a vivid display of cinematography. In the film, the director creates a simulate world that resembles the real world, for the purpose to make a breakthrough in the film milestone—"the truest acting." By setting up the whole plot, he deceives Truman, the only who knows nothing about the "simulate world", the director manage to film the truest responses and make him the leading star of the movie. The film is shot in various ways, through the pinhole cameras, rear mirrors and telescope in order to capture the immediate response from Truman.
The name "Truman" is absolutely sarcastic either to the character or the world that is watching the live show. Truman has the most unreal life than any other else since everything happened to him is under certain kind of design; his life it seem so tangible, but so fragile that will ruin at any time. Furthermore, those spectators are also involved in the conspiracy; in stark contrast to the innocent Truman, they are cruel and evil, observing his life.
Joseph
It is quite obvious that, in this film, the filmmaker created a lot of scenes by using long shot and deep focus because before Truman discovered the truth, he was not only trapped in the unreal world, but also isolated from the real one. Another technique for creating the isolation is the television framing, as it is shown in the opening of the film.
The audiences were constantly reminded the theme of the film, the unreality, by the mannered and professional television poses by Truman's wife, the oblong frame of the monitors, and the sudden cut to the viewers of The Truman Show, which is the real world people are living.
In terms of the director of the show, who initiated the movie, it is a good example to discuss the costume and also the shooting. In order to shape his mean, cold-blooded and money-oriented image, Peter Weir always used close-ups to strengthen the effect, and sometimes he used typical low-angle shots, showing the director's authority. As for the costume, the glasses are definitely essential to shape an intellectual man. Thus, we know that creating a movie, a scene, or even a good character does not involve only one thing, but a blending of many elements.
In the end of the film, the contrast between the real world, a door with black color, and the unreal world with blue color, became the sharpest. Even if the director had created a wonderful but unreal world for Truman, and he had lived there for decades, Truman still decided to walk out the unreality and faced a world which might have many obstacles and challenges, but it is real.
DavidThe Truman Show is a significant movie. Truman's life is recorded and played completely to people all around the world. To keep track of Truman, a lot of camera had been set in the town. It is frequent to see frame shot in this film because most of the time we see Truman through those hidden cameras. It can very clearly tell audience that Truman is being supervised. The director of the worldwide TV program Truman Show wants to control Truman's life, in other words, he wants to play God of Truman's world. By the end of the movie, when the director is talking to Truman, his voice comes from the sky, behind the clouds. I think it's very obvious that it is symbolizing God. The familiar image of Truman saying "Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night." at the end, indicates that the audience of Truman show will no longer see him on TV and he is going to make his own life, without the control of "God."
MaxIn The Truman Show, by using a great number of monitor-like lens and POV shots, the main character in the film, Truman, is just like being supervised all the time. It makes an ordinary comedy becomes very suspicious and even a little bit stressful in this way, for in the very beginning viewers may feel that something bad or surprising is going to happen to him. Amazingly, it turns out that Truman is the main character of a TV program.
Without the great comedy effect from Jim Carrey, the film would become very tragical, stressful, and boring. After all, the director wants to tell us that our world is unreal, and that the real world is much more dangerous and unreal than the one created by the TV director. However, thanks to Jim Carrey, The Truman Show stikes a balance between comedy and tragedy and becomes more relaxing. Through the fun , special and creative way of shooting, the profound allegory is mingled into the entertaining movie very well. But it was a pity that we skipped the very part in the beginning when we watched the film.
Hansel
I believe the name Truman is a pun on "true man," and it basically points out the spirit of this movie. As mentioned in the film, Truman is the only one real in the show made for him, while everyone else is acting, and this is why the audience of the show loves him. At the beginning of the film, we see Truman greeting his neighbors in a special framing which indicates the view from a pinhole camera and that he is under surveillance. In the movie, instead of using an omnipotent point of view throughout, various angles (sometimes even awkward ones) are used to highlight that Truman is actually being shot. With these angles, the film successfully makes us feel like a part of the audience watching the television show, rather than feel like ourselves in a theater watching the movie starring Jim Carrey. The shots sometimes switch every quickly from one to another to show that cameras are everywhere around Truman, and it creates a tension, making us think there is no way he can escape.
"How's it going to end?" on the badge is a motif in the movie and somewhat a dramatic irony; it is something we all want to know. I personally love the ending. Truman has to sail through the sea to find his way out, which he can only achieve by overcoming his fear. When Truman finally makes it out of that fictional world, the audience all cheers for him, and then follows the cease of the transmission. Some audience (in the movie) must feel lost and try to find something else to do. This is so true. It is exactly what I feel every time any of my favorite TV series comes to the finale. As for the film, after Truman walks out of that door, we never see him again. We see audience cheer for Truman, we see Sylvia excitedly rush downstairs and we assume she is going to look for him, but we never see Truman, in his real life, again. From that time on, from the moment he walks out of that door, we no longer see anything about Truman. The only thing we know is his freedom. If we see him again on the screen, then it is not convincing and not real.
