Music

Music is a major element in the understanding of Mendes’ Films. A Trademark of Sam Mendes is the music he picks to put into his films. Mendes uses music scores from Thomas Newman in a lot of his films. Newman’s scores are used throughout American Beauty, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. Newman is an American film score composer. He is one of the most respected and recognised composers for film and has scored over fifty feature films in a career. A lot of Newman’s scores are very orchestral, slow piano pieces. Mendes uses these scores to set the mood of scenes, weither they are sad, high paced, or thought provoking moments. This is generally shown in dramatic scenes in American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.

For example, in this end scene of Revolutionary Road, Frank finds out officially of April's death. There is no dialogue at all. Gentle piano and orchestral music with no lyrics is played throughout the scene to convey the emotions of sadness and loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Za7ggqS0Y

As a viewer the music was very effective as it fit the scenes sad tone and gives us another insight into the pain Frank is feeling.

Mendes also uses pieces that are completely different to Newman’s music .e.g. in Jarhead he uses Bob Sinclair’s, ‘Everybody Dance Now’ which is very up tempo and is known as ‘dance music’. Mendes uses this music to help convey Swofford’s happy emotion during a high paced, action scene with his fellow troops.

In Revolutionary Road, American Beauty and Jarhead, Mendes has used music that creates the film's atmosphere. You hear the music and subconsciously it affects how you feel about the film’s situation. It is also critical in setting the mood for every scene of the film. Mendes uses music to make you feel more depth of emotion in the film than it would without music.

Setting

Sam Mendes has used very simplistic, realistic and interesting settings in all three films I have studied, Revolutionary Road (2008), Jarhead (2005) and American Beauty (1999).

‘Suburbia' is the main setting for both American Beauty and Revolutionary Road. A wooden, white, lavish, two storied house in a well maintained, upper class neighbourhood is where the majority of both of these films take place. These American neighbourhoods in American Beauty and Revolutionary Road are full of big green leaved trees, long sidewalks and houses that are equally separated with perfectly mown, green lawns. As soon as you see shots of these neighbourhoods and houses at the start of the films you get the general idea of what sort of characters would live here and how they live. It also represents how the families are choosing to live out there day to day lives, For example, when Frank and April Wheeler move to their new home in the suburbs to start a family. After shots of these settings we immediately find out that both families are quite wealthy and are very domesticated. These suburban settings give us the idea that these families want to live ‘The American Dream’. These well maintained houses and neighbourhoods don’t distract you when it comes to the plot of the film’s, they give you an extended idea of the characters living in these houses.

In this trailer for Revolutionary Road we get the general idea of what 'Suburbia' looks like how Frank and April live out their lives.

Trailer for Revolutionary Road:

From this shot taken from American Beauty we can see that the Burnaham family home is very similar to the Wheeler's family home.

A desert is the setting for the majority of the film Jarhead. This desert is very big and seems to go on for miles. We see in the setting throughout the film a range of ‘sandy’, bright colours and the blazing sun powering down. The desert setting isn’t at all intricate and doesn’t distract you from the actors or high paced scenes throughout the film. The desert acts as a ‘canvas’ to all the other film elements.

The one similarity in all three films was that the setting doesn’t distract you from the films dialogue or story line. Mendes has made the settings subtle, and interesting enough at the same time. No setting is over powering to film; we (the viewer) can focus on the actors and dialogue throughout the films. The dialogue is a major element in all these films. Therefore, the settings were major assets to each film as they helped convey each story more clearly.

Actors and Acting Style

The actors cast in American Beauty are Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvarii, Peter Gallgher, Allison Janneey and Chris Cooper.

The Burnham family (Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and Thora Birch) are the main actors in this film. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged office worker who has a midlife crisis when he becomes obsessed with his teenage daughter's best friend. Annette Bening plays Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure teenage daughter, Jane. These characters react quickly to each other, are manipulative and their response's are dramatic.

In this scene from American Beauty we see that the Burnham Family are all very self absorbed. Lester and Carolyn are being aggresive and sarcastic towards eachother. They seem to be oblivious to the emotional impact their verbal exchange has on their daughter Jane. This scene represents the all time low as a family.




The actors in Revolutionary Road are Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Micheal Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, Kathy Bates, Zoe Kazan, Ryan Simpkins and Ty Simpkins.

The main characters in Revolutionary Road are Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank Wheeler and Kate Winslet plays April Wheeler. Frank has a job he hates but is willing to stick with it to provide for his family. April is a stay at home mum but is wanting something more interesting in her life. April finds out she is pregnant and the pregnancy interferes with the couple’s dream for the future. These characters are very emotionally complex and dramatic towards each other.

