Actors: What they are best known for

In every film, the actor is casted to bring a specific set of tools to the movie that creates a character. Some actors are a close match to the characters development in the screenplay, some are not even close. When the right actor is found, a film will benefit from that actors skill, technique and presence.

 

Pulp Fiction was populated with "A-list" actors. Each one of these actors were instrumental in bringing the character they portrayed to life. As I stated earlier, if a different actor had been casted, the character they played would have been a little different, and the movie would have had a different impact on the viewer. This isn't to say that it would have been better, or worse, just different.

 

For the purpose of this assignment, I have chosen three actors from Pulp Fiction that have had successful careers, and bring certain elements to the screen.

 

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel Leroy Jackson started his career playing drug addicts in small parts before transcending this type cast into the action hero genre film star. His vulgar language and loud, in-your-face style have predominated almost every role since. His skill at portraying an intelligent, dominating character shines through every movie he is part of. Even if he is not cast in the “main character” slot, his presence is felt throughout.

Bruce Willis

Walter Bruce Willis became a well-known actor starring in the television series “Moonlighting” where he played a private detective that always had something laughable to say. He moved out of that role into the hard charging action film star from films like the Die Hard series. His roles in films sometimes differ from this main genre, but as a whole, he is typecast as the gritty, loud and never stopping action hero going up against impressive odds.

 

 

John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta started his career on a television sitcom as a greaser/lover. He moved through his career in many typecasts, yet he is most thought of as the intelligent and ruthless elitist. Most of his roles he has presented a character that defines the movie, almost never the opposite. His presence brings a sense of suspense and intrigue to a movie.

All three of these actors have a presence on-screen that makes a movie a blockbuster. Each of them brings something special to a film, all of which anyone would expect from movie greats. For the purpose of the assignment though, let’s focus on one.

Bruce Willis has had a dramatic effect on how action movies are made today. His role as the tough New York City cop, John McClane, and all of the action packed scenes he brought to life with his witty banter with the bad guys, over-the-top gun play and determination to win at all cost has changed the landscape of the earlier action films. Of course he has had plenty of roles that where he doesn’t play this type of character, yet in all of his films he is has a singular strength about him.

Some of his roles have placed him in positions where his wittiness would have drawn from the movie, but even in these, he brings out the inner strength of the character such as in “Tears of the Sun” where he portrays a Lieutenant in the Army tasked with evacuating a civilian doctor from the forces of a corrupt dictator.

His other roles have a more dramatic flair to them such as when he portrayed a psychiatrist that was killed by a troubled man, and did not realize he had died until the end of the movie, "The Sixth Sense".

But of course the role that will always come to mind when his name is mentioned is that of John McClane from "Die Hard".

 

All sources come from Youtube.com, IMDB or my own head.

 

Pulp Fiction was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino with the help of Roger Avary as co-writer. This movie was completed and released in 1994, and had a huge cast of A-list actors. The story follows several of the character’s lives in such a way that it makes it seem as if the movie is following several separate stories that just happen to have minor connections to each other.

Tim Roth plays a petty stick-up man that attempts to rob a coffee shop alongside his girlfriend played by Amanda Plummer. Unfortunately for them, they are not the meanest occupants of the coffee shop.

Amanda Plummer portrays a slightly homicidal stuck-up artist alongside Tim Roth. She quickly finds herself outmatched by two very dangerous men in the coffee shop she is trying to rob.

 

John Travolta portrays a heroin addict/mafia hit man that has some very challenging experiences on the job. During a night out with Mia Wallace he shows there is more to his character than just a hired gun.

Samuel L. Jackson portrays the second hit man next to John Travola. His character Jules has an eye opening experience which leads him to question his path through life. Yet he is still one of the toughest characters from the movie.

Bruce Willis plays an aging professional boxer that is coerced into throwing a bout in order to fix the betting points in favor of Ving Rhames’ character. He chooses not to lose, and is chased by Jackson and Travolta. His neurotic French girlfriend forgets to get everything from his apartment which sends him on a quest to get his father’s gold watch.