The film makes us aware of the solid existence of the invisible freedom. It tells us how good it is to have the right to do what we like and be responsible for it. It proves that a well-protected life plus a promising future planned by others is never the best thing one can find. Freedom is something we aspire to; we literally cannot live without it. We want to explore life by ourselves even though we never know what would become of us, and this very film reminds us that we are lucky to be given the chance.
TiffanyThere are a lot of long shots taking the scenes and lonely Truman which shows the world's illusion and Truman's isolation. The world Truman living is untrue except the sea. Truman's friends, wife, and family are well-trained performers. The iris effect shots imply that what viewers watch is a Truman show. Ironically, those who watch the Truman show in the movie do not know they are watched by viewers in real lives and maybe there is someone observing us! Moreover, the beginning of this movie responds to the ending with the same lines from Truman. These two parts with same Truman's lines symbolize the inauguration and ending of Truman show.
Katherine
Te movie "The Truman Show" leaves a great impression on me. I think there are many things worth to be discussed. First, just like Sylvia said, is this moral to make one's life on the screen without telling him? Though he belongs to the company, it does not mean the company can deprive of his privacy and freedom. And I also found one thing which is very interesting. Look carefully the movie's name. The main character's name is Truman. "Truman" is the combination of "true" and "man." I think that means although his life is a lie, he is the only "true man." I've seen this movie many times. Every time I see it, my love to it just becomes more. I'm happy to see Truman finally made it, and I have say that he is indeed very smart to full so many people and camera. I hope he can still live in a great life in the real life.
Christine
This work is a breakthrough that no directors has make a film like this before. In which the artors in the film The Truman Show are acturally playing actors in the show itself. The main character Truman "stars" his 24-hours lives in all kinds of movie shots without even knowing being shot. Most surprisingly, he has begun his live as a star since being an unconsious baby.With all the vagueness , scam and sadness we the audience feel, we were first misled by Truman's happy family and normal job as common people, however, little by little with Truman we found that his life has always be in a gaint film studio on an island.Cameras were spread on the island over thousands to shoot every fraction of Truman. His whole life was a long lasting make-up story to entertain the world-wide fan of The Truman Show TV program.
The value of TheTruman Show is that we not only get the story but peek means of movie producing. Directors , photoers, cameras , actors and still others are unveiled in this film.We see varieties of shots in order to portrait perfect angles and to produce the maxium of emotions. Also, with the popularity of TheTruman Show, we can probably infer the director wants to drop a hint that world-wide people enjoy to see the truthness of a person rather than acting skills or, more to say, human's desire of peeking.
Candy Jiang
When I knew that the main character of the film scheduled on Friday is Jim Carrey, my instinct is that it must be a comic movie because of his star image. However, although this film did try to make it looks fun and ridiculous in some parts, it failed. To me, Jim Carrey is not as interesting in this film as in other films he played.
The Truman Show is ambiguous in its name and gives the audience a hint of what this movie is about. "Truman" is not only the name of the main character but also the homophone of "true man." The Truman Show is the show spotlights the man called Truman; The Truman Show is a show of a real man. To the audience, Truman is the actor in a show, and to Truman himself, he is a true man living his own life instead of acting.
There are two familiar images in the film, the boat and the bracelet. Both of them have its connection and enable the audience to get a clearer picture of the whole story. I was confused when seeing Truman cried and ran away from the pier as soon as he saw a crashed boat with white color. In the later story, Truman recalled the unhappy memory of losing his father who was drowned. It was the same boat in the two scenes! Thus my confusion was solved. As for the bracelet, it connects itself with the girl who wears it. Truman met a girl wearing that accessory and called Lauran, whose real name is Silvia, in a ball and fell in love with her. Later in the library, just with a glance at the bracelet, Truman knew that Lauran was the girl sitting right on his opposite side and thus had the chance to talk with her and had their first date and first kiss. Also, with her name, Lauran and Silvia, introduced to us audience, our questions of why Truman called to ask something about Fiji and mentioned Lauran and Silvia and why Truman tore out the eyes on the magazine got their answers.
The last thing I want to mention is the POV shot used in this film. At the beginning of the film, there are lots of POVs but I had no idea whose point of view it is. I just felt that Truman must be supervised by someone else, someone hidden in the dark. As the story goes on, I know why the director used such much of the POVs. Truman is really supervised by the program creator and is really watched by people all over the world.
