Drug Film: Past and Present

    I will be wrapping up my blog with this final post, which is entitled, drug film: Past and Present and I will be looking in and making in a way a compare and contrast of recent drug related films to the older and more dated films about drugs. I thought this would be a fun and interesting way to conclude this blog because I feel that you after reading this have a pretty good understanding of what a drug film is and what a drug film usually consists of. I thought it would be neat to look back into more older films and see if there is a major difference, similarities, or maybe even a little bit of both when it comes to comparing drug films from the past and drug films from more recent years.

    Despite drug use and drug addiction being around for a long time. The depiction of drug use and drug addiction was very uncommon in the early days of film and it was much more common to see films on alcohol rather than drugs. I mentioned in one of my earlier post how counterculture and the use of counterculture in films really was a stepping stone for film makers to go against the norm of society and produce films the may evoke drug use and or substance abuse. This is why drug films really kind of hit the spotlight in the 1960’s and the 1970’and started to become more and more common.

    In my research with this particular topic I found more similarities than differences in drug films from the past and drug films from more recent years. Despite the obvious technology advancements such as better picture quality and better sound quality that the more recent films have. Overall, many of the drug films that I looked into and did research on can be compared in some way to a more recent film. The similar themes and motifs can be seen from both past and present movies.

    The one major difference between drug films from the past is that there are probably not as many as there are in more recent films and also not many are as well known as the recent films. With that being said I don’t think the reason is because I am a part of the younger generation and I might not know a lot of movies from the past. I think it is due to the fact that over the years people have become more and more accepting of drug-use and the perception of drug-use in different forms of entertainment whether that is music or films. According to Leland, “Gramercy Pictures certainly used the pot connection as a selling point. The press kits for the movie included custom rolling papers and marijuana-leaf earrings, and the ad campaign ran, "See it with a bud." A second slogan, "Finally! A movie for everyone who did inhale," was nixed by the Motion Picture Association of America”. This quote was in regards to a 1990’s film, Dazed and Confused. The similarities between past and present drug films to me are obvious and these commonalities and the continue production of these types of films makes me feel like the drug film will continue to reach a theatre near you for many years to come.

Leland, J. (1993). Just Say Maybe. Newsweek, 12(18).

Framing Use in the Drug Cinema

    The use of framing is another important aspect of filmmaking and this focus on framing concerns these features: shot composition, use of mobile frame, on screen and off screen space, and the long take. All of these different aspects, which focus on framing really add to the film and change the film in different ways depending up what you as a filmmaker utilize in a particular film. Framing can have a major impact on the image of a particular scene if used correctly by the filmmaker. Filmmakers often times use size and shape of the frame in order to give the viewers a better visualization of what the filmmaker is trying to show in the film. Some examples of using size and shape of the frame is when filmmakers use techniques such as, widescreen and full-frame. Also, filmmakers will utilize framing in order to define on screen and off screen space. This is important to filmmakers because it helps them control what is in the frame and filmmakers must constantly be aware of this because on screen and off screen space mistakes can impact your film and can have an impact on how the your viewers perceive your film.

    Another aspect of framing that filmmakers often time make great use out of is manipulating a frame by changing the positioning of the camera, whether that be with height, distance, angle, or level of the camera. According to yale.edu, “Camera level is used to signify sympathy for characters who occupy particular levels in the image, or just to create pleasurable compositions. Camera level is obviously used to a greater advantage when the difference in height between objects or characters is greater”.  When it comes to the use of distance in films there are many different options that the filmmakers has when choosing the distance of a particular frame such as, the long shot and close-up. These different frame distances are used to convey different meaning such as facial expressions or to make a particular character the main focus in a frame. All of these different positioning and different uses with the camera can change the whole outlay of a scene and can make it go from an ordinary scene to and extraordinary scene just because of the layout and or positioning of the camera.

