Do The Right Thing Spike Lee and His Early Films

Background 0 Born 1957 in Atlanta 0 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).Introduction: The Films of Shelton J. Lee

Education 0 Attended all-male, historically black Morehouse College, graduating with BA in mass communications in 1979Morehouse College 0 Interned at Columbia Pictures, summer Entered NYU film school fall 1979, completing master’s thesis film, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, in 1981Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads 0 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)Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Student Academy Awards Dramatic Merit Award

Films Before Do the Right Thing : 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 40 Acres and a Mule FilmworksSpecial Field Order 15Ernest Dickerson 0 Participation of family members in early Lee film projects: sister Joie (actor), father Bill (composer), brothers David (still photographer) and Cinque (crew) 0 She’s Gotta Have It (1986) 0 Story: Woman who attempts to maintain sexual relationships with 3 men 0 Distributor: Island Pictures 0 Budget: $175,000 | Domestic box office: $8,000,000 0 Winner: Best New Director, Cannes Film Festival (1986) Screenshot Source: DVD Beaver DVD Beaver

Films Before Do the Right Thing School Daze (1988) 0 Story: Based on Lee’s experiences at Morehouse College, film highlights tension between light- and dark- skinned African American students, frequently in musical numbers 0 Distributor: Columbia Pictures 0 Budget: $6.5 million | Domestic box office: $14 million 0 Lee critiques Columbia for poor promotion of film during studio head shift from Puttnum and Picker to Dawn Steel Image source: Ash MagazineAsh Magazine

Lee as Merchandiser 0 Lee himself publicizing School Daze at all-black higher education institutions 0 40 Acres and A Mule selling companion books to Lee films, as well as t-shirts, caps, and other apparelcompanion bookscaps 0 Lee starring in and directing commercials for Nikestarring directing Screen capture of 1991 “Do You Know?” Air Jordan commerical from YouTubeYouTube

Do The Right Thing Preproduction 0 Lee composing script journal and writing script in late 1987/early 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 0 Script making potential investors hesitant, with Paramount wanting change to ending and eventually turning down project when Lee refused 0 Touchstone not seeing film as profit-making vehicle; also declines 0 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)

Do The Right Thing Production 0 Budget: $6.5 million 0 Average studio-financed production budget in 1989= $18 million 0 Domestic box office=$27.5 million 0 Location shooting in Brooklyn, NYC, which required negotiation with strong film trade unions 0 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)

Do The Right Thing Post-Production 0 Nominated for best supporting actor and original screenplay Oscars 0 Nominated for Cannes Palme d’Or (sex, lies and videotape wins) 0 Won LA Film Critics Best Director, Best Picture, Best Music and Best Supporting Actor (Aiello) awards 0 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)

Do The Right Thing Screening 0 Color palette and its effects 0 Music aligned with particular characters 0 Racial and ethnic representation in multi-cultural story world 0 Form—radical or conventional (or mix)—and effect? 0 Editing: connections/contrasts between shots and scenes 0 Social context in mise-en-scene and narrative Screenshot from Do the Right Thing: DVD BeaverDVD Beaver