Night at the Museum
was created with the purpose
to entertain. The film also educates viewers on historical events and figures,
whilst at the same time teaching morals of the importance of learning,
understanding and taking responsibility for your actions.
In terms of genre, Night at the Museum
falls under the categories of adventure, due to the constant adventure and
exciting plot throughout, and fantasy, evident by its multiple magical elements
(e.g. the enchanted tablet that can bring objects to life.).
Whilst the movie’s theme is history, I wouldn’t class its
genre as a historical piece, due to it being set within present day. From the
film’s humour and casting of comedic actors (e.g. Ben Stiller, Robin Williams,
etc.) it also works as a comedy film.
Despite these hybrids in genre, the film’s form is clearly a family
film. This full length film contains a story presented in a way that is
intended to appeal to all ages, containing special effects and humour to
entertain kids, and characters and innuendos that adults will also enjoy
(though these may attribute to the PG rating).
The style
mostly relies on its fantasy and comedy elements. As a result of the fantasy and historical side to the story,
it allows more freedom with the costume and setting. Night at
the Museum creates characters in clothing from different periods and
locations (e.g. Stone Age, Ancient Egypt, 1900’s America, etc.). Whilst a
majority of the film is set within the museum, the film crew were able to
experiment with the style and appearance of the different exhibitions.
The tone of dialogue depends on the style of the
actor/character. For example, Ricky Gervais, Ben Stiller and Robin Willaims
differ from each other as they must act as their own character, but in some
cases, as result of typecasting, the character will be based on their own
comedic style delivery (Williams is witty and zany. Gervais is awkward and
judgemental.).
Content and Meaning: Night at the Museum contains impressive visuals, visual and witty comedy and a balance of education and entertainment.
The narrative is single stranded as it focuses around the character Larry. The story is presented in third person, showing Larry to the audience. Although, the film contains small intervals where it transitions into a first person perspective. For example, when Larry is shot by a dart the camera angle then shows who shot him from Larry's point of view, allowing the audience to see through his eyes.
The reasoning behind the film being focued on Larry is because he is the protagonist who progresses as a character as the film developes. The film shows him struggling at the beginning due to issues with maintaining a job and earning the respect of his son. He progresses as a character once recieving the job of night guard as he shows determination to keep this job, despite the danger once he realises that all the exibits come to life. From working at the museum, Larry also learns responcibility as he must look after each living exhibit. The scene where a caveman leaves the museum building at sunrise, causing the caveman to dissapear into dust, could be a visual metaphor showing Larry that a lack of focus and protection could also result in Larry losing his son.
Sound effects are used throughout NATM, whether it's the the sound of the glass being smashed or the lions roaring. The sound effects are diegetic and can be used in the background, such as the occasional distant animal noise, or the main focus, like when the dinosaur stomps it's feet.
The film also contains non-diagetic sounds, which are part of the film's soundtrack. Below is a video of the main theme specifically created for the film. The composer has made the music sound mystical to match the mystery, magic and fantasy behind the museum to match the theme of the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRO_5HR5ats
NATM's non-diegetic soundtrack isn't completely made up of original scores like the one above, as it also includes popular and pre-released songs such as 'Weapon of Choice' by Fatboy Slim and 'Dancing in September' Earth, Wind & Fire. 20th Century Fox and/or makers of the film would have had to required permission for the musiscians/producers to include these pieces of music in the film as not to breach any copyright laws. These pieces of music were used as they suited the style of the film/scene. 'Weapon of Choice' is used for a montage sequence of Larry using different props/items to keep the museum attractions under control, so you could make the arguement that these props are his chosen weapons as he uses them as protection against other characters. The award winning music video for 'Weapon of Choice' depicts famous elderly actor Christopher Walken performing impressive and skilled stunts whilst dancing around an empty hotel; this ties in well with the movie as it includes three famous eldererly actors who perform impressive fighting skills and also dance inside an empty museum, so the audience will subconsciencely make the connection between the two through the music being played. 'Dancing in September' also works well with its scene as the characters are dancing and this music creates a party atmosphere.