    Keeping on the subject of framing in film and the use of cameras, there is another element that is popular among filmmakers and that is the use of a mobile frame. There are several different types of mobile frames that filmmakers can utilize, but the type that I will be exploring more in depth is the tracking type of mobile framing. The is when the camera follows the frame from the ground level and can go in all directions depending upon what the filmmaker wants. An example of this that I found in my research in drug films is the scene depicted below, which is a clip from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). You will notice in the clip that the camera follows the two characters from ground level as they stumble into a casino in a drunken, drug induced state. I hope you enjoy the clip and get a better understanding of the importance in use of framing in films.

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/cinematography.htm. (2002). Film Studies Program.

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (1997). Film art: an introduction (5th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Depiction of Drug Trade in Films

    In this next post of my blog I will look into the depiction of drug trade and drug distribution in films. Most of these films fall under the category of the action or thriller genre and these films have become common within popular culture. These films often times have similar themes including sex, drugs and violence. Also, in my eyes it seems that many of these action or thriller films that incorporate drug trade or drug distribution often time use similar stereotypes. According to Poyntz, “Stereotypes give us answers to problems or questions we have about a people or a place and usually ensure that those using a stereotype feel pretty good about themselves in relation to the groups about whom they're making generalizations. This more extensive notion of what stereotypes are and how they work in our culture suggests much for understanding what codes of meaning stand behind the portrayal of drug ravaged cities or drug use itself in our culture”.

    The use of these stereotypes in films might be looked at as a bad thing by portraying only certain people like minorities or only certain places such as cities and inner cities. I am not saying that this is always the case for every film, but I find it to be common with the movies I have seen over the years that have to deal with this particular topic. In my eyes stereotyping isn’t right, but when it comes to films and film making stereotyping is just another way for the filmmakers to capture a sense of realism. This is not a way for writers and directors to directly make a scapegoat out of a particular stereotype, but it is for the purpose of wanting to make certain films as real-life depicting as they can be.

    A film that came straight to my mind when I was brainstorming about this topic was the film, Scarface (1983), which was directed by Brian De Palma. The film was a major success and has become one of the most popular thriller or “gangster” films of all time. This movie follows the story of a Cuban man who comes to America in search for a better life and what he finds is that the easiest and fastest way to make money was through drug trafficking. As the film progresses you observe the rise and fall of this character. The character was once a man with everything and in the end he became a man with nothing. Greed is a common theme in this film and other films like it and it is because of greed that some of the characters in these films meet their demise. Blow (2001), directed by Ted Demme is another example of a film that falls into this topic of how drug trade is portrayed in films. This particular story is actually based on a true story and follows the life of a man who simply wants to make it in the world and he turns to selling drugs in order to start the life that he wanted and eventually he sold drugs to maintain the life that he had. The main character gives you this feeling that he truly just wants to do the right thing and to clean up his act, but in the end selling drugs was all he knew and he couldn’t escape the life. The depiction of drug trade and drug distribution has become a popular theme in drug films because the films often times depicts money, wealth, violence, etc., which have attracted a wide-range of viewers over the years.

"In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women". 

-Tony Montana: Scarface (1983) -

Poyntz, S. (1997). Homey, I shot the kids: Hollywood and the war on drugs. Emergency Librarian, 25(2), 8.

Use of Music

    Music is another aspect in film creation and is another way that filmmakers try to add more feeling, emotion, etc. to a particular scene in a film. Music is found virtually in almost every film and is a great way for filmmakers to set the mood of a scene. For instance, you can use different kinds of music to give the viewers a sense of happiness with an upbeat tone or sound filmmakers can use music to give a more intense and dramatic feeling by using a more mellow or low tone or sound. According to Hoeckner, Wyatt, Decety, and Nusbaum, “film music has powerful aesthetic effects on the perception and understanding of screen content”. As you can see music does play a vital role in film and now I will looker further and concentrate on the music used in drug films.

    As I said before some filmmakers uses music in order to give the film an upbeat or cheerful song or tune in order to give this positive and or optimistic sense of feeling. A good example of this particular kind of music is the movies and skits played by Cheech and Chong. The interesting thing about their films is that they would actually sing themselves, which added a lot to their many comedy scenes. Cheech and Chong would use music as another way to entertain their audience and would add humorous lyrics to some of the songs that they often times wrote and sung as well. I think it is this kind of creative addition that makes films great and stand out from other films despite being music being just one of many important aspects of filmmaking.