Chin
Particularly, I like this movie very much. I keep wondering why there is always a soft iris during the movie; and those angles just convey an important information that is Jim Carrey is being tailed after by somebody. In addition to that, the strange behavior of Sylvia is also a point that shows us something is going wrong. From the content of the story, I think this is not only a simple story that will easily for us to forget. From a point of some religious, we believe that life is just a movie that is set off by God. Sometimes, we are getting confused between reality and imagination as shown in The Truman Show. Truman didn't realize that he has been living and watching on a show until he found his true love, Sylvia. I think this is also a fact that tells us love within people is the source of energy and love can make us see things more clearly. With the power of love, eventually, Truman had escaped from the show. From the point of view of cinematography, I think this is a successful movie. The beginning, climax, and the end of the show fully fulfilled the expectation of the audiences. It makes us confused at the beginning; it also makes me think that if this is a movie that talk about the meaning of live; the end is also very heart touching. I read a sentence, which sound like this, "The books which help you the most are those which make you think the most", I believe a good movie will also have this properties.
Charlene
I have to say that I love this movie very much. The movie gives a very creative idea which I've never imagined before. First I was wondering about the framing and the iris effect—why the cinematographer would take the shot in this way? Then, as the story goes on, the answer emerges gradually. I think the story is definitely a tragedy. A man, born in a "perfect" place which all things are set for him, but also a place full of lies and lack of adventures and experiences, is so pathetic in sacrifice his own life just to entertain the "real" people outside. He doesn't even have the chance to say no. But I think it is Jim Carrey that makes this film not-so-pathetic. In contrast, he adds some happy elements to the movie and makes its flavor not so heavy and not so miserable. The name of the movie (and also the name of the main character) use the term "Truman", sounds really ironic because the man in fact is not living in a "true" world.
The movie makes me to meditate that if there is also a chance like this coming to me, which enables me to live a better life, will I accept? The character in the film, he refuses it, of course, but that is because he has never been outside. He has never experienced the "flawed" world outside, which he thinks is "freedom". However, maybe the really sweet things would only come with the sour things. He does not want to let something great go, just because it might be hard for him. Therefore, even if there is a better place, people may still want the freedom and also the tribulation. Human beings are this kind of animals with such a puzzled dilemma.
Alice Wang
The Truman Show is a movie about a popular reality show featuring a character who doesn't know the fact that he is living in a totally surreal world. In the movie several special shooting techniques are used which may not be easily seen in normal films. For instance, one of the techniques that impress people most may be the soft iris effect. This way of shooting tends to make people wonder whose POV they are shown in the scenes are, creating the feeling that there are numerous cameras monitoring Truman's life and showing it to the whole world. Also, the way the people in Truman Show pose and talk keep reminding the audience the fact that the world Truman live in is in fact a surreal one created to be shown as a TV program. To put even more emphasis on this fact, a lot of long shots and deep focus techniques are frequently used in the film and also most of the scenes intend to create the sense of isolation for Truman from all the other people in the show, indicating how unreal the world of Truman is. There are still some other special ways of shooting like shallow focus and some framing devices, which help putting the viewer in the scene. In a nutshell, the film is truly a neatly shot one and at the same time it provides the viewers an insight into the relationship between reality and unreality.
Joan
I have heard of this film, The Truman Show, for a long time and I was interested in this film. Finally, I finished watching it and felt so good. Since the director doesn't want to see the actors act unrealistically, he changes the way of making a movie. They produce many conditions to let Truman not find out he is taken in the film. All of the conditions are just like daily life, and they are so realistic. Sometimes, the scene is framed by the camera lens. It means there is black image around the screen, but sometimes not. Actually, I don't really understand why they make this kind of difference about the frame. All of the people except Truman in the film know they're participants in this film. Although it's unique to make this show, it seems that it's kind of unfair to Truman. Whatever he does is seen and viewed as an entertainment by the audience. Some conditions are made by the producers instead of happening naturally.
However, isn't it also an unrealistic film? In the end of the film, in spite of facing the hard conditions such as raining heavily, large waves, etc., Truman still tries his best to find the girl he loves. After finding out the truth and talking to the director, he leaves the created world and goes to the real world. It's so touching!
Vicky Shih
Truman is a man who born on the television. His everyday life was broadcast in TV watched by thousands upon thousands people in the real world. Everyone he encountered in his life was just an actor and the place he lived was actually a studio! His life was dominated by the director, Christof and he didn't find out for thirty years! Finally, someone gave him a tip and he gradually found there are something wrong. So he rowed a boat hoping to find out the truth. At last, he found the end of the sea and decided to leave the fictitious world! It really a good movie to make people think a lot. Whether we live our everyday life and view it to be natural and right? Do we often reflect on what we do and how we live? After watching the movie, we can start to think about these questions.