In this scene from Revolutionary Road, Frank and April have their neighbours over for dinner. They have a son, John Givings. John is a brilliant mathematician but has suffered a major mental breakdown. He challanges Frank and April for changing their plans about going to Paris because of April's pregnancy. This is a very emotional and intense scene for all characters. It is difficult to decide weither John is truely mad or just very insighful. We can see from Frank and April's reactions that John had actually read their relationship and current situation accuratley.



The actors in the film Jarhead are Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Chris Cooper, Skyler Stone, Wade Williams, Brian Geraghty, Evan Jones, Laz Alonso, Tyler Sedustine, Jocko Sims, Dennis Haysbert and Katherine Randolph.

The main actors in this film are Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx. Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Anthony Swofford comes from a family of military men. Swofford decides to join the Marines and experiences the toughness of bootcamp. Peter Sarsgaard plays Alan Troy. Troy is Swoff's friend and is one of the few Marines who enjoys being in the military. Jamie Foxx plays Sargant Sykes. He is Swoff and Troy's trainer at Boot Camp.

These characters are very passion driven, agressive, humorous and dramatic. These trates are shown in this trailer for Jarhead.


Jarhead isn't your typical action filled war film. Instead, it focuses on the psychological aspects of war.

All actors in these film's convey deep emotional feelings to the audience. Weither the actors are acting very sad or very happy they are a major element when it comes to conveying the stories message. The Drama genre is associated with all Mendes' film work. American Beauty, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road all come under the Drama Genre.

Director Study- Sam Mendes

MOVIES:

Bond 23: 2011 (pre-production)
Away we go: 2009
Revolutionary Road: 2008
Jarhead: 2005
Road to Perditon: 2002
American Beauty: 1999
Company: 1996 (TV)
Cabaret: 1993 (TV)

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes was born on the 1st August 1965 in Berkshire, England. Mendes was educated at Cambridge University and joined the Chichester Festival Theatre following his graduation in 1987.

Soon after this he directed actress Dame Judi Dench in "The Cherry Orchard", this was his first directorial debut in the international field. For this film he won a Critics Circle Award for 'Best Newcomer'.

Film: American Beauty

Year: 1999

In 1999, Sam Mendes directed his first feature film, American Beauty.

The film is about the Burnham family. Lester Burnham is suffering a mid-life crisis that affects the lives of his family. Lester has a materialistic wife Carolyn and rebelling daughter Jane who hates him. Carolyn is a real estate agent who is wrapped up in her job and takes on an affair with business rival. Jane falls in love with a strange boy next door who is a drug dealer andlives with a very strict marine father and a speechless mother. Lester's mid-life crisis causes him to drastically change his life around when he quits his job and works at a fast food restaurant. He starts working out to gain the attention of Angela, a friend of Jane's. Lives eventually change and not for the best.

In 2000 Mendes won Best Director at the Academy Awards for American Beauty, which was rear for a first-time film Director.

The film won five Oscars all up: Best Actor for Kevin Sacey, Best Director for Sam Mendes, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Film. The film grossed $356.3 million worldwide.

Film: Jarhead

Year: 2005

In 2005, Mendes directed the war film Jarhead. The film grossed $96.9 million world
wide. The film focused on the boredom and other psychological challenges of wartime, instead of
being a traditional action film.
Jarhead is based on U.S Marine, Anthony Swofford. Jake Gyllenhaal played in the lead role as Swofford. Swofford experiences the toughness of bootcamp and becomes good mates with a marine called Troy. The two land in the middle of a desert under a blazing sun with hours of boredom and moments of complete terror. Swofford, Troy, and their fellow soldiers rely on their sense of humor, and their friendship to deal with a situation that doesn't much resemble what they expected. The title 'Jarhead' is a metaphoric term refering to the troops heads as jars that are in need of 'filling'

Film: Revolutionary Road

Year: 2008

In 2008, Mendes directed Revolutionary Road, starring his ex-wife, Academy Award winner Kate Winslet, along with Academy Award Nominee, Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Film is about a young married couple, Frank and April Wheeler and their life in the suburbs. Frank has a job he hates in New York City. April is a stay at home mum, who looks after there two daughters. In their neighbourhood in the 1950's couples thrived to live the 'american dream' with their lavish houses, husbands with secure jobs and a typical house mother. April feels like they are both "resigning from life" so they both decide to move to Paris so that April can work and Frank can do something with his life that will be fufilling to himself. During the preparation of moving April finds out she is pregnant. The pregnancy puts there dreams to a sudden halt and the couple goes through numerous relationship struggles and life changes as they try to achieve their dream.

Revolutionary Road was nominated for 3 Oscars at the 2009 Academy Awards. The categories were Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Costume Design and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Micheal Shannon.