One piece of music incorporated is a tune whistled by Larry. The tune that Larry whistles is a public domain song that is not covered by copyright, and because Larry whistles the tune it is not a recording by any other artist but instead their own rendition; this means that film makers did not have to aquire any copyright permission to feature this piece of music, and it also means that this is a diagetic piec of music instead of non-diagetic as Larry is creating the tune himself. The tune that Larry whistles is used to create humour through irony as he walks past the empty dinosaur skeleton display, not noticing that the skeleton is gone, but ironically and subconsciencly whistling the tune "Dry Bones (Dem Bones)". These show how entertainment and atmosphere can be created by sound, diegetic and non-diegetic.
As the title of the film indicates, most of the film's action takes place at night. This means that the lighting used most of the time is dark to establish the dark setting of night. However, the filmmakers also saw this as an opportunity to use bright lighting to stand out agains the dark backgrounds. An example of this is Larry's torch, which shines onto significant props and items within dark settings, such as when he is shinging the torch onto the Golden Tablet in the dark,egyptian themed room. Other examples include the bright sunrise against the night sky and the lights focused on certain artificat settings, which also reveals and emphasises when an exhibit is empty, showing that an items is missing.
Picture above: Larry's brightly lit torch stands out against the dark background.
The camera work for NATM is an interesting subject due to the range of sizes of characters. The dinosaur, a large and threatening looking character, it presented mostly through low angle shot to make it appear larger and more dominant. At the other end of the size spectrum as the cowboys and roman, who ar minature display figures. These characters are shown mostly through high angle shots to exaggerate how small and pathetic they are. Both low and high angle shots are used to show other characters as Larry sees them in terms of height.
The small figure are shown from Larry's perspective through high angle shot.
Meanwhile Larry is shown from the small figure's perspective through low angle shots.
As well as these shots showing a characters perspective, NATM also uses P.O.V. shots allowing the audience to witness the scenes, not only as if they are there but also as if they were a part of the action. Two good examples of these are shown below, where audiences can seen Larry literally through the dinosaurs eyes and see what Teddy sees through his binoculars. The opticle outline has the effect of creating a frame for the people in shot, making them stand out more as the main focus.
Interestingly I noted three occasions where birdseye shots were used to show Larry in life threatening situations, picture below. The director may have chosen to use these shots as to clearly show Larry's face and reaction even whilst lied down and to make less significant by making the audience look down down on him to establish that Larry is the victim whilst creating a sense of danger.
One of the shots above shows Larry tied down by all the tiny figure cowboys. This shot seems to be in homage to the iconic image from Gulliver's Travels of Gulliver tied down by tiny people. It's possible that achieving this effect was inspiration for 20th Century Fox for their 2011 live action adaptation of Gulliver's Travels.
These camera angles can be used for comical effect as visual humour such as in the scene where Larry is about to be hit by a train.The shots of the train are edited and presented in ways that make it appear faster and more threatening (e.g. sped up extreme close ups) only then to reveal that it's a small toy train. Another example of a shot used not only to humour and entertain but also work as a big reveal is a panning shot (imaged below) which pans across following Larry as he walks, but the audience may notice that in the background as the camera pans round is the dinosaur display but with the dinosaur missing. Larry is oblivious to this at first whilst the audience saw from their camra angle; this is dramatic irony used to suprise and entertain the audience.
Establishing shots are often used to inrtoduce scenes as it shows where the scene takes place. These establishing shots may show outside the museum or iside with signs establishing which section of the museum they're in.
The establishing shot pictured above lets audiences know that it takes place at the Museum of Natural History at night time. They can see this from how dark it is and from the building itself along with the posters providing the Museum's name.
Props stand out in this film, such as Larry's torch which is used to shine a light on specific items within dark lit areas, making those items stand out more. One of those items/props is the Golden Tablet; this prop is significant to the prop as it is the magical source that allows all the museum exhibits to come to life, so this prop is introduce and presented in a way that makes it stand out and show it's importance and relevance. Whilst most features of the museum are based on real people and events, the Golden Table of Pharoah Akmenra is fictional, although the props team have made it appear as if it were a real artifact by basing it's appearance on other Eygptian artifacts by decorationg it with heirogliphics and giving it age with sections breaking/crumbling away and covering it in dust.