Emily
The Truman Show talks about a man who doesn't know his life is a show in television. I love this film. At the beginning, I could not realize what is going on; I thought it may be not easy to understand. But I understood while I was seeing the film. The plot is appealing. It attracts the viewers' eye not only because it is a comedic film, but also its story.
In this film, the director uses many iris effects. The iris effects show that the shots are shown on television and everyone is watching. The director also uses many long shots and high angle shots. By the long shots, the viewers can see the whole unreal locations. In the show, everything is unreal. All the buildings, shops, and even the sun are all made by man. The whole locations are important for the team of the 24/7 Truman show.
In this film, I also saw the choice of life. What kind of life you want: filled with joy and everything is good for you but fake world or real world although has many difficulties? I saw the Truman's choice and also mine. If I were Truman, I would do the same thing as he did. Maybe I weren't brave as Truman, but I would try.
Anne
The movie talked about a boy ,Truman Burbank, who was living in a artificial world since he was born. Truman was living under lots of hidden camera which means that he was watched by people in the whole world. In the beginning of the movie , Truman Burbank gave a big simile to the camera which looks like a show ON TV.
Truman took everything for granted and everything can't be more usual anymore. He thought his life was good and nothing went wrong until he met a girl who he really fall in love with .Actually the girl is not the only one wants to tell Truman the truth .There were some people using special ways tried to tell him that everything is fake but failed. Sylvia, the actress Truman loved was the one who made Truman started to look around and to be aware of everything around him.
Besides, one day when he was driving he heard everything the radio describe was just around him that's a big reason he started to find who he himself is . After Burbank find the truth ,he try to escape from this fake and artificial world.
Everybody was care about what he is going to do. After he find the exit door and step out everybody just change the channel and fine other show to watch. In the movie the director using lots of different way to shoot which show us that Truman was living under camera.
Carolina
One of the most brilliant parts of the movie is the different angles shots that are taken in order to depict the life of Truman Burbank, the protagonist of the live show. Not only high-angle shots and low-angle shots, but also special POV perspectives (through a needle-camera POV for example) are included as to demonstrate a TV show within a movie. The audience might have not fully realized until the middle of the story that they have been watching the movie through cameras inside the film. It is an impressive and surprising factor. Indeed, the beginning of the movie indicates a clue of a TV show within it, yet until that moment, the audience might be still confused about the real purpose of those scenes (This was exactly my case). Isolation of the main character is another hint, as the actors might not be full-time, not only is the real world but also in the fictional show. Furthermore, as shown in IMDB web site, some actors played two roles in the TV show such as Truman's wife, Laura Linney, who also perform Hannah Gill (whom I think is the supposedly new girlfriend for Truman). Her mannered poses and products advertisements are also part of the entire TV show.
The other flattering remark must be attributed to the brilliant comic actor Jim Carrey. I must admit that his performance in this movie must be one of the best one ever after watching so many of his other movies. One of my favorite is when he salutes to his neighbors with his head tilted: "Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!". This also makes a perfect ending of the entire movie because it also addresses to the real audiences.
Particularly, I also love the phrase "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented" which means that no matter how ridiculous the world might be, if it happens in front of you, and then you would believe that it exists. What if there are really other creatures watching Earth or manipulating our actions? Or maybe God who provokes the earthquakes or control the weather? Or we might just be a huge experiment of the extraterrestrial life? How would we discover the truth?
Hilary
I have seen the Truman show when I was a child. At that time, I focused only on the story. It makes me consider whether I am Truman. I was so innocent as to believe that. Maybe there are also 5000 video cameras around me! But now, I think he is so poor, because his life was limited. There are plenty of varied things in our lives, and we can make different choices whatever we want.
After the first class, I start to notice the scenes. There are lots of shots which are different form traditional film. From now on, I will use diverse aspects to analyze the other movies. I hope I can understand other films more deeply.
Candy Cheng
After watching the move, "The Truman Show", I was amused a lot and I also guess how the story would come during the time I watch it. In the story, everyone is acting, and only Truman lives his real life. The actors appear in their pointed places and do the same thing everyday, but Truman does not find anything wrong. I thing the turning point for Truman to discover is that he sees his father taken away by some people he didn't know. Then he starts to find the truth. For me, the process he finding the truth is cruel for him. That means he has to face the fact that everything is a fake. The background in the movie makes me feel impressed, especially the sea and sunshine! I can not imagine the scenery I see is not true! The climax of the movie is also charming for me to follow because the actors are getting nervous because Truman is going to know the truth!
