Essay Example. Funny Girl

"Funny Girl" is a comedy-drama film that hit the industry like a storm in 1968. The film was directed by William Wyler. Ray Stark is the producer of the musical (Bates, 1969). The screenplay of the film is that of Isobel Lennar's book. Funny Girl centers on the life of Bruce. The theme song adopted for the film is by Jule Styne, and the lines for the song are by Bob Merrill. The cinematography is by Harry Stradling. Funny Girl is edited by William Sands and Maury Winetrobe and produced by Raster Company. It is distributed by Columbia Pictures and runs for hundred and forty-nine minutes (Bates, 1969). The film features Barbara Streisand, as Brice and Omar Sharif feature as Nick. Funny Girl film received eight Academy Award nominations. Barbara, who was cast as Bruce, won the Best Actress Award.

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The funny Girl film's setting is New York City, before and after WW I and revolves around beautiful and young Fanny Brice, who kicks off life lowly in New York, however she maneuvers her way up to stardom.

Harry Stradling did the camera work for the film. The pixel quality is good, however, not excellent- cannot rival Tyra Perry's. Still, given that the film was produced in 1968 when there existed no perfect cameras like there is today, the quality can, therefore, be assumed to be the best of the time, and even today, it can scale three out of five. The film is colored, and the shades utilized are conventional, which makes watching the film feel real. The filters are neither perfect but are well enhanced to provide a rich tone in the visual (Deren 1969). The foregrounds and backgrounds in the movie are also very clear. The lighting is appropriate in the film, and the variations in light intensity can be noticed at different times of the day. The motions in the movie are precise.

William Sands and Maury Winetrobe edit Funny Girl. The footage of the film has been edited appropriately. The narrative flows logically, and events follow each other in the right way. The plot is clear, and the audience can see scenes at all levels of plot development: incitation, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution. The development of the main character, Jenny, is evident as she starts as a plain singer and becomes powerful and prominent in the end. Also, the film audio aligns well with the utterances and actions of the characters. The theme music is well utilized in the film from the beginning to the end. Therefore, the film's motion pictures are edited well; no wonder the film received eight Academy Award nominations (Goldman,1992).

The theme music for the film is Jule Styne's, and the lyrics stringed together by Bob Merril. The theme song is slow and smooth, with a Spanish touch. The song is called "People," and Barbra is the singer. The film is a musical and therefore several songs are sung. The Funny Girl, Brice, is the singer. Brice and Nick sing, "My Man," as they ate in the hotel room, Nick before they start singing, Brice tells Nick that she is not sure that he is making advances on her. He starts singing, "You are a woman, I'm a man, lets kiss," but she responds by singing that "Good girls do what their mama tells them to," and she wonders if her admirer may ask back for his dinner, in kind, if she eats it. Other songs that Brice sing in the film include Funny Girl, I'll Never say goodbye, Second hand rose, "I'm the greatest star," "If a girl isn't pretty," and many more. The songs are of significance as they enhance message delivery by developing the themes in the film, developing the characters, and entertain the audience. It is through the songs that Brice comes out as a very talented character, who wants to make great her music career.

What I liked most about the film is its narrative, which incorporates comics, romance, and the musicals. The film is very light-hearted and makes a person want to watch more. Brice is very humorous, as well as other characters. Even when he sings, the lyrics and the actions are comical. The tempo and the pace of the songs are a thing to make one crack their ribs. Hello, gorgeous" is the quote that kept me alert instantly. I like Brice so much. She does not seem to give up on anything. She acts the way she feels and not how people want to see her. She does not wait for anyone's validation when she is set to do something. She is strong and determined. When they sing, I can't help falling in love with you, she wears an astonished face and then opens the door to meet her lover, a very romantic move. The couple acts like it were real, and from this, I admire relationships that true. And in "I'd rather be Blue," someone cannot hold back laughter. When she is on stage, Nick peeps at her and signals her to smile, and Bruce makes a wide but fake smile, which comes out very funny. I also love the quality of sound in the film, as it is clear (Bates, 1969). The vocals of the singers are sweet.

The film comes as a single but complete movie; thus, one is not left in suspense while waiting for the next series. Also, the characters are carefully chosen to fit their roles, and each plays their part perfectly well. The film has clear pictures that make one not get bored to watch, and the resolution is right. The choice of attires for the characters also matches the time and context.

The thing I disliked about the film is that it is too long. It runs for two hours and twenty-seven minutes. When a movie is this long, it is annoying to watch in one sitting if someone has some work to be done, it would have been preferably tailored to be a series of only three or four episodes. The movie takes longer to peak as it starts on shallow ground and takes almost thirty minutes to gain momentum. When the exposition takes too long, the audience gets bored to watch. A good storyline ought to capture the attention of the audience from the first to the last minute.

The funny film girl is good. The producer and director chose the characters well and assigned them roles that befit them. Brice is perfect for her role as well as Nicky, and the other minor characters. The film is a comic bibliography that incorporates musicals ant these three features make the film a unique genre that provides three in one. However, the director would not have made Brice too popular to make other characters seem invincible.

References

Bates, Dan. "Funny Girl." (1969): 59-59. https://online.ucpress.edu/fq/article/22/3/59/38592/Review-Funny-GirlDeren, Maya. "Cinematography: the creative use of reality." Daedalus 89.1 (1960): 150-167.https://www.jstor.org/stable/20026556?seq=1

Goldman, Herbert G. Fanny Brice: The Original Funny Girl. Oxford University Press on Demand, 1992. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=oH7mCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Funny+Girl+Film&ots=9_zh29893C&sig=pkbfCJ3ZfO1cg_uNU8Hc_Rylbpg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Funny%20Girl%20Film&f=false