1 / 10

Do The Right Thing

Do The Right Thing. Spike Lee and His Early Films. Background. Born 1957 in Atlanta F amily soon moved to NYC and lived in Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Cobble Hill and Fort Greene

monifa
Download Presentation

Do The Right Thing

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Do The Right Thing Spike Lee and His Early Films

  2. Background • Born 1957 in Atlanta • Family soon moved to NYC and lived in Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Cobble Hill and Fort Greene “In a few of his feature films, Lee uses his intimate knowledge of these racially integrated Brooklyn neighborhoods to dramatize the sometimes violent encounters that occur between African Americans and their nonblack New York City neighbors” (Mark Reid, “Introduction: The Films of Shelton J. Lee,” Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, 1).

  3. Education • Attended all-male, historically black Morehouse College, graduating with BA in mass communications in 1979 • Interned at Columbia Pictures, summer 1979 • Entered NYU film school fall 1979, completing master’s thesis film, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, in 1981 • Film won Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Student Academy Awards Dramatic Merit Award (1983) and debuted at Lincoln Center’s “New Directors, New Films” series (1983)

  4. Films Before Do the Right Thing Screenshot Source: DVD Beaver • 1986: Lee forms production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks (named for Special Field Order 15). Hires Ernest Dickerson, NYU classmate and cinematographer of Joe’s, as cinematographer for most of company’s films • Participation of family members in early Lee film projects: sister Joie (actor), father Bill (composer), brothers David (still photographer) and Cinque (crew) • She’s Gotta Have It (1986) • Story: Woman who attempts to maintain sexual relationships with 3 men • Distributor: Island Pictures • Budget: $175,000 | Domestic box office: $8,000,000 • Winner: Best New Director, Cannes Film Festival (1986)

  5. Films Before Do the Right Thing School Daze(1988) • Story: Based on Lee’s experiences at Morehouse College, film highlights tension between light- and dark-skinned African American students, frequently in musical numbers • Distributor: Columbia Pictures • Budget: $6.5 million | Domestic box office: $14 million • Lee critiques Columbia for poor promotion of film during studio head shift from Puttnum and Picker to Dawn Steel Image source: Ash Magazine

  6. Lee as Merchandiser • Lee himself publicizing School Daze at all-black higher education institutions • 40 Acres and A Mule selling companion books to Lee films, as well as t-shirts, caps, and other apparel • Lee starring in and directing commercials for Nike Screen capture of 1991 “Do You Know?” Air Jordan commerical from YouTube

  7. Do The Right Thing Preproduction • Lee composing script journal and writing script in late 1987/early 1988 • Early 1988: Lee submits Do The Right Thing script to studios for preproduction bidding. Wants negative pickup deal—with studio purchasing distribution rights prior to film’s production. Negative pickup deal allows director final cut • Script making potential investors hesitant, with Paramount wanting change to ending and eventually turning down project when Lee refused • Touchstone not seeing film as profit-making vehicle; also declines • Universal buys rights for less than Lee had planned to budget, but accepts script as-is and strikes mutual agreement deal for casting (film featured no major stars)

  8. Do The Right Thing Production • Budget: $6.5 million • Average studio-financed production budget in 1989= $18 million • Domestic box office=$27.5 million • Location shooting in Brooklyn, NYC, which required negotiation with strong film trade unions • 8-week shoot during summer 1988 on single block in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood (with Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, the Korean grocery store and We Love Radio sets built on two empty lots)

  9. Do The Right ThingPost-Production • Nominated for best supporting actor and original screenplay Oscars • Nominated for Cannes Palme d’Or (sex, lies and videotape wins) • Won LA Film Critics Best Director, Best Picture, Best Music and Best Supporting Actor (Aiello) awards • Film’s critical success and box-office profits encouraging mainstream studio investment in low-budget films made by African American directors, including House Party (Hudlin 1990), Boyz N the Hood (Singleton 1991), New Jack City (Mario Van Peebles1991), Menace II Society (Hughes Brothers1993), Juice (Dickerson 1992)

  10. Do The Right Thing Screening • Color palette and its effects • Music aligned with particular characters • Racial and ethnic representation in multi-cultural story world • Form—radical or conventional (or mix)—and effect? • Editing: connections/contrasts between shots and scenes • Social context in mise-en-scene and narrative Screenshot from Do the Right Thing: DVD Beaver

More Related