Sophia
The Truman Show is a film showing in an innovative way that the subject of this film is that a person was created to perform his real life when he was born. The way the film shows is from several cameras. That is to say, the viewers can see different shots from the movement of cameras. At the very first of the film, it seems that Truman is talking to a monitor of TV. The viewers see the screen and the ridge of the machine. And then, the viewers can see him from different angle shots from his neighbors' perspective and from the dog's perspective or even the extreme high-angle shots from the sky. From the conversation between the production groups, the world around Truman is full of cameras including the pinhole camera. The producer of this film creates fixed spaces to let Truman on the screen. For example, when Truman is in his office, what he does was taped from a fixed position. Also, the producer design special angles to make Truman confine in a space. The producer is good at utilizing high-angle shots, making Truman standing in the spotlight. Beside, the setting in the film seems unusual. The buildings seems like constructed in an order and the color of the buildings is too bright to let the viewers feel weird. The whole plot is organized so well that the viewers may find some hints showing Truman's life is so unusual. Last but not least, the issue in the film is the choice between real life and the created "wonderful" world. Again, the film brings the viewers this question to rethink about this question.
Tina
The filming and the details of this movie all perfectly correspond to its' theme: a show. For example, the streets of the place he lives in are wonderful and his daily lives smooth, maybe a little repetitive— everyday Truman listens to the same radio program and the same woman with the same dog appear in his way to office buying the same "Dog Fancies" magazine. With a perfect tempered wife, who has a perfect smile, and a perfect buddy Marlon, everything in Truman's world is so perfect that it seems a little odd. It is too perfect to be true. Also, more often than not the edges of the lens are shown on the screen, implying that everything on the screen is being monitored or photographed, and gradually leading the audience, both on and off the screen, to find the truth along with Truman.
In the end of this film, Truman chooses to leave the studio and enters the real world in spite of the TV-producer telling him that the outer world is terrible and the world he creates for him is much better. Why doesn't he stay? It seems a lot easier to stay in the studio, where everything is well-arranged and he does not have to worry a thing. But he cannot trust a thing, too, since everyone is acting. However, in the real world, people also acts, pretends, and lies. So what is the difference between that artificial world and the world we live in? I think that is what "The Truman Show" presents.
Karen
The world that Truman lives in appears very surreal. Many high angle shots which show the cleanness of streets and the regular pattern of houses create a more unreal world, as if the town is constructed intentionally for Truman. The bright color tone and the high-key lighting also make the world look idealized. The blue sky, the green grass, the moon, and the sunset, all of them seem perfect, but actually they are fake. Most of the long shots and the framing effect create a feeling that peoples are watching Truman through a monitor or a pinhole camera. Viewers are watching Truman's world, where everything is controlled, arranged, ideal, and only Truman himself is real. It is unimaginable to live a in a world where every single event is arranged secretly by someone. This way, the meaning of life is likely to be distorted and life may be dull and uninteresting. But it would definitely be a big surprise when one finds out that none of his or her whole 22 years of life is real.
Holly
Truman, the man living in a created world, or a live TV show, lead a life controlled by the TV program creator. In this film, iris effects appeal Truman's world is unusual, seems to be supervised by someone hidden in the dark side. Through the shots from different angles or distortion, the director creates an unreal or surreal world, which is partly authentic, but artificial. Those people, or actors, in Truman's daily life, arrange the plots of the show. They are certainly part of Truman life, bur ironically they are set to play different roles in the program; they are fakes. The appearance of the girl, Lauren, is the turning point for Truman. She is like a missing clue or segment in this scheme. Several shots put the emphasis on Lauren's eyes and the eye contact between Truman and Lauren. Eyes symbolize sincerity of one person. It's the honest eyes makes Lauren different from others. The sincere interaction among villagers is one of essential issues in the film. People around Truman interact with him just for working, playing a show. What they need is to have a job, an opportunity to be on the stage; but for Truman, all he wants is to be a normal person, to be honest to his heart or to others. Truman's role in the show is quite distinct from other players, because this is not the stage he wants. In the end, the exit shows not only a way out but also an entrance of Truman's new life, the start of his brand new world.
Vicky Lin
I had seen the movie, The Truman Show before. However, at that time, I did not understand why there was a "dark circle" around the leading man. Last week, when watching it, I thought it is easy for audience who had ever learned something about movie to know that it is framing. In The Truman Show, the framing is so effective that makes people realize it is really a show. There are also other parts for audiences to find out it is a show, for example, Truman's wife, Meryl usually did some product placements when she was talking. The lenses will zoom in on the products to let audiences see them clearly. For another instance, except of us, the real audiences, there were also audiences watching or even discussing Truman Show in the movie. I think the most successful and interesting part is that the director create the three worlds which including Trueman's, audiences' in the movies, and ours, the real audiences'.
