FAMST 96 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Eyeline Match, Establishing Shot, Xylophone
9 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Opening narration and somber music
Narration of a girl (sounds like a teen)
○
•
Shadows evident
•
Long establishing shots of the neighborhood
•
Fort Dupree, South Dakota
•
Garbage truck is the focus of next frames
•
Loudness of the garbage truck mechanisms
•
Cut to a young girl twirling a baton in the middle of the street
•
"Would end in the badlands of Montana"
Her narration leads me to think that a story will be told about her life
from her perspective
○
•
Opening credits
•
Lighter xylophone music as younger man walks down the alleyway we saw in
the earlier establishing shot
•
Eyeline match of man seeing young girl twirling baton in her yard
She seems around 16/17? Very young face. Her name is Holly.
○
He introduces himself as Kit Carruthers
○
•
He invites her to take a walk which is a little strange as he seems a lot older and
doesn’t even know her
•
The greaser is a garbage man and Holly says her father wouldn't approve
•
Farm town, manual labor is evident as central to life around there
•
Kit seems to be much older than Holly, very dark and seems burdened
•
Holly begins to narrate about Kit as he comes to see her
•
Use of shot/reverse-shot between Kit and Holly as their conversation progresses
•
Kit and Holly go on a walk again
Does walking become an important motif?
○
Common to roam the streets as a leisurely activity
○
•
Holly's narration of their relationship over the shots of Kit working on a cattle
farm (?) -- animal abuse, probably a slaughter farm
Feed lot
○
•
Holly reveals she was 15, but Kit liked her because she seemed older and wasn't
like other giggly girls
•
Repetition of the keyed music (what instrument is this??)•
"he wanted to die with me, and I dreamed of being forever lost in his arms"
Holly narrating what Kit feels, from her perspective
○
From what we see of him, it doesn’t seem like he's as head-over-heels as
she says
○
•
Darkness when Kit is alone
Shadow usage is heavy
○
Symbolic of his personality and perhaps past (we don’t know anything
about him before he meets Holly)
○
•
So far, Kit has not portrayed the same dreaminess as Holly has or says•
Importance of scenery and nature
Parks, fields, ponds/lakes/rivers, etc.
○
•
Music again•
"kit made a solemn vow [to me]" - Holly's fantasy thoughts?•
"Something must've told him that we'd never live these days of happiness
again"
Obvious they'd drifted apart in the way Kit treated Holly
○
Could potentially be a turning point in the film's direction and how they
interact w/ one another
○
•
Death of animals is major in this film•
Scene of Holly's dog getting shot done with no dialogue, although Holly is seen
talking, but the only thing we hear is the score playing again
•
Kit in conversation with his boss (?) finally confides how he feels about Holly;
states that he has a lot of respect for her, etc.
This man was actually Holly's father who tells him to never be seen by
them again
○
•
As Kit walks away, ominous and eerie music plays
Rather foreshadowing that Kit obviously didn’t take this lightly and plans
on revenge?
○
•
Later cut to kit showing up at Holly's house and sneaking in
Holly and her father show up to the house and find Kit inside with a gun,
saying that he plans to take Holly off with him wherever he goes
○
•
Kit is obviously unstable… breaking into Holly's house and shooting her father
dead
Holly's reaction is less than mortified which seems very unusual
○
Why is she not angry or reacting towards Kit?
○
•
Score again of single notes being played, barely noticeable•
Darkness of the shots of Kit dragging father through the house and to the
basement
•
Quiet eeriness of the night and emptiness of the house•
All Holly does to react to Kit killing her father is slap him once across the face•
Kit always says that Holly can do what she wants
She can call the police if she'd like
○
She can run away from him, etc.