    Other films will use a deeper songs or sounds in hopes to change the mood of a film and convey a more intense and more power scene in a film. This use of deeper songs or sounds is commonly found in films about drugs, especially the films that incorporate drug addiction and the different negative impacts that coincide with people who use drugs. This is because often times the filmmakers in this case has a powerful goals with their films. Filmmakers want to grasp as much emotion from the audience as he or she can in order to convey the different moods that the filmmakers are trying to create throughout the film. I attached an example in the form of a movie clip from the film, The Basketball Diaries (1995). You will notice the low and almost creepy kind of music that is used in this particular scene as the character is visualizing his past and all the things he left behind as he struggled to overcome his major drug addiction, which is the source of all his problems. I hope you enjoy this short clip and I hope this helps further your understanding of the importance of music in film and how filmmakers utilize music as a source to be creative and have the ability to impact the different moods and feeling from scene to scene in a film.

Hoeckner, B., Wyatt, E. W., Decety, J., & Nusbaum, H. (2011). Film music influences how viewers relate to movie characters. Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts, 5(2), 146-153. 

Editing

    Editing is another very important aspect for filmmakers when it comes to the creation of there films. Editing the scenes allows you to take the very best and take exactly what you want from a particular scene and you have the ability to discard unwanted materials for your film. Editing has come a long way over the years and the techniques now have become more digital and technological from past years, but the goal has always stayed the same.

    When it comes to editing for drug films film makers have use this in order to accomplish different things such as getting the sense of being high through visualizations and use of many different picture and other things happening within the scene. For instance in Requiem For a Dream (2000), throughout the film you see this use of editing when it comes to when the characters in the film are using the different drugs that were introduced in the film. I have included a scene from Requiem For a Dream below.  You’ll notice how the filmmakers used different forms and techniques of editing in order to give the viewer this idea of they things that happen to your body when you are doing drugs. You visualize the drug use, the eyes dilating, etc. This scene is an especially great example of a cut scene that uses two shots and joins them together and you can in this clip when it shows a split in the screen with two separate images. According to Chew, “Cuts are motivated by dialog, reactions, and staging in order to invite believability. It's a cinema seducing the imagination”.

    Another film that I think has great examples of editing is the film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). You see the use of editing throughout the film and the filmmakers did this in order to give this feeling of an almost psychedelic euphoric state of mind. This is because the film is based on two men that travel across the country to Las Vegas and with them they bring more drugs and other substances that only spell out disaster from the very beginning. The types or techniques of editing that the filmmakers in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas used depended upon what they wanted to get out from the scene. Also, the filmmakers really concentrated on the type of drug or drugs that the characters where using during a particular scene in order to determine the different forms of editing that they used during a scene. For instance, depending upon the kind of drug that the characters were using the scenes would speed up and slow down and it would make you as the viewer perceive the characters in different ways. Also, at times when the characters were getting into the more psychedelic drugs the use of editing was used to get almost this spiral effect to get you as a viewer more connected with the characters and create the feelings and thoughts that the filmmakers are trying to convey.

Chew, R. (2009). The Art and Craft of Film Editing. Cineaste, 349(2).

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (1997). Film art: an introduction (5th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Use of Mise-en-scene in Drug Films

    When it comes to films and filmmaking the scenes and the planning of scenes are very important aspects in order to not only capture the attention of the audience, but also evoke a shared feeling or response from the scene or scenes. The importance of realism another important aspect of films and I feel that when it comes to drug films it is especially important for drama genre films about drugs and drug addiction to better get a feel and understanding of that particular film. This is a hard aspect for filmmakers to accomplish because there are many details both big and small. They have to consider in order to truly accomplish the different goals of their films, which in a big way makes filmmaking a true art form. According to Cardullo, “the long struggle on the part of the cinema to be accepted as an art began with its having to get past the belief that it was merely reproductive or imitative, a matter of mirrors and not of new perception”. This art form that filmmakers create has a background in theater and is what is known as mise-en-scene, which has several aspects that coincides with it. The elements of mise-en-scene include: setting, costumes and makeup, lighting, and staging.
    I mention this film term because I think these particular aspects play a major big role in films that depict drug use and drug addiction for several different reasons. When it comes to the setting of the film it is important because the director may want to give the film grungy appeal in order for the audience to get this sense of may a drug addict just roaming around high on the streets. What I mean by that is you as a viewer can almost feel for the character when you see him or her at that low phase in life that the filmmaker is trying to capture. . I have included an example of the type of setting that has been used in drug films below.This is image from the film, The Basketball Diaries (1995). As you can see it seems as though the character is just living on the streets in a bad neighborhood as he struggles being a junkie at such a young age.