Ida
Every time when I see Jim Carrey, I will only think of some relaxed and exaggerated comedies without a serious theme. As a result, when I see The Truman Show, it really surprises me because Jim Carrey has shown us his different aspect which is really impressive and tells us that he can not only makes us laugh but also makes cry and think. Besides, the reason why I like The Truman Show is the plot. Through Jim Carrey, the real star in the famous 24-hours fictional TV show, the director brings us a serious and meaningful question. We all know that it is a world full of untruth and normally people do not want to leave his own safe little world for dozens of reason. Once we open our eyes and start to find the truth as Jim Carrey does, it really needs courage. Furthermore, after finding the truth, we may face another question and need to make a tough choice as Jim Carrey does. As a result, this is a world full of uncertainty, untruth and never-ending
questions, but what the director wants to show is the real danger and untruth are always better than the false peace, so Truman chooses to leave his perfect home. To conclude, this is a marvelous movie with great actors, plots and cinematography, it is really worth to see and study it.
Eileen
Truman Burbank, a man whose life had been watched by people all over the world. He had lived in front of cameras for the show when he is born. Everyone is acting except him and everyday just look like the same day. His life is dull. He just live the routine life and see the same thing happened every day. He wants to go abroad find his love 'Sylvia'. In the end, he finally conquered his fear of water and went outside to find his love. In the film that impressed me the most is the lines that Truman speaks. "Good morning. Oh! In case I won't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night." He speaks in the beginning and in the end.
In the film, the director sometimes use the hidden camera scene to present the movie that let us known Truman's life were monitored by the executive producer Christof. Sometimes Truman's wife Meryl will have close-up shots that tell us she is advertising the products. These shots all revealed that Truman were live in film studio.
Abby
I like the issue of "The Truman Show". Some people are longing for the life of being famous. However in this film, being famous isn't that good at all. Truman has been watched since he was born. I think it is really scary that living for more than twenty years and then one day suddenly figure out that your life has been spied for years. No wonder that Truman has such a big reaction after he begins doubting that something weird is happening around him. If I were Truman, I might go crazy because this is such a big joke and hurts my feeling as well. There are many framings in the film. I think the framings are well used in "The Truman Show". Sometimes the framings are shot like someone is spying through some camera or telescope. But actually at the beginning, I was a little bit confused. It seems that the scenes is not connected and maybe somewhat being cut between the scenes.
Mandy
The story of The Truman Show is very creative. I enjoyed this movie very much. I think how the director changed the angle of the shots is interesting. I noticed that when the ''audience" in the movie was watching the Truman Show, the director used high-angle shot. I feel that they were looking up a "perfect" world created by the producer of Truman Show. Even though it is a fictitious world, Truman's world is less dangerous than the reality. And when we were looking at screen, I felt that I was also peeking at this audience. And I like how Meryl acts. Through her overacting performance, she reminds us that she was acting as Truman's perfect wife!
Ivana
The plot of the film is really creative—the Truman Show performed by a true man, who lived in an artificial town. The fake of Truman's world can be found through set designs, the acts of others, and the point of view shot.
The sky is always pure blue. The houses and the streets are extremely neat. The sea often with fist and moon somehow seems to be unreal. The most surreal scene sets when Truman tells his best friend that he is going to leave in evening. The sun and the full moon appear at the same time with lines of clouds in between.
In addition, other's actions in the film looked like a show. Truman's wife often stands like a model, representing and speaking for some products. The neighbors, the twins the newspaper seller are just repeating their words day by day.
Also, most of the scenes are photographed in POV shots, representing the audience of the Truman show. The show even presented in TV screen several times, with audiences watching, and director manipulating.
In sum, I like the film for its innovative theme, Jim Carey's comic performance, and the special arrangement of the surreal world.
Finna
Originally, I thought it was another wacky "Jim Carry's Film." It would be nothing but funny. However, I was impressed by his acting. He is full of contradictions, so is the film. Jim Carrey always leaves people a fixed impression that is he is a funny comedian. Therefore, the star image is well-used in this film. Though he never tries to act in funny ways on purpose but does every thing naturally. We grow the sympathy for Truman as the film goes, and it ends up being serious. Christof, the creator of The Truman Show, also presents a good acting. He always treats Truman like a young kid by watching him touch the television image of Truman. And Truman does look like an immature kid by observing his wearing. He often wears in a childlike ways when he's weeding. But, at the end, Christof finally speaks with Truman like man. "There's no doubt that Jim Carrey really changes the nature of the viewer's response" mentioned in the handout.