Most of the costumes for NATM are based upon actual historical dress of the period(s). Octavious the roman is dressed in stereotypical roman emperor armour. Sacajawea was a Native American, so she is dressed in traditional Native American dress. Below is a picture depicting Teddy Roosevelt as played by Robin Williams (left) and the real Theodore Roosevelt (right); listed are the similarities in appearance and clothing so you can see how the costume designers based it upon the original images, following it to the smallest details.
*Western hat with folded brim.
*Round rim glasses.
*Moustach.
*U.S.V. uniform with belt.
*Horse riding gloves.
By recreating the original costumes, the designers are making the characters appear more authentic as an attempt to dupilactate the original source, just as an museum would aim to achieve with its exhibits.
Other characters, such as Larry and the other night guards, are not exhibits so they are not dressed in historical clothing but are instead dressed in clthes of the period. Larry and the other night guards work at the museum and so all dress in night guard uniform. Dr. McPhee is the boss of the museum, aswell as a doctor and historian, and so he dresses very formilly in a suit due to his higher status/job role. Meanwhile Nick is only a kid so he dresses informally as any kid would in a shirt and jeans.
The film seems to follow mise en scene through the techniques mentioned above. The dark/dim lighting in the museum create a sence of danger, espeically in the Eygptian room where the want to create a scary and threatening atmosphere. The museum exhibit sets make it clear to the audience what the exhibit is supposed to present, like the animal section which is decorated with trees and snad to make it appear like an African jungle, or the Roman exhibition which idicates rome with Roman structures, statues and chariots. Even sets such as Nick's room which looks the way you'd expect a young boy's bedroom to look like, which contain toy dinosaurs and cowboys, showing his love for historical icons and foreshadowing his friendship with the cowboy and dinosaur later on in the movie. The characters are also dressed to make it clear who they are supposed to represent.
Film analysis: I personally enjoy this film, as I believe to be well crafted and feature some clever ideas. The actors in the film are clearly putting their effort into developing these characters and historic figures with their moments of silliness but with a much more serious side to them as well. Whilst most family films of today will force a moral or miss out on one completely, this one comes with multiple complex lessons that people of all ages can learn from but also come to their own conclusions about - they even touch on this subject with the them of knowledge, as they teach the importance of learning and education, but at the same they also show through the main character that as well this it is important to come up with you own ideas, plans and solutions.
The narrative is single stranded as it focuses around the character Larry. The story is presented in third person, showing Larry to the audience. Although, the film contains small intervals where it transitions into a first person perspective. For example, when Larry is shot by a dart the camera angle then shows who shot him from Larry's point of view, allowing the audience to see through his eyes.
The reasoning behind the film being focued on Larry is because he is the protagonist who progresses as a character as the film developes. The film shows him struggling at the beginning due to issues with maintaining a job and earning the respect of his son. He progresses as a character once recieving the job of night guard as he shows determination to keep this job, despite the danger once he realises that all the exibits come to life. From working at the museum, Larry also learns responcibility as he must look after each living exhibit. The scene where a caveman leaves the museum building at sunrise, causing the caveman to dissapear into dust, could be a visual metaphor showing Larry that a lack of focus and protection could also result in Larry losing his son.
Sound effects are used throughout NATM, whether it's the the sound of the glass being smashed or the lions roaring. The sound effects are diegetic and can be used in the background, such as the occasional distant animal noise, or the main focus, like when the dinosaur stomps it's feet.
