hurt with Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray in the comedy Caddyshack, and see life from the eyes of mob henchmen, Tom Hanks, in the crime and gangster film Road to Perdition. American cinema has used Alfred Hitchcock to create fear for many years like it was displayed in the horror film Psycho, has allowed us to sing in dance with the cast in the musical Chicago, and check out, momentarily, from reality in many science fiction films. American cinema has taken us back in time as we rode horse-back with our western heroes John Wayne and Clint Eastwood or put on the badge with the brothers of the law in Tombstone. Some of the greatest impacts from the world of cinema have been from films that covered war.
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
O Brother Where Art Thou? is a film that will take you on a perilous journey with Ulysses Everett McGill and his simpleminded cohorts. This film may be set amidst the early 1930’s Great Depression era, but it still has a Homer’s Odyssey feel to it. Down in the dusty and highly racial south, Everett recruits a couple of dimwitted convicts, Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnell, to help him retrieve his lost treasure and make it back home before his wife marries another suitor.
Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is a cinematic classic, released in 1941. Citizen Kane challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema. Kane was narrated by several people that include their take on Kane’s life. The story unfolds by many flashbacks and is told by different perspectives over the years through different narrations. Charles Foster Kane was a millionaire, head of newspapers and died saying “rosebud”.
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema through techniques in cinematography, mise-en-scene and lighting. The mise-en-scene build of Citizen Kane is the pivoting point of the narrative forthcoming and Welles uses every technical element encompassed in this build to span his narrative across 60 years of Charles Foster Kane, the main character 's life. The beginning of this build is founded on the black and white shooting choice which sets an ominous almost 'film noir ' lighting and feel of the opening scene of the castle in Xanadu. This where we see end of Kane 's life, but every aspect of the film 's narrative will revolve around these frames and including the questions of 'who has died '?, 'what was the significance of the snow globe? ', and 'Who is rosebud? '. The camera angle in the deathbed scene is deliberately shot from a low angle, which further implies the importance of the person lying in the bed as well as providing mystery as the viewer is not yet privy to whom has just
Citizen Kane challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema mainly in the area of sound. Orson Welles was ahead of his time when he created his works of manipulating sound to transfer meaning in the film Citizen Kane. Welles used concealed hanging microphones to obtain different levels of sound throughout the film. The manner, in which the story was told, from Kane’s death flashbacked to his life of success and ultimate failure, was also a new style of storytelling for films. Welles also used symbolism with his last mumbling word “Rosebud.”
How does a mere individual compare to the strength and power of an institution? In John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck illustrates the struggles of the migrant population during the era of the Dust Bowl migration in America. As the novel follows the family of the Joads, it depicts the many societal and economic challenges these migrants face as they leave their land in Oklahoma seeking out new opportunities in California. Steinbeck’s novel demonstrates the struggle that the Joads and other Okies, migrant families from Oklahoma, face as the resulting economic and cultural changes from the Great Depression affect American society.
Shot Analysis: Citizen Kane Orson Welles, director of “Citizen Kane”, is well known for his unusual directing methods that defied conventional cinematic techniques. Welles provided his audience with original forms of cinematography, narrative structures, and music. The scene I chose to analyze is extremely important to the plot of the film because Kane begins to realize that he is going through some serious financial problems. During the scene, Kane maintains a sarcastic mood, until he finally decides to surrender and signs the papers that transfer the ownership of his media empire to Mr. Thatcher.
In the film, Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott, uses elements of mise en scene such as the setting, lighting, and characters contribute to the overall mood of the film. The futuristic setting is in L.A., 2019, establishes a gloomy overcrowded and depressing mood in the city that gives a human decay atmosphere. In contrast, Tyrell’s headquarters gives a setting of splendor and power with an orange glow gleaming off the building where it does not appearance like it raining beside the natural light from the orange cast sun. The lighting, in the city is low-key lighting that is smoky with constant rain and spots lights from the sky promoting police presence creating human decay and misery. Finally, the characters establish the mood of how life is in
The use of symbolism and expressionism is paramount to both the narrative and to the theme. Meaning of some of the symbols are; • Mirrors: The mirrors in the movie Citizen Kane shows how Kane has different series of mirrors in his life in which his image has duplicated infinitely. Metaphorically, these mirrors continuously showed us different versions of Kane. • Puzzles: The jigsaw puzzle shows how Susan Alexander used to play with them very often not merely for fun but also as a way to fulfill her unyielding existence with Kane. The jigsaw puzzle shows how all pieces always don’t fit in properly, similarly, Susan and Kane’s personalities were very different that created unresolved issues and conflicts in their lives.
To the unknown eye, Hitchcock has carefully and skillfully used Mise-en-scene to his advantage, causing the audience to feel fear and a sense of caution towards the character of Norman Bates. It isn’t until we reflect back on the scene and notice how intelligently Hitchcock uses the positioning of props and the characters, lighting, camera angle and staging, that we notice how he has added meaning to his characters but has also to the film, creating suspense and fear from one scene to the end of the film. Ultimately proving the point that Hitchcock “the master of suspense” uses Mise-en-scene to not only help make a brilliant film but also uses it as his disposal to add meaning in his
Directed by Orson Welles, the 1941 motion picture “Citizen Kane” is the story of the rise and fall of a great, influential man. The opening scenes of “Citizen Kane” are quite different from what follows during the rest of the film. Fading in and out of different landscapes instilled mystery. This mysterious vibe was carried on during Charles Foster Kane’s death through the use of shadows, quiet music, and close up shots. Isolated in his vast empire of a home, Kane uttered only one word before he passed: “rosebud.”
The connecting scene of this sequence begins with a tracking shot of Romero as he leaves the conference and heads towards an unknown building. The shadows of the moonlight move over him as he walks next to a wall, perhaps signifying doubt, uncertainty and fear for the future after an unsuccessful meeting on a matter of great significance. Bright luminous light shines from windows of the building behind him, and casts a halo of light around him intermittently. A significant shot in this scene is an establishing shot that shows Romero standing in the entrance of the building and with a statue of Mary Magdalen in the foreground of the shot. The camera tracks to the right to bring a statue of Jesus into the background, with a common girl sat in
American Beauty Sam Mendes American Beauty is a great example of a film that uses mise en scene. Mendes uses many elements to give us more information using images, colors, lighting, sound, and character clothing. He also utilises many different forms of shots to make us feel like we are in the film. I feel that one important aspect of American Beauty was Symbolic Imagery. The image that most people notice while watching the film is the image of the red rose.
The 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee and originally written by Jane Austen, has timeless elements in its composition. Starring Emma Thompson, also the screenwriter, and Kate Winslet as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, the movie tells of two heroines and their struggle between balancing idealism and reality. As young, female adolescents of the 1800s, they are responsible for finding husbands that can support them financially; and following their father’s death and loss of money, this becomes even more emphasized. But, they come to struggle when having to choose between what their hearts crave, and what their minds know is best. Elinor’s ideal partner is the initially dull Edward Ferrars, who is discovered to be secretly engaged