"There's nothing fake about Truman himself." said by Christof. However it so ironic that the world he has lived for 30 years is counterfeited by a bunch of people. And everyone knows except Truman. It's just like the satire in the literature. The director shows the obvious iris effects which let us realize that Truman has always been watched. The iris circles form the frames which show Truman is isolated alone. The scenes are captured well which makes me understand how cinematography can affect a movies. Without any remarkable cinematography skills, this film would be so bored and cannot convey the main idea to the audience.
Christopher
Corresponding with the name of the movie itself, Truman pronounces as "true man". Truman is the only one true himself in the movie, for audience it is both very ironic and couldn't help laughing when watching those actors or actress, doing their drama professionally in case to keep a perfect harmoniousness with him.
However, when the movie ends, who are we then? The true one or the one acts with a drama and keeps harmoniousness for the society, the "cruel fact"? This movie strongly reminds us who we are and where we shall go, it has made good use of people confusing their real identities and their status, to exaggeratedly displays as the surrounding things are illusions.
Actually the illusions are from our mind, but we seldom doubt about them, we may subconsciously afraid that we are not strong and smart enough to resist the final true, we do not have the courage to ever challenge the life's system we relying on, we are not conscious of the big world, those different districts meaning of true non-stop confusing us, except we could be as Truman, to advance bravely.
Vivian Yang
THE TRUMAN SHOW, which stars Jim Carrey, is inspiring in several aspects. First, the main character is living in a fictional world, which is under the surveillance of over 5,000 cameras on the island. Yet Truman still needs to handle practical problems in such a fantastical life.
Secondly, THE TRUMAN SHOW indeed show us various ways of how a director harness the camera to dramatize each framing. The audience might find the film enjoyable because they are also the one who are peeping at Jim Carrey's life. The more breathtaking the plot is, the more compassionate the audience become. In the movie, it is the resonance of Truman's life toward others' that make the TV show so successful; in real life, it is the technical accomplishment that make the cinema so worth-watching.
Undoubtedly, with Jim Carrey's star image and the effort of cinematography, THE TRUMAN SHOW demonstrates the excellence in making the audience on the edge of their seats.
Hazel
There are many things are worthy to explore in the film. However, the most important one is the individual privacy. Truman, for instance, he is the only true man in thefictitious world. His every movement and every action are real feelings. One day, he realizes the fact that what he sees isn't what he believes. Moreover, his daily life is shown via the media to hundreds and thousands people. However, the packager dominates and builds up the whole world. Just like today's mess media. Sometimes the information is not that fair and correct, but most of the readers don't even know that. The movie is telling us that we should remain the power of judgment and not just following blindly.
Tiger
The Truman Show has a very unique topic and brings up an important issue of life, and it is successfully completed by the star image of Jim Carrey and the effective visual design. From the tile of the film, we can see the humor and conflict in it if we interpret "Truman" as "True-man." Truman is true because of his totally untrue surrounding, and this makes the contrast of innocent Truman and his daily encounters more flagrant. Jim Carrey seems born to play the role Truman because he himself has a surreal image in the audiences' minds. He looks like a cartoon character in the opening scene when saying "good evening and good night," for his exaggerated facial expression and funny movement. In this film we can see various angles of shots, and it is a way to emphasize that Truman is in a show, and there is always camera wherever he goes to. For example the very low angle shot for Truman inside his car is rarely happen in other films, and that kind of uncommon shot can sensitize viewers' feelings. The setting is also unreal; the town is so plain and clean, and the houses all look like toys. The most impressive scene happens at the end when Truman finally survives the storm, sailing under the beautiful sky, and his boat suddenly bump into the white cardboard. The steps that Truman walks on to the exit sums up the distinctive art direction for this film, and with Truman's bow, this film ends perfectly.
Vincent
I've heard about this movie many years ago, and until today I know it's a film in 1998. It's hard to imagine it has been over 10 years from this movie's birth. I mean, it seems that Jim Carrey never get old! …OK, that's off the topic. Let's get to the point, this movie, The Truman's Show. In fact, I am impressed by the main idea of the film, a man's whole life is part of the show. In the film, Jim Carrey, as Truman, was "born" to be an actor. Well, it's like a pun. Since he was a baby in his mom's body, the camera started to capture his life. I try to imagine if I am just like Truman, and my life is just a show; people around me, parents, sister, friends, everyone, are just actors and actresses…Wow, it's really hard to accept the truth like this. No wonder, in the film, Truman was almost crazy, because he don't know whom he can trust! Well, in fact, there is no one. Like his name, Truman, he is the only "true man" in the world that was created by Christof, "Christ of" the show. It's really a impressive, and so are the music! I downloaded the original soundtrack via KKBOX. The music are fantastic, and of course…they are legal!