The film also contains non-diagetic sounds, which are part of the film's soundtrack. Below is a video of the main theme specifically created for the film. The composer has made the music sound mystical to match the mystery, magic and fantasy behind the museum to match the theme of the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRO_5HR5ats
NATM's non-diegetic soundtrack isn't completely made up of original scores like the one above, as it also includes popular and pre-released songs such as 'Weapon of Choice' by Fatboy Slim and 'Dancing in September' Earth, Wind & Fire. 20th Century Fox and/or makers of the film would have had to required permission for the musiscians/producers to include these pieces of music in the film as not to breach any copyright laws. These pieces of music were used as they suited the style of the film/scene. 'Weapon of Choice' is used for a montage sequence of Larry using different props/items to keep the museum attractions under control, so you could make the arguement that these props are his chosen weapons as he uses them as protection against other characters. The award winning music video for 'Weapon of Choice' depicts famous elderly actor Christopher Walken performing impressive and skilled stunts whilst dancing around an empty hotel; this ties in well with the movie as it includes three famous eldererly actors who perform impressive fighting skills and also dance inside an empty museum, so the audience will subconsciencely make the connection between the two through the music being played. 'Dancing in September' also works well with its scene as the characters are dancing and this music creates a party atmosphere.
One piece of music incorporated is a tune whistled by Larry. The tune that Larry whistles is a public domain song that is not covered by copyright, and because Larry whistles the tune it is not a recording by any other artist but instead their own rendition; this means that film makers did not have to aquire any copyright permission to feature this piece of music, and it also means that this is a diagetic piec of music instead of non-diagetic as Larry is creating the tune himself. The tune that Larry whistles is used to create humour through irony as he walks past the empty dinosaur skeleton display, not noticing that the skeleton is gone, but ironically and subconsciencly whistling the tune "Dry Bones (Dem Bones)". These show how entertainment and atmosphere can be created by sound, diegetic and non-diegetic.
As the title of the film indicates, most of the film's action takes place at night. This means that the lighting used most of the time is dark to establish the dark setting of night. However, the filmmakers also saw this as an opportunity to use bright lighting to stand out agains the dark backgrounds. An example of this is Larry's torch, which shines onto significant props and items within dark settings, such as when he is shinging the torch onto the Golden Tablet in the dark,egyptian themed room. Other examples include the bright sunrise against the night sky and the lights focused on certain artificat settings, which also reveals and emphasises when an exhibit is empty, showing that an items is missing.
The camera work for NATM is an interesting subject due to the range of sizes of characters. The dinosaur, a large and threatening looking character, it presented mostly through low angle shot to make it appear larger and more dominant. At the other end of the size spectrum as the cowboys and roman, who ar minature display figures. These characters are shown mostly through high angle shots to exaggerate how small and pathetic they are. Both low and high angle shots are used to show other characters as Larry sees them in terms of height.
As well as these shots showing a characters perspective, NATM also uses P.O.V. shots allowing the audience to witness the scenes, not only as if they are there but also as if they were a part of the action. Two good examples of these are shown below, where audiences can seen Larry literally through the dinosaurs eyes and see what Teddy sees through his binoculars. The opticle outline has the effect of creating a frame for the people in shot, making them stand out more as the main focus.
Interestingly I noted three occasions where birdseye shots were used to show Larry in life threatening situations, picture below. The director may have chosen to use these shots as to clearly show Larry's face and reaction even whilst lied down and to make less significant by making the audience look down down on him to establish that Larry is the victim whilst creating a sense of danger.
One of the shots above shows Larry tied down by all the tiny figure cowboys. This shot seems to be in homage to the iconic image from Gulliver's Travels of Gulliver tied down by tiny people. It's possible that achieving this effect was inspiration for 20th Century Fox for their 2011 live action adaptation of Gulliver's Travels.
These camera angles can be used for comical effect as visual humour such as in the scene where Larry is about to be hit by a train.The shots of the train are edited and presented in ways that make it appear faster and more threatening (e.g. sped up extreme close ups) only then to reveal that it's a small toy train. Another example of a shot used not only to humour and entertain but also work as a big reveal is a panning shot (imaged below) which pans across following Larry as he walks, but the audience may notice that in the background as the camera pans round is the dinosaur display but with the dinosaur missing. Larry is oblivious to this at first whilst the audience saw from their camra angle; this is dramatic irony used to suprise and entertain the audience.
