Throughout the duration of the film The Third Man, Holly Martins strives to become a masculine figure in which he would hold power. In the final scene of the movie, we see all of his work and effort come to an end and ultimately he fails. The power that Harry Lime and Anna Schmidt hold during the film, help contribute to this failure of Holly’s. During the final scene, we see Holly standing off to the side of the film, while Anna walks in a direct path towards that camera. Looking from a long shot, even though Anna is a minute part of the screen we still see her as larger and more powerful than Holly. The placement of Holly off to the far left of the screen helps the viewer to associate Holly as less important, as is he has been defeated and no longer plays a role in this moive. Another way that the directors help to portray Holly’s weakness and femininity is by having Harry Lime still hold power even after he is dead. In the last scene Anna walks straight part Harry without giving him a glance or second thought. Even though Harry is a dead man, and can no longer protect or provide for Anna, she still ends up choosing him over Holly. This defeat of not getting the girl, and having a dead man hold more power that he does really helps to demonstrate the weakness and little power that Holly holds. Along with the characters helping to portrays Holly’s weakness in the final scene, the directors also use the setting around Holly to help. The dirt road that Holly is standing along is lined with trees. The trees all look dry, dead, and hopeless. These trees are a symbol of Holly. At one point in time the trees were all probably alive and green, just as Holly was in the peak of the movie when he felt somewhat in control. Now that the trees are dead and have no more purpose, the viewer can associate Holly as also being dead to the movie. The last scene of the film The Third Man helps to show that all of the effort that Holly Martins put in throughout the film to gain power and break away from the characteristics of a female were ultimately pointless because in the end he fails and ends as a weak character.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one thing that stood out to me was how cinematic elements were used to help portray the image of the dwarfs. Although the dwarfs were small in size, throughout the movie they were portrayed as "large" and powerful. One cinematic element that was used were the camera angles. The cameras were angled up at the dwarfs, also called low angle shots. This angling of the camera help to make the dwarfs seems larger in size, therefore having the viewer perceive them as more powerful; the opposite of Snow White. Another cinematic element that was used throughout the movie was the zooming of the camera. Although the dwarfs were small and would not normally take up as much of the screen, the producer had the cameras zoomed in. This zooming technic created a false image that the dwarfs were much larger than they seemed. This helps to portray them as holding more power than if the cameras were not zoomed. A third cinematic element that Disney used throughout Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were the shadows of the dwarfs. The shadows also tie into the camera angles. In the scene where the dwarfs are marching and singing on their way home from work, as they pass through the cavern their shadows are cast onto the wall behind them more than twice their size. As the shadows are casts, this makes the dwarfs seem larger than they are in reality. All of these cinematic elements that are used throughout the movie help the producer to share his image of the dwarfs with the viewers. Although the dwarfs were small, they were still portrayed as large in the movie. Holding more power than Snow White ever did during the film. The dwarfs played a masculine a masculine roles during the movie, and the cinematic elements helped to do this.

One of the TED talks that we have seen presented so far that really caught my attention was Hanna’s TED talk on being an older sister. For starters, Hanna did an outstanding job on the way she delivered her topic. There was never a stutter or “um” throughout her speech and the entire thing flowed together perfectly. It had a clearly laid out and organized outline that was easy to follow and understand as she went along with things. The power-point that Hanna used as a visual aid worked very nicely with her talk in a way that we could all see the pictures of her siblings as she went through her presentation. Overall, I think that Hanna had a nicely done TED talk and I can’t suggest much that she could have improved on. 

The reason that Hanna’s TED talk on being an older sister stood out to me was because I myself am an older sister as well. As she went through her talk and explained the qualities that she thought an older sibling should posses, it made me think about the older sibling that I have been. I could easily relate to each scenario she describe, weather I had handled each one differently or the same as she did. Hanna’s talk was easy for me to relate to, and drew in my attention nicely. :)