Jeanette
It is a very creative movie. It's so hard to imagine that you are watched by everybody since you were born. The director use many shots (I'm not sure the technical term) to make the viewers feel that they are actually watching the life of Truman. The same technique had also been used in Holloween, we are using the view of the killer. However, I don't think the idea of Truman tearing down pictures and try to portray the image of Sylvia works well. You don't really know what is Truman doing at the beginning.
Koch
After watching the movie, the first thing that came up to my mind is the movie title – the Truman Show. The hero's name is pronounced as true man, but indeed, he is a man living in the fake world created by people around him. What's a true man? Or a true individual? To me, a true man must have independent thoughts. Without independent thoughts, we are just normal creature like other animals.
The movie somehow reminds me of the myth story of Achilles, who could have lived an easy and content life, but he choose to die in the battle field. The same situation does happen in modern world, or our world. Some people earn a lot of money and fame, but their lives are aimless. While some people struggle for making ends meet, but they gladly endure the hardships because they know what they are doing and they are satisfied. The movie also makes me rethink about our education system. We barely have the ability of independent thinking before senior high. What we had been taught is to obey and do whatever people tell us to do. But in college, we are trained to think and respond on our own, and that provides us the ability to judge what is right and make our decision.
At the end of the movie, Truman made his decision to leave the comfortable (but fake) life to get in to the cruel (but real) world, and that was the time he really became a true man.
Carter
I think the movie title "The Truman Show" was kind of ironic, because all of the world of the main character Truman was fact, but he was named "Truman." Truman lived in a TV show and the People around him were all actors, but he didn't know that. One day when he was going to work as usual, a light fallen from the sky had started to change his unalterable life. He began to discover the truth and finally escape from this TV program. I think the actors' acting makes the movie more attracting, especially Jim Carrey. He is a funny actor, and even though this movie was not kind of comedy, but we can still see his humor and it made the movie more relaxing. And the actors that were pretending watching "The Truman Show" had acted so vividly that make us feel like we are also watching the TV program and these "spectators" were just like our projection. The ending of the movie that Truman finally walked out of his world was touching, but then we were suddenly shocked by the conversation between the two administrators "Ok, what to see next?" The shock end somehow makes us wonder if the world we live is also a TV program and our lives are already been set.
Alice Huang
The Movie, The Truman Show, is my favorite Jim Carrey film among all his works. As what professor mentioned in the class, he successfully acts out the main protagonist by combining his star image and acting skills.
In the very beginning of the movie, there are several close-up shots on Jim Carrey. I think it not only tell the audience that he is imprisoned in a small world—what professor has stated in the handout—but also give the audience a feeling that he's looking at us, as other audience shown in the movie, and that he "really" doesn't know anything about his life.
In the end of the movie, when Jim Carrey walks along the wall in the fake studio, those scenes are shot with high key lighting. This technique provides the audience with a sense that, Jim Carrey, who has been deceived until the last moment, is extremely alone because in the world in which he used to live and take for granted, no one around him is real.
Finally, there is one more thing that I thought is important for audience. I believe everyone has found that the title of this film is really great. The title, "The Truman Show," not only indicates that it is a show played by real people, but also explains that Truman himself is the "leading character" in this fraud.
Vicky Liu
In the movie, Truman Show, the chief actor's name is Truman. Truman is combined by true and man. In one hand, the name is a symbol because Truman is the only person who really lives in the show. In another hand, the name is quite ironic because the world around him is designed by others. The world is not true for him.
In the movie, the director uses a lot of frames in the shot. At first it may confuse the audience. Little by little, the audience will discover the frames represent for the shooting of the camera. During the film, frames appear a lot, keeping reminding us Truman living in a show.
The film criticizes for the media invading people's private live. Nowadays, paparazzi are everywhere. Celebrities have done there best to hide secrets from them; however it never works. Scandals, private photos and so on have been published by paparazzi. The film, Truman Show, warns us about how less we own of private. The film can also help us to introspect how we judge the word "private."
Vivian Lin
The truman show ia a amazing movie. It discusses that people like to watch people's daliy life to satisfy people's desires. It shows us that curiousity sometimes controls our life. The movie introduces a lot of professional words about the movie. I like the part of Truman that he tries to find the truth. The director use inter cuts to show that people all over the world are watching Truman's life. They all know that he is acting his life. It is ironic. The director is making fun of us. It presents the ugly truth that people enjoy peeping at others. There are lot of interseting scenes that are creative and impressive. I am shock that the words which said by the show director. He tells Truman what he live now is a beautiful and peaceful place. Outside world ia dirty and ugly. He hopes Truman can change his mind to stay in the studio. However, Truman bows as a beautiful ending to the show. I just have some feeling even though the reality is ugly, I still have to live in my way and in time. No matter how difficult to struggle to live in my own way.
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