○
•
Same somber key/string music playing as Holly is left alone to walk through her
house
•
Holly's silhouette from the window•
"my girl Holly and I decided to kill ourselves, same way I did her dad' - Kit
Kit talking to a recorder
○
A vocal suicide note
○
Before the recorder is shown, it seems as if Kit is breaking the fourth wall
and talking directly to the audience
○
•
Cut to Kit frantically pouring gas all over the house… he plays the recording•
"Kit left the record playing over and over for the district attorney to find"
House is engulfed in flames
○
Car drives away into the darkness
○
•
Music plays as everything burns, first time the music has lyrics
Sounds choir-like
○
•
Kit's new name = James, Holly's new name = Priscilla
They were running to the north
○
Holly seems accepting of this new life she's about to live with Kit, and not
at all scared
○
•
The score is constant.. Plays almost every time Holly narrates
This time, over the nature where Holly/Kit moved to is a lot more cheerful
○
•
Closeups of trees, bugs, etc.•
Layering of sounds
Score
○
Narration
○
Diegetic sound
○
•
They left to live in the wilderness where they teach themselves how to survive•
"we had our bad moments like any couple" "mostly though, we got along fine
and stayed in love"
From her perspective, this is what she saw was going on as a naïve and
impressionable 15 year old
○
•
Holly reveals her mother died•
She also says the rest of the days followed dreadfully and she wishes she could
fall asleep and pretend his never happened
•
Dissolve between Kit shooting into the water and Kit sitting in a field
Whispering… is this a part of score?
○
Haunting music and cuts between the chicken, Holly, and a watchful Kit
○
•
Buildup to Holly and Kit running as they've been found by someone•
Guns and shooting as a motif•
There's more than one man in the forest
They were coming for reward money held on Holly and Kit for what they
did back home - three bounty hunters shot dead by Kit
○
•
Kit and holly go to stay with Kit's friend… chicken being offered as a gift•
Space in the film so far is abundant
Everything looks never-ending, far and wide
○
Lots of open space and fields
Holly speaks to the fact that it is lonely but good.. Not having
anyone around or in sight makes it seem endless
Holly's reference to a "marble hall" when she and Kit laid
under the trees and talked quietly = abundance of space,
bigness of atmosphere
□
§
○
•
Holly and kit wandering through dirt field playing around•
When they leave the forest, they go to stay with Kit's friend Cato, who runs
away suspiciously like he is going to turn Kit and Holly in
At this slight thought, Kit shoots Cato dead in the stomach
○
•
A young couple come to visit and Kit locks them up in an underground shed for
a little while
He shot into the shed and says "think I got 'em?"
○
Holly and Kit run away as usual
○
•
Dissolve transitions faintly passing time•
Kit was extremely trigger heavy and wanted to shoot all witnesses•
Same score music playing again as Holly looks onto Kit after he locks Cato in a
shed
There is repetition of where Kit puts the dead bodies… he traps them in a
shed
Holly's father was shot and dragged to either a basement or a shed
§
Cato was shot and put in a shed
§
The young couple at Cato's were shot inside of an underground
shed
§
Lack of space
§
○
•
USA went into complete guard when they found out Kit was on the run and had
plans
No one went outside
○
People loaded up with weaponry
○
•
Kit and Holly show up to a house to stay and escape for a little while
Largeness of the house - mansion
○
Kit robbed the house, but gave the man a list of what he took form the
house, including his Cadillac
○
•
In another trapping restriction of space, Kit locks the man and the maid up in a
room, but spares their lives
•
Constant traveling of being on the run shows how vast the scenery is•
Focus on nature in the film
Dense forests
○
Detailed skies
○
Vast fields
○
Closeups of animals and bugs
○
Quietness of nature very obvious
○
•
Holly is growing tired of being on the run
No good food
○
Tired of living in solitude
○
•
Holly and Kit's makeout scene in the car is very uncomfortable
One of the times where it is painfully obvious that he is significantly older
than she is
○
•
Darkness behind Holly and Kit as their faces are illuminated in the car, driving•
Increasing loudness of Nat King Cole score•
When they drive, there is never anything else in sight but the sun and clouds ---
miles and miles of emptiness
•
Holly says she's had enough of being on the run with Kit, and turns herself over
to bounty hunters as Kit leaves
•
Kit has a police chase through the fields and pulls over, leading to his arrest and
"turning himself in"
•
Holly got probation and married her lawyer's son•
Kit was sentenced to die in the electric chair•
Lecture 9: Badlands (Terrence Malik) 1974
Monday, April 30, 2018
5:00 PM
Opening narration and somber music
Narration of a girl (sounds like a teen)
○
•
Shadows evident•
Long establishing shots of the neighborhood•
Fort Dupree, South Dakota•
Garbage truck is the focus of next frames•
Loudness of the garbage truck mechanisms•
Cut to a young girl twirling a baton in the middle of the street•
"Would end in the badlands of Montana"
Her narration leads me to think that a story will be told about her life
from her perspective
○
•
Opening credits•
Lighter xylophone music as younger man walks down the alleyway we saw in
the earlier establishing shot
•
Eyeline match of man seeing young girl twirling baton in her yard
She seems around 16/17? Very young face. Her name is Holly.
