Tommy Boy Film Analysis

Name Of Movie: Tommy Boy
Main Characters: Chris Farley: Tommy, David Spade: Richard
Type Of Movie: Comedy
Running Time: 1 hr 38 min

A) There is a scene at which Tommy and Richard are setting out on their first great sales trip. The camera is set at the back of the car as it drives away. This is a long shot because you can see everything that you would regularly see if you were actually standing there. As the car drives away the camera pulls back, eventually forming an extra long shot because it pulls so far away that you can see almost a panoramic of the city at which the car is driving in. This technique gives the effect of a journey being started. The camera captures the starting point of the car, and then widens its view allowing the viewer to see what the car is embarking on. This is very effective because it shows the future of the film with two simple camera shots. There is another scene at the
end of the movie where Tommy is talking to his new company about the success of the sales trip. The first shot is a first person view from Tommy?s eyes, looking out into the crowd of people. This shot only allows you to see what Tommy is seeing. The camera then jumps to an ELS shot from behind the crowd, which gives the viewer a sense of how large the crowd really is. These two different angles allow the viewer to first feel comforted by the crowd, then overwhelmed by the large number of people that are actually there. The LS and the ELS are very effective in film editing and when combined, they achieve a great amount.

B) In the opening of the movie it shows Tommy as a child chasing after the bus, while all the kids are laughing at him as he tries to catch it. As the exhaust from the child's face clears he has suddenly become a man and is now older. This Jump edit technique allows the movie to advance forward in time, but gives a good idea as to the character and his rather comical life style. Later in the movie Tommy realizes that his step mom and supposed step brother are really planning on selling his company. Tommy has the idea to fly to Chicago and stop them. After making this decision there is a parallel edit which takes the film over to his step mom and brother already in Chicago planning to take it over. This editing technique allows the viewer to see two different things happening in two different locations but at the same time. The jump edit which shows a progression in time, and a parallel edit which shows two things happening at the same time, are very effective in creating a story and allow the viewers to get more than one perspective of the movie.

C) In the begging of the movie when Tommy senior is talking about how his company has always been a family owned company he starts to talk about how one day his son will own the company.
It is at this part in the movie where a parallel edit is used for a just in time rescue. As Tom senior is talking about his son, the cross cut to his son walking into the office to see his dad is made. This is a cross cut edit in a just in time rescue because as Tom senior is talking his son is walking in. This allows one to see the relationship of the two characters in a part of the movie that seems to be appropriate. Later in the movie Tom senior takes Tommy to the house to show him a surprise, as Tommy opens his eyes the cross cut edit to a beautiful woman coming out of a swimming pool is shown. This is a just in time rescue because as Tommy opens his eyes it is at that time that the edit over to the woman coming out of the pool is made. This allows the viewer to see that just as he opened his eyes, the surprise Tom senior was talking about is
revealed.

D) While Tommy and Richard on on their sales trip they are faced with failure. Every company that they try to sale their brake pads to refuses and says no. At one point an editing technique called a dissolve is used where the CEO?s of the companies reject the offer being made, as the rejection is made the dissolve begins and dissolves into another CEO of another company also rejecting them. After several dissolves it is made clear to the viewer that Tommy and Richard are running out of luck. This technique saves a lot of time in a movie by showing the crucial parts of what could be many different scenes. Another scene in the movie when Tommy?s dad dies there is an upward shot of Tommy looking over his father. The dissolves comes into play and dissolves into the same shot of Tommy but this time looking over his fathers grave at a cemetery. The dissolve used in this scene advances the movie from the death to the grave without fading to black. The dissolve is a very effective editing technique that is used a lot in movies and is very affective.

E) In the scene where the car is embarking on the great journey that is about to be made, a fade is used. This fade almost makes it seem like the movie is going to end but right as the one thinks it is going to it fades into the next scene. This fade other than to a black screen puts anticipation into the viewers mind. When I was watching it was almost like a break at which I thought the movie was over and then as soon as I thought that, the movie kicked back up right into the next scene. This fade was a great way to take what almost seemed to be a break in the movie, and then start it right back up.

The opening of the movie starts out with Tommy as a young child realizing that he is late for school. The scene shows Tommy frantically running around the house looking for his school supplies. As Tommy runs out the door the sprinkler system in his front yard turns on getting him wet. Tommy is faced with several challenges as he makes his way to the bus stop. As Tommy takes a short cut through some bushes he is surprised when he runs face to face with a fence on the other side. After making his way around the fence he is chased by a dog in which he sacrifices his lunch in order to keep the dog away. When Tommy reaches the bus stop, he realizes that the bus is already on its way. Tommy drops all of his stuff and begins to sprint after the bus. While he is running after the bus, Richard also as a young child rides his bike next to him and in a comical tone makes fun of Tommy. Tommy realizes that he wont make the bus and gives up. The scene is then advanced to Tommy now as a grown man, missing the transit bus for college.

Another scene in the movie is when Tommy and Richard on on their sales trip. Tommy is very confident about the success that he thinks they will have. From the time they take to the roads to the time they make their first sale, they run into all kinds of problems, which really builds upon the relationship between Tommy and Richard. From the very first attempt Tommy is rejected, and rather than trying to further convince the man to purchase his brake pads Tommy excepts his answer and walks out. Richard then explains to Tommy that you simply cannot take ?No,? as an answer. Tommy understands and tries to make up for his loss with another company. When the customer says ?No,? Tommy again leaves and excepts it. It takes Richard a long time to finally convince Tommy to not except any answer but ?Yes.? This scene basically shows the attempts and failure of Tommy and the growing knowledge that he receives from Richard. At the end of the scene Tommy finally succeeds and sells some brake pads.