Through the examination of the season 3 finale, Graduation Day: Part 2, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer the viewer can gain an understanding of Whedon’s sarcastic style of writing in his film or television shows. Whedon is known for his sarcastic and witty commentary within the dialogue. This is apparent in the television show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when the main groups of heroes or villains gather together to have a discussion prior to their crime. From the perspective of the viewers’, this scene is supposed to be a serious discussion on how they will defeat the mayor. But in true Whedon fashion, he incorporates some sarcastic/witty humor within commentary. When the Scooby Gang is mentioning the plans to Buffy, they state that her idea is insane and they are not entirely sure it will work. Immediately following this discussion, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) states, “I don’t think it could be possible to come up with a crazier plan,” Oz (Seth Green) says, “We attack the mayor with hummus.” Which helps ease the tension within the gang and keeps everyone optimistic. In addition to the scene’s dialogue, the sequences editing is a key example to Whedon’s style. When it comes to the gang’s conversations, Whedon’s uses continuity editing; like the 180-degree rule, establishing shot, shot/reverse shot, and sound bridge; throughout the conversation. Viewers can also observe Whedon’s format of a group conversation within his film, The Avengers. In this scene, the heroes are at the SHIELD’s Helocarrier discussing their next strategy on how to get the teserac back after capturing Loki. Whedon’s style is easily transparent within his films and television shows, which encourages the audience to become his followers and active viewers.

I will be analyzing the first scene in the Avengers and talking about how it succeeds. Here is a link to the scene in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OJqPJRjHkE (Only goes to about 0:44)

This scene’s strongest trait is it’s use of parallel editing. Black Widow and Agent Coulson are clearly in two different areas, but the film is able to create a strong sense of them being together even though they are apart. Black Widow begins this clip already on the phone, being “interrogated” by the Russians. She is trying to learn as much as possible from them by listening to what information they simply give her. She knows she has the upper hand and once she learns that Hawkeye has been compromised and her help is needed, she begins fighting while attached to the chair. The fight scene is badass on it’s own, as she takes out all of the men on herself while strapped to a chair, but this isn’t the biggest deal in this scene. That would be while Phil is on the phone, hearing all of the fighting. It creates a nice sense of humor, since you imagine Coulson sitting there and simply listening to her fight. The cut to Coulson staring at the ground while listening is just a hilarious situation that a viewer could not help but laugh. Using techniques like parallel editing, one can achieve a well placed and paced joke like such. I’m not sure how much Whedon actually uses this editing device, but I will make sure to look for it more in his work to see if it is a trope of his.

The Avengers is supposed to be a team that works together for the good of the world and the people in it. Even though this team has an extraordinary task, they are still people and still a team, meaning they can have the same drawbacks. People naturally are going to be different and aren’t always going to get along, and the film understood that this can also apply to a group of super heroes. The scene where everyone finds out S.H.I.E.L.D’s plan of making super weapons, a huge argument breaks out. it starts off first with the avengers VS nick fury, but it quickly spreads amongst themselves. this whole scene keeps everyone in character with bits of humor thrown in if you listen closely enough to the dialog, keeping in tune with the rest of the movie. before this specific conflict, there were obvious issues between the members of the avengers that they would try to look past and downplay as real issues, with all of them coming out in one big conflict, much like how many teams of people in real life do. i think in an older movie, every hero would work together well form the beginning just because they are advertised as a team. it wouldn’t matter how their personalities would conflict with each other, they would just ignore that and everything would be great. in modern day movies, writers and directors have realized that it can be a lot more interesting and engaging when things aren’t always so perfect and work without problems, and this is one good example of that.

Having not been acclimated to the Buffyverse separated my relationship between the characters in the show and the lives the have led and because of the killing of the ascended mayor, will continue to lead. I enter with no misgivings about their character flaws, no judgment on their past actions, but fresh eyes on a culminating moment in the world of the show. The first minute that drew my attention was the conversation between Buffy and Faith through their minds as they lay broken and bloodied in the hospital beds after their epic fight. The interconnected relationship they share not only as slayers but as women cut from the same cloth, binds them and Whedon is able to share a consciousness among them. They talk the same way, the camera moves between one another, same angle, medium close up. He puts Faith in a position of power or even on a platform at this moment for not only the next parts of the episode, by telling Buffy the mayor’s weakness, but to control part of the extended universe of the show, hinting to a countdown for “Little Miss Muffet” and “730” days. This is a rare moment in film, characters usually give a dying wish or last words of advice but not all spoke already from the grave, or from a coma. The music plays on, grandstanding for a moment to show the importance of this exchange. I believe Whedon, as we discussed in class, unsure of the extended life of the series, but confident in the fandom relationship to the show was able to present an “Easter Egg” or sorts to blossom the relationship between the world of the film and the fans that search tirelessly for answers to riddles and hidden gems within not only the storytelling but the encapsulated world that is the Buffyverse.

Jacob Sam

5/17/15

Nick Fury is finishing a line about why SHIELD used the tesseract to create weapons.  He is seen through a darkened transparent screen showing the designs of these weapons, representing the darkened way the other heroes now see him.  After Thor comments, Fury states that “the world’s filling up with people who can’t be… controlled.”  Although these are SHIELD’s views and not Fury’s own, they parallel Loki’s mission to rule humanity to control them.  As the Avengers begin to argue, the camera begins to quickly pan between them, creating a temporary blur with a dizzying effect.  When Stark sarcastically remarks that “a nuclear deterrent… always calms everything right down,” Fury’s retort, which points out that Stark’s money came from selling weaponry, suggests that Fury believes Stark is a hypocrite for passing himself as a hero when his technology has taken so many lives.  Captain America makes a jab at Stark, implying he is selfish, and the camera passes directly between them, suggesting a rift forming between the two.  The camera again begins to shift in a disorienting manner between the Avengers as their argument grows, zooming in first on Thor, then Natasha, and finally Banner, but each on the far left edge of the frame.  After passing each one of them, the argument becomes unintelligible, and the camera zooms in on the glowing gem at the head of Loki’s spear and flips over, showing the Avengers arguing from an upside-down perspective.  The disorientation of this series of shots followed by the focus on the gem in Loki’s spear reveals the manipulating effect Loki has had on the group to cause them to break apart from the inside.

The most famous scene in Joss Whedon’s first Avengers film is arguably, as TVTropes.com’s page for the film labels it, “the oner”: the single long take sweeping around Manhattan as each Avenger does what they do best. It’s shots like these that really give Whedon time to shine as a director. He enables us to be completely enveloped in the spectacle of a scene by giving it to us in bits and pieces while also keeping the overall theme of the shot very “zoomed out” so we never forget the bigger picture. Black Widow, piloting a stolen spacecraft, ducks out of the way of an oncoming Chitauri attack, as Iron Man flies near her; we follow him as he shoots energy from his suit and pan down as he zooms across the bridge and lands near Captain America. He is busy fist-fighting Chituari, and Iron Man takes a few shots before taking off straight up along a building, flying by Hawkeye on the roof, who’s systemically knocking out baddies one by one with his arrows. We follow the path of one of them as it hits a Chitauri craft and causes it to plummet into the giant Chitauri Leviathan, on top of which stands the Hulk and Thor thrashing and hammering enemies to a pulp. A blow from Mjölnir sends the Leviathan crashing into Grand Central Station and ends the long shot. Every character is featured for just the right amount of time to understand their overall contribution to the battle, and why each of them is necessary to take down the invasion. It’s the entirety of The Avengers summed up in one shot. Whedon was a masterful director of this scene in particular, and it shows why he went on to have such success with its profits.

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