○
He introduces himself as Kit Carruthers
○
•
He invites her to take a walk which is a little strange as he seems a lot older and
doesn’t even know her
•
The greaser is a garbage man and Holly says her father wouldn't approve•
Farm town, manual labor is evident as central to life around there•
Kit seems to be much older than Holly, very dark and seems burdened•
Holly begins to narrate about Kit as he comes to see her•
Use of shot/reverse-shot between Kit and Holly as their conversation progresses•
Kit and Holly go on a walk again
Does walking become an important motif?
○
Common to roam the streets as a leisurely activity
○
•
Holly's narration of their relationship over the shots of Kit working on a cattle
farm (?) -- animal abuse, probably a slaughter farm
Feed lot
○
•
Holly reveals she was 15, but Kit liked her because she seemed older and wasn't
like other giggly girls
•
Repetition of the keyed music (what instrument is this??)
•
"he wanted to die with me, and I dreamed of being forever lost in his arms"
Holly narrating what Kit feels, from her perspective
○
From what we see of him, it doesn’t seem like he's as head-over-heels as
she says
○
•
Darkness when Kit is alone
Shadow usage is heavy
○
Symbolic of his personality and perhaps past (we don’t know anything
about him before he meets Holly)
○
•
So far, Kit has not portrayed the same dreaminess as Holly has or says
•
Importance of scenery and nature
Parks, fields, ponds/lakes/rivers, etc.
○
•
Music again
•
"kit made a solemn vow [to me]" - Holly's fantasy thoughts?
•
"Something must've told him that we'd never live these days of happiness
again"
Obvious they'd drifted apart in the way Kit treated Holly
○
Could potentially be a turning point in the film's direction and how they
interact w/ one another
○
•
Death of animals is major in this film
•
Scene of Holly's dog getting shot done with no dialogue, although Holly is seen
talking, but the only thing we hear is the score playing again
•
Kit in conversation with his boss (?) finally confides how he feels about Holly;
states that he has a lot of respect for her, etc.
This man was actually Holly's father who tells him to never be seen by
them again
○
•
As Kit walks away, ominous and eerie music plays
Rather foreshadowing that Kit obviously didn’t take this lightly and plans
on revenge?
○
•
Later cut to kit showing up at Holly's house and sneaking in
Holly and her father show up to the house and find Kit inside with a gun,
saying that he plans to take Holly off with him wherever he goes
○
•
Kit is obviously unstable… breaking into Holly's house and shooting her father
dead
Holly's reaction is less than mortified which seems very unusual
○
Why is she not angry or reacting towards Kit?
○
•
Score again of single notes being played, barely noticeable
•
Darkness of the shots of Kit dragging father through the house and to the
basement
•
Quiet eeriness of the night and emptiness of the house•
All Holly does to react to Kit killing her father is slap him once across the face•
Kit always says that Holly can do what she wants
She can call the police if she'd like
○
She can run away from him, etc.
○
•
Same somber key/string music playing as Holly is left alone to walk through her
house
•
Holly's silhouette from the window•
"my girl Holly and I decided to kill ourselves, same way I did her dad' - Kit
Kit talking to a recorder
○
A vocal suicide note
○
Before the recorder is shown, it seems as if Kit is breaking the fourth wall
and talking directly to the audience
○
•
Cut to Kit frantically pouring gas all over the house… he plays the recording•
"Kit left the record playing over and over for the district attorney to find"
House is engulfed in flames
○
Car drives away into the darkness
○
•
Music plays as everything burns, first time the music has lyrics
Sounds choir-like
○
•
Kit's new name = James, Holly's new name = Priscilla
They were running to the north
○
Holly seems accepting of this new life she's about to live with Kit, and not
at all scared
○
•
The score is constant.. Plays almost every time Holly narrates
This time, over the nature where Holly/Kit moved to is a lot more cheerful
○
•
Closeups of trees, bugs, etc.•
Layering of sounds
Score
○
Narration
○
Diegetic sound
○
•
They left to live in the wilderness where they teach themselves how to survive•
"we had our bad moments like any couple" "mostly though, we got along fine
and stayed in love"
From her perspective, this is what she saw was going on as a naïve and
impressionable 15 year old
○
•
Holly reveals her mother died•
She also says the rest of the days followed dreadfully and she wishes she could
fall asleep and pretend his never happened
•
Dissolve between Kit shooting into the water and Kit sitting in a field
Whispering… is this a part of score?
