The Vanishing

The first scene that I am going to analyze from the film, The Vanishing, is when Raymond/Barney test the effects of the chloroform on themselves. There are some similarities between both scenes but there is even more differences. In the 1988 film, Raymond is sitting in the dark of the cabin, there is barely enough light on him for the viewer to make him out. While in the 1993 film, Barney is lit very well and the background is dark and Barney is left with light on him. A second detail of the scene is that in the 1993 film, there is music playing while Barney is about to chloroform himself, but in the 1988 film Raymond does it in silence. The music adds to the scene and makes the Barney character seem eerie and something is off. Another difference between the two is that the the 1988 film had Raymond knocked out for 18 minutes and 54 seconds, which is different than the 1993 film where Barney was knocked out for 37 minutes and 15 seconds. I am not entirely sure if there is even a reason why the two films have different times for the effects of the chloroform, the only thing would to account for the type of transportation and the country that each film was staged in. A similarity among the differences is that the two films had Raymond/Barney practicing the conversation to get a woman into their car along without succeeding. The last and most important detail of the scene is that the two films place this scene at different points in the film. In the 1988 film, this scene is is 28 minutes into the film and the 1993 film places this scene first. That whole decision of where this scene went changed the film and I definitely prefer the 1988 storyline but I would rather have the actors from the 1993 film. The killer role is performed better by Barney because of his voice, he has a slightly creepy voice and he uses it so well, apart from that, Barney makes the viewer feel like he is psychologically unstable and capable of doing some terrible things. The Raymond character is played well but it just does not have the same effect that Barney has.

The abduction scene is a scene that both films have much of the same details such as the abductor is selling something to Saskia/Diane. Both films have the abductor asking the woman to get into the car and they hesitate, but after viewing a family photo on the dashboard they get in. The main differences are that in the 1988 film, the car is by a group of people and children; and the other film has the car parked by trees. The shots of Saskia getting abducted had people in the background, not definite figures but the sense that she was abducted in plain day in front of people is very frightening.The abduction scenes happen fairly close to each other as far as what time, each about an hour and a half in.But the storyline of the two films at that point of the abduction was in two different directions. In the 1988 film Raymond is telling the story to Rex while they are recreating what Raymond did. But in the 1993 film, the scenes jump back and forth and there is an addition of Rita, Jeff's girlfriend, her role in the 1988 film was minor and did not sway the direction of the film. But in the 1993 film, Rita was a bigger role and was able to save Jeff at the end and kill Barney. I enjoyed the 1988 abduction scene better than the 1993, I think the Saskia did a great job of showing fear and terror in her eyes while she was being abducted. Along with the children and people around, it felt more real.

I said it already but I prefer the 1988 storyline for the film and a would rather see the actors from the 1993 film with the exception of the Saskia/Diane role, I thought that Saskia did a better job as far as getting abducted and her acting in the beginning of the film with Rex. 

Annie Hall

 I consider Woody Allen's comedy style to be very successful. Just to name a couple television shows that use the anti mimetic emblems are " the office", "family guy", "parks and rec". The addressing of the camera or the characters just being aware of the camera allows for Allen to use other emblems or create some humorous situation. Because the emblems give Allen the ability to alter what reality is and what is not, Allen is able create some comedic sequences. 

When Alvy addresses an older woman walking on the sidewalk and continues on mimicking 1960's film directors by asking random people on the street questions. He was using this to then make fun of the people he was talking to. such as the happy couple that neither had anything interesting or meaningful about themselves.
Apart from the anti mimetic emblems, I think as far as "Annie Hall" goes, Allen plays Alvy and I think that a reason why he is so successful with the comedy is because he is the director and actor. Because the audience knows that he is both, they can make the connections like from the previous paragraph. Allen's comedy is witty and that is why I find it very successful as well. I like physical comedy, but it can  get old when it is the only type of comedy, so the fact that Allen uses wit in his comedy is refreshing from the other physical stunts.