Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is a movie that is entertaining yet we can learn something from it at the same time.  The movie is about an odd family that goes on a road trip so that their daughter can join a beauty contest in California, they are from Albuquerque.  Along the way they experience a few troubling moments such as the grandfather passing away, the son realizing that he will never be able to fly because of his color blindness, and the bus not working unless pushed.  But through all of this they make it to California so that Olivia, the daughter, can perform in this pageant that she so desperately wishes to perform in.  The best things to take away from this movie are that family is always there for you no matter what happens and to always keep pushing through the troublesome times in our lives. 

            There are a few key aspects to look at when watching the movie Little Miss Sunshine, they are:  color, sound effects and dialogue, the acting itself.  These all combined make the movie what it is in the end.  Without them there would be something lacking in every scene of the movie.  But I thought that all of these characteristics added up to help the movie be somewhat relatable and comic.

            The first aspect to look at is color.  Without the correct color the shots will always seem a bit off and it will draw from the overall quality of the film.  Color is so important because of everything it does to humans, in the book it talks about how different colored rooms don’t only have visual responses but also psychological responses, like when restaurants have red colored rooms it triggers the appetite to so increase whereas putting children in a bubble gum pink room will make them tired and possibly fall asleep. Color is also very important because it attracts the human eyes before any shape or form can capture our attention.  In this movie the tint, colors lighter than normal, and the shading, colors darker than normal, are used effectively to keep the movie bright enough to be seen and enjoyed by the audience.  Colors also contribute to three-dimensionality, without this aspect of three-dimensionality it seems like we are watching a flat cartoon, but the way the film used color really help show three dimensions.  Another major effect of color is how it can change the mood of the scene, with one color change the scene could go from relaxed to dramatic in a matter of seconds.

            The sound effects and dialogue are also important to films.  In most films we more or less just accept the soundtrack and pay more attention to the dialogue that is in the movie.  So it is important that the dialogue really sends the message in a clear way that the audience can  pick up the needed information.  The use of visible sound effects was prominent in the movie, from the bus horn honking to when Olive was dancing.  The use of invisible sound effects was also used, when the family was at the hospital after hearing about the grandfather’s death we can actually hear noises from other parts of the hospital that we cannot actually see, this make the scene stronger and more believable.  It was also an example of ambient sound, which is a noise or sound that would be natural to the environment.  In a hospital we expect to hear hospital like noises, such as doctors, machines, and other people, which we heard. 

            The last part to look at during this movie, which may be the best part of all the film, is the acting.  Each character was given a different role in order to clash with each other giving off the odd family affect.  In the film, Steve Carrel did an excellent job acting the part of a depressed man who recently attempted suicide but failed.  When visited at the hospital by his sister she says that she’s happy he is alive to which he responds “That makes one of us.”  This took me by surprise because right off the bat he was setting a high expectation that he did end up meeting.  The grandpa who played the loose and reckless guy who was always getting into trouble was necessary because in this odd family the teenage boy wasn't the one to play this role like usual, so someone had too.  Olive was just an innocent girl who wanted to compete in a pageant, she practiced and worked hard in order to achieve her goal but when she finally got there she ended up getting kicked out of the tournament for her dancing.