○
Haunting music and cuts between the chicken, Holly, and a watchful Kit
○
•
Buildup to Holly and Kit running as they've been found by someone•
Guns and shooting as a motif•
There's more than one man in the forest
They were coming for reward money held on Holly and Kit for what they
did back home - three bounty hunters shot dead by Kit
○
•
Kit and holly go to stay with Kit's friend… chicken being offered as a gift•
Space in the film so far is abundant
Everything looks never-ending, far and wide
○
Lots of open space and fields
Holly speaks to the fact that it is lonely but good.. Not having
anyone around or in sight makes it seem endless
Holly's reference to a "marble hall" when she and Kit laid
under the trees and talked quietly = abundance of space,
bigness of atmosphere
□
§
○
•
Holly and kit wandering through dirt field playing around•
When they leave the forest, they go to stay with Kit's friend Cato, who runs
away suspiciously like he is going to turn Kit and Holly in
At this slight thought, Kit shoots Cato dead in the stomach
○
•
A young couple come to visit and Kit locks them up in an underground shed for
a little while
He shot into the shed and says "think I got 'em?"
○
Holly and Kit run away as usual
○
•
Dissolve transitions faintly passing time•
Kit was extremely trigger heavy and wanted to shoot all witnesses•
Same score music playing again as Holly looks onto Kit after he locks Cato in a
shed
There is repetition of where Kit puts the dead bodies… he traps them in a
shed
Holly's father was shot and dragged to either a basement or a shed
§
Cato was shot and put in a shed
§
The young couple at Cato's were shot inside of an underground
shed
§
Lack of space
§
○
•
USA went into complete guard when they found out Kit was on the run and had
plans
No one went outside
○
People loaded up with weaponry
○
•
Kit and Holly show up to a house to stay and escape for a little while
Largeness of the house - mansion
○
Kit robbed the house, but gave the man a list of what he took form the
house, including his Cadillac
○
•
In another trapping restriction of space, Kit locks the man and the maid up in a
room, but spares their lives
•
Constant traveling of being on the run shows how vast the scenery is•
Focus on nature in the film
Dense forests
○
Detailed skies
○
Vast fields
○
Closeups of animals and bugs
○
Quietness of nature very obvious
○
•
Holly is growing tired of being on the run
No good food
○
Tired of living in solitude
○
•
Holly and Kit's makeout scene in the car is very uncomfortable
One of the times where it is painfully obvious that he is significantly older
than she is
○
•
Darkness behind Holly and Kit as their faces are illuminated in the car, driving•
Increasing loudness of Nat King Cole score•
When they drive, there is never anything else in sight but the sun and clouds ---
miles and miles of emptiness
•
Holly says she's had enough of being on the run with Kit, and turns herself over
to bounty hunters as Kit leaves
•
Kit has a police chase through the fields and pulls over, leading to his arrest and
"turning himself in"
•
Holly got probation and married her lawyer's son•
Kit was sentenced to die in the electric chair•
Lecture 9: Badlands (Terrence Malik) 1974
Monday, April 30, 2018 5:00 PM
Document Summary
Narration of a girl (sounds like a teen) Garbage truck is the focus of next frames. Cut to a young girl twirling a baton in the middle of the street. Her narration leads me to think that a story will be told about her life from her perspective. Lighter xylophone music as younger man walks down the alleyway we saw in the earlier establishing shot. Eyeline match of man seeing young girl twirling baton in her yard. He invites her to take a walk which is a little strange as he seems a lot older and doesn"t even know her. The greaser is a garbage man and holly says her father wouldn"t approve. Farm town, manual labor is evident as central to life around there. Kit seems to be much older than holly, very dark and seems burdened. Holly begins to narrate about kit as he comes to see her.
