Part A: Opening with the background, the title and genre, and acknowledge the film authorship.
Woody Alan’s - New York -the setting of Annie Hall which is a romantic comedy , is a charming but decadent city ，characterized by desire, restlessness and agitation .
Woody Allen was born in 1935 in a poor Jewish family in New York and grew up in Broolyn. He is a good director, as well as an actor, writer, and musician. The misfortune of marriage does not kill his humorous and extraordinary artistic talent..Allen drives inspiration from literature, sex, philosophy, psychology, the jewish identity and his dwelling place: New York City. He is a director with a unique style. His films are full of the most important philosophical propositions and ideas, some of which are expressed directly through the wonderful dialogue. He is a savvy extraordinary artist and thinker, his lens always reveals a heavy thought. He makes you angry, let you down. But then he will make you laugh. By this way ,we can always learn something new in the process of viewing, and further appreciate some philosophical questions.
In short ，He's a neurotic and nagging little old man who is so engrossed in his films ,and this also explain why he has become so productive and widely praised.
Part B: Introducing the themes in the film.
Firstly,as Nietzsche said that it is necessary for us that we should be self satisfied, using whether poetic or artistic way。In the real world ，we need fantasy。Facing death ,Life has lost its original value.
Secondly,we can't understand why people change and what they will become.This is a philosophical question that will never find a complete answer.When we see children, we can't imagine what they will be like in the future.When the lovers lie in bed, no one can predict their future.
Thirdly，long love is a fiction。Emotional relationship need couple’s desire and communication about mental growth。If only one of them has grown up,the couple will have a lot of potential to say “good bye”.You can never control the person you love, you can not let them stay in the way you love, with the passage of time, everything is changing, the initial character and love will not exist.
Part C: Describe the narrative (esp. the basic stories, the structuring of the time, and the narrative structure) in the film.
The film begins with the Alvy’s statement to the camera. He talks about life and women in two jokes .his humorous remarks relate to philosoph and Freud. He nervously describes his own mid-life crisis and he is getting bald head.then ,he mentions the most confusing thing about him that Annie broke up with him.By the narrative technique of this kind of nonlinear structer , in the first two minutes of the film, we learn the final outcome of the story,which also arouse our curiosity.
In the act-two ,about ten minutes later ,the contradicton between Annie and Alvy begin to expand .Annie doesn’t want to have sex with him. This is the turning point of their emotional crisis. At this time ,the camera cut to Alvy’s first lover Allison, illustrating his failed marrige in the past through flashbacks. The director deliberately confuses time sequence to create a dramatic tension. Thirty minutes later , the camera switches to tell about their encouter on the tennis court which is romantic and interesting . In these lenses ,they amuse each other,attract each other , as all the people who just begin to fall in love . But romance is only for a while , they differ on many things, for example, the house, the adult education, the psychological diagnosis and treatment. Especially after the dinner with Annie’s family , they quarrel loudly to each other when they walk on the road.
In the last part , after all the serious talk and passionate moment , they meet again and then leave again with the melody of “ Seems Like Old Times “.
Part D: Describe characters (main and secondary characters) in the film.20
protagonist：Alvy Singer
He is a comedian who has seen the sixteen years psychological doctor because of pesimistic and negative life attitude.He was born to a jewish family in Brooklyn。He was brought up underneath the roller coaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn,maybe that growing environment accounts for his nervous peisonality .He is a neurotic traits of chatter ，because of this, he experienced two unhappy marriages。
Even so ,in term of personal character ,Alvy is a typical intellectual,with the characteristics of the philosopher. In the process of daily life and performance, He is humorous, talented, and ironic.He's half the time in the fantasy, half the time to live in reality.He gives Annie a book about death, he persuades her to accept psychotherapy and adult education, he is obviously trying to reshape Annie in accordance with his own fantasy.
Romance：Annie Hall
She is a fashion, articulate girl,dreaming to become a singer someday . Inspired by Alvy, Annie’s singing is getting better and better ,starting to make money in a nightclub . One day, Annie's emotional singing attracts the attention of the famous singer Tony ,and he invites her to go to California to record music
Mirror :roebr
He is a TV director. As Alvy’s best friend ,they call each other “Max”. We can see from their conversation that they have completely different view of leaving New York .At the end of the firm ,he lives a prosperous life in California .
Antagonist ： Tony Lacey
He is a songwriter but actually he is a rhetoric lady-killer who covets Anne's beauty and talent.
Part E: Describe the key SCENE in the film; discuss WHY it is important within the context of the film. You must refer to ASPECTS OF CINEMATOGRAPHY; say WHY certain CHOICES are made in terms of camera angel, movement, perspective, shots within scene, etc. You may also refer to the USE OF SOUND and EDITING within the scene.
One of the opening scenes: In a noisy small classrome ,the camera tracks pupils who are shot in eye level with Alvy’s ironic introduction.Then it closes up to a boy who has buckteeth ,and when he says “seven and three is nine”,the camera rapidly cuts to young Alvy who is astonished to the answer. Then he kisses the girl next to him so the teacher asks him to stand on the platform .when the teacher is scolding little Alvy ,the camera cuts to adult Alvy and his classmates sitting around him.In this scene ,the director chooses the opposite color effects to the emotional tone of the film. The flashback part of Alvy’s childhood is full of bright,warm ,nostalgic sentiment. Then the narrator （the adult Alvy) says “sometimes i wonder where my classmates are today ”，we see a long mid shot of a boy ,and he says “I’m the president of Pinkus Plumbing Company" .The camera cuts to two other boys , one say “ I sell tallith” while the other boy says ” I used to be a heroin addict now i’m a methadone addict “,then it close up to a girl who says “I ‘m into leather (Here implies the sm and sex worker to use the leather clothes and props)“. This entirly humorous section presents an theme : what is the relationship between our childhood and our adult behavior.
Another scene is about cultural differences : the first dish of the meal is ham.the Jew do not eat pork .we see a close up of Alvy ,he sits at the table with his eyes wandering . He quickly rubs his nose with finger ,we know that the autmosphere is embarrassing . Then the camera cuts to Annie’s mother ,Annie and her father ,in these close-up ,they praise grandma’s ham. Alvy wants to join in the conversation so he says “it ‘s dynamite ham “,but grandma’s close-up shows us her disgust . And Alvy looks around to pretend not to see .The next set of scenes shows the dining scenes of two different families in the same picture. The two are like oil and water. The director put the uncomfortable picture to the audience in a humorous way. We know regionalism will weaken the interpersonal relationship.