Establishing shots are often used to inrtoduce scenes as it shows where the scene takes place. These establishing shots may show outside the museum or iside with signs establishing which section of the museum they're in.
Props stand out in this film, such as Larry's torch which is used to shine a light on specific items within dark lit areas, making those items stand out more. One of those items/props is the Golden Tablet; this prop is significant to the prop as it is the magical source that allows all the museum exhibits to come to life, so this prop is introduce and presented in a way that makes it stand out and show it's importance and relevance. Whilst most features of the museum are based on real people and events, the Golden Table of Pharoah Akmenra is fictional, although the props team have made it appear as if it were a real artifact by basing it's appearance on other Eygptian artifacts by decorationg it with heirogliphics and giving it age with sections breaking/crumbling away and covering it in dust.
Most of the costumes for NATM are based upon actual historical dress of the period(s). Octavious the roman is dressed in stereotypical roman emperor armour. Sacajawea was a Native American, so she is dressed in traditional Native American dress. Below is a picture depicting Teddy Roosevelt as played by Robin Williams (left) and the real Theodore Roosevelt (right); listed are the similarities in appearance and clothing so you can see how the costume designers based it upon the original images, following it to the smallest details.
*Round rim glasses.
*Moustach.
*U.S.V. uniform with belt.
*Horse riding gloves.
By recreating the original costumes, the designers are making the characters appear more authentic as an attempt to dupilactate the original source, just as an museum would aim to achieve with its exhibits.
Other characters, such as Larry and the other night guards, are not exhibits so they are not dressed in historical clothing but are instead dressed in clthes of the period. Larry and the other night guards work at the museum and so all dress in night guard uniform. Dr. McPhee is the boss of the museum, aswell as a doctor and historian, and so he dresses very formilly in a suit due to his higher status/job role. Meanwhile Nick is only a kid so he dresses informally as any kid would in a shirt and jeans.
The film seems to follow mise en scene through the techniques mentioned above. The dark/dim lighting in the museum create a sence of danger, espeically in the Eygptian room where the want to create a scary and threatening atmosphere. The museum exhibit sets make it clear to the audience what the exhibit is supposed to present, like the animal section which is decorated with trees and snad to make it appear like an African jungle, or the Roman exhibition which idicates rome with Roman structures, statues and chariots. Even sets such as Nick's room which looks the way you'd expect a young boy's bedroom to look like, which contain toy dinosaurs and cowboys, showing his love for historical icons and foreshadowing his friendship with the cowboy and dinosaur later on in the movie. The characters are also dressed to make it clear who they are supposed to represent.
Film analysis: I personally enjoy this film, as I believe to be well crafted and feature some clever ideas. The actors in the film are clearly putting their effort into developing these characters and historic figures with their moments of silliness but with a much more serious side to them as well. Whilst most family films of today will force a moral or miss out on one completely, this one comes with multiple complex lessons that people of all ages can learn from but also come to their own conclusions about - they even touch on this subject with the them of knowledge, as they teach the importance of learning and education, but at the same they also show through the main character that as well this it is important to come up with you own ideas, plans and solutions.
The Production
Process would have required a large budget to be agreed with the studio beforehand, and the crew hired and trusted with making this film would have been relied on to produce a film of their greatest quality whilst avoiding going over the studio's budget. The producers and directors would be responsible for instructing the other members of the crew. These include lighting (who do a very impressive job for creating a worrying atmosphere for the dark museum at night), costumes and set design, casting director (who chose a good range of talented comedians/actors), scriptwriters (who prove themselves to very talented with an evolving script that can quickly change the mood of the movie quickly and keep an audience entertained throughout), camera crew (who do okay at some creative angles, such as the changing high/low angle shots between tall and small characters, and a clever use of panning for a big reveal), special effects (who also did alright, considering how their early attempts at CGI have not yet dated too badly), and the acting cast (who, once again, display a great range of characters with great humour and acting ability).
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