 
 

Ving Rhames is the mafia boss, Marcellus Wallace that pays Bruce Willis off to throw a fight. His wife Mia, played by Uma Thurman has a coke addiction that leads her into trouble. A very dramatic scene involving her overdose and Travolta’s character reviving her is one for the books.

 

Eric Stoltz is a heroin dealer that supplies Travolta’s character Vincent with his fix. He plays a pivotal in keeping Vincent from being next on Marsellus Wallace’s hit list.

Uma Thurman plays the wife of the mafia boss Marcellus Wallace. She is an actress that never made it, and has an interesting evening with Vincent.

Quentin Tarantino not only wrote and directed pulp fiction, but plays Jimmy, a friend of Jules (Jackson) that helps Jules and Vincent out of a tight spot.

Christopher Walken Is Captain Koons, a survivor of the Vietnam conflict and buddy of Butch’s (Willis) father that delivers to him his father’s gold watch. His role is not huge, yet it provides some background to why Butch takes the risk to go back to get his watch from what is surely a trap.

Harvey Keitel is “The Wolf”, a mafia cleaner sent by Marcellus to handle a very messy situation that Vincent and Jules find themselves in. He is a suave, debonair and sophisticated character that adds professionalism to the movie.

By no means is this a list of the entire cast. There are many other known actors involved.

 

Looking at the Mise en scène of Pulp Fiction, you can see that there were several variations of lighting styles used throughout the movie. In the beginning scene of the movie, we find two people (Roth & Plummer) having coffee, discussing the perils of robbing places. The lighting used in this scene is what is known as Three-point lighting, the main light being the sunlight coming in from the window. There are two additional light sources providing soft light to diffuse the shadows and give a more definitive view of the characters.

 

 

 

In this next scene, we find the use of Low Key Lighting in addition to the Three-point lighting which provides a more dramatic effect. This style emphasizes the darker side of this scene.



 





 

 

In either of the above film clips, the choice of lighting adds specific elements, elements that would be lost if different styles were employed. In the opening scene where the natural lighting effects the view of the actors, if it were replaced with a High Key lighting, it would diminish the impact of the setting. The same can be said for the second clip where the characters find themselves in a basement in a tough and dramatic position.

 

 



"Sound Bites!" The use of sound in movie production.

Since the beginning of the use of sound in featured films, viewers have been drawn into movies more profoundly than they ever could in the silent film era.

 

 

 

 

In the beginning of the motion picture industry, when still photos were looped together and transformed the frozen portrait into the moving actor, there was no sound accompanying the scene that rolled out before the viewer’s eyes. The silent film was just that, silent. In order to accentuate what was visible, the films rolled to live music performances. The orchestra played a vital role in bringing to life what the director of the film was portraying on the screen.

 

 

Watching a film with no sound feels as if you are missing something. With the addition of the live music, the film gathers depth unto itself.

 

 

With the addition of the music, movies became another world to the viewing audience.

The use of sound in movies can be categorized in three modes: dialog, sound effects and music.

Dialog was expressed by the use of “title cards” (Goodykoontz, 2011 pg 162 para 4) before the addition of sound.

 

Sound effects played a major role in portraying events in films, and were created in most imaginative ways.

 

 

Music has the power to change the mood of a scene, the right music will draw a viewer in and engage their imagination.

 

In Pulp Fiction, the use of sound has different effects on the film. Throughout the film, music is used to transport the viewer back in time. Most of the soundtrack is constructed from songs released many years before the movie was produced, giving the movie the appearance of taking place in the past. Of course this is counter the reality of the film, with the use of cellular phones, the fact that young butch is visited by Major Coons after the Vietnam conflict which occurred after most of the music was popular.

Most of the music used comes from the pure “Rock and Roll” era, Buddy holly, Ricky Nelson and Dick Dale, also known as the Surf music guitar king.

Of all of the sounds in the film, the music is most effective in providing the tempo and feel. Using a different genre of music would have created changes that may have hurt the overall feeling of gritty, earthy and potentially dangerous people that the characters represent.