    Costume and makeup is another aspect of mise-en-scene and when it comes to movies about drugs and drug addiction it really plays an important role. The different costumes that certain drug films have range from the type of film. In the film, Scarface (1983) the main character was a major drug dealer and in this film you get this visualization of expensive and lavish clothes to give this sense of power to character because of all the money and wealth he has because of his drug dealing. Other drug related films have costumes and make-up for their character in order to try to make their character look sick and making look as though they do have a drug problem or are going through major withdraws this is when costumes and make-up really jump out to the viewer in drug films. Mise-en-scene can be seen as being a big part in films and film making because it implies this importance of connecting with the audience and the ability to put as much into the scene as you can as a filmmaker in order to get the best out of the scene.

Cardullo, B. (2010). Through the Looking Glass: The American Art Cinema in an Age of Social Change. Midwest Quarterly, 52(1), 86-102.

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (1997). Film art: an introduction (5th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Drug Film Directors

    In this next post I will be discussing the different directors and writers that have taken the chance and even sometimes have even put their reputations on the line in order to produce a film that contains certain things that might be offensive to other such as drug use or drug abuse. According to Johnson,” Director Martin Scorsese once said that movies are "really a kind of dream state, like taking dope." But a lot of movies these days are not just like taking dope; they're about taking dope. Just look at some of the recent Oscar nominees. In Traffic, a 16-year-old white girl lying in bed -- an odalisque with baby fat -- watches in a stoned reverie as a naked black man shoots heroin into her ankle”. These types of films that portray these vivid descriptions of the hardships and problems that drug use can cause sometimes get a bad rap because of the content of the film.

    I believe it is an important aspect for these kind of films that do incorporate drugs or drug use because you as a viewer understand what the writer or director wanted to convey in the film, whether that be to make you laugh or to further your understanding of drug addiction. I mention these two different directions with drug films because some directors and writers go the route of making a drama film in order to discourage the use of drugs, while others use drug references as a way of creating humor with their film. According to Leland and Rosenberg, “an emerging population that openly espouses that drugs--at least some drugs--are no big deal”. With this emerging population there have been comedy films that use this attract audiences and there is one popular series of films that have became well known, especially in the “stoner” culture. The writers Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin wrote a series of movies whose main focus was on marijuana and marijuana use. Some of their films include: Up in Smoke (1978), Cheech & Chong’s Next Move (1980), and Still Smokin (1983).

    Other writers and directors go more on the route of educating the viewers on the different aspects of drug use and what some drug users have to endure because of their addiction. Scott Kalvert directed the films; The Basketball Diaries in 1995 and Deuces Wild in 2002, both of these movies have strong ties to drug references. The Basketball Diaries was a strong and emotional film about a young man whose true love was basketball. All of this young man’s hopes and dreams are thrown away when he finds himself hitting rock bottom with drug addiction, while he watches his other friends that he knew growing up accomplishing their goals and actually doing things with their lives. His drug addiction leads him to live on the street perform sexual acts for money and many other things occur on his downward slope until he completely hits rock bottom. The film goes further into the characters struggle with overcoming his drug addiction and really portrays a vivid picture of just how hard it is to struggling to overcome addiction and really is a moving film and really paints the picture of why you should not do drugs.

Johnson, B. (2001). The Stoned Screen, Maclean’s 114(15), 58.

Leland, J., & Rosenberg, D. (1993). Just say maybe. Newsweek, 122(18), 50.