Recommended: Realism in cinema
One of the film’s on this course was ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ an adaption of the Pulitzer- Prize nominated play by John Guare. Two theories that we studied that applied to this film are; Post- Modernism and Structuralism and the concepts; pastiche and collage, genre and intertextuality. I will be analysing the movie while applying these two theoretical concepts and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each in the conclusion. Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is connected by six or fewer steps from any other person in the world. Frigyes Kerinthy originally came up with the theory but it became popularized by Guare in ‘Six Degrees of Separation.’
This film also has a great aesthetic way of presenting characteristics of the movie as a whole, for example when filming Brenton Butler, they made sure that almost throughout the movie entirely he did not speak to put more emphasis on the first impression of Lestrade and Poncet’s of Butler as a completely detached individual; showing how Butler’s voice was denied by the injustice of the Florida legal
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.
“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can convey emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” The written word and the moving image have always had their entwining roots deeply entrenched in similar narrative codes, both functioning at the level of implication, connotation and referentiality. But ever since the advent of cinema, they have been pitted against each other over formal and cultural peculiarities – hence engaging in a relationship deemed “overtly compatible, secretly hostile” (Bluestone 2).
This essay will discuss the uses, strategies and the meanings that are generated by editing in cinema. The films that this essay will be focusing on are Psycho and Singin’ in the Rain. Both of these films are very different to each other and therefore use editing in varying ways in order to give the audience a different perception of the characters as well as the setting that these characters are involved in. Psycho focuses on building suspense for the audience throughout the film using editing, camera work and sound. This essay will be primarily focusing on editing with the discussion of camerawork where relevant.
In “Aesthetic of Astonishment” essay, Gunning argues how people first saw cinema, and how they are amazed with the moving picture for the first time, and were not only amazed by the technological aspect, but also the experience of how the introduction of movies have changed the way people perceive the reality in a completely different way. Gunning states that “The astonishment derives from a magical metamorphosis rather than a seamless reproduction of reality”(118). He uses the myth of how the sacred audience run out the theater in terror when they first saw the Lumiere Brother Arrival of the train. However, Gunning does not really care how hysterical their reaction is, even saying that he have doubts on what actually happened that day, as for him it the significance lied on the incidence--that is, the triggering of the audience’s reaction and its subsequence results, and not the actual reactions and their extent. It is this incident, due to the confusion of the audience’s cognition caused by new technology, that serves as a significant milestone in film history which triggered in the industry and the fascination with film, which to this day allows cinema to manipulate and
Colours and lighting were also used strategically to support and add to the emotions that the characters were undergoing and to affect the emotions of the viewers. Being portrayed as a continuous take, a more intimate relationship and understand was formed between the viewers and the protagonist. The fluidity of the camera movements significantly adds intensity to the viewing experience. Overall, such techniques did not overshadow the experience of the film and the movie looked
While Ruttman’s film is an attempt to convey the Vertov’s film is idealistic cinema as an instrument of truth Scenes of the documentary are intercut with scenes of the actual production. Capitalism breathes life into industrialization, and machines The city is awake before the people are. lions feeding beauty salon Vertov’s passion lay in the ability of the lens of a camera to combine an infinite amount of perspectives Vertov’s cinematic style portrays cinema as a socialistic ideal of an art form, as he shows Vertov used filmmaking as a tool in the construction of his socialist ideal of the world.
The narration in the movie can be described as circular narrative as the ending and beginning when merged complete the timeline of the movie(1). This narrative structure is rather unconventional and reminds the audience at multiple instances that this is not real life and they are watching a movie. One of these instances include Mia (Uma Thurman) drawing a rectangle on screen while talking to Vincent (John Travolta) in car in front of Jack Rabbit Slim’s. The film includes multiple clues which link its narration style to Post Modernism. To understand this linkage, firstly Post Modernism should be described.
This technique gave Scorcese the chance focus more intently on his characters, but derived from its general aesthetics, since the movies occasionally moves too slow. Furthermore, Schoonmaker did not use editing effects almost at all, a tactic that occasionally faults the film, particularly in the action scenes. 6. Key scenes Scorsese may have changed some elements of the script, but the key-scenes, who are actually the backbone of both films, remained. However, while Lau used a subtler, more artistic approach, Scorcese used the in-your-face approach, so usually associated with Hollywood
This essay will discuss how the film uses these two techniques, in reference to the film, and to what ideological and political ends are the techniques used in the films with specific references from the film to support the argument. A Man with a Movie Camera is based around one man who travels around the city to capture various moments and everyday
Parallel editing was present in the film wherein it was edited in a way that two scenes were alternating to make it appear that they were happening simultaneously (Lorber, 2010). High and low angled shots were also present, and panoramic shots as well. The editing that I liked the most was in the scene when The Machine Man was made to look like Maria. The surge of electricity in this particular scene and the orbits going up and down The Machine Man was what amazed me. It is shocking that in order for this to happen, the people responsible for editing had to film this frame by frame so imagine the hours, days, weeks or even months that were put into this particular scene.
Baz Luhrmann is widely acknowledged for his Red Curtain Trilogy which are films aimed at heightening an artificial nature and for engaging the audience. Through an examination of the films Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, the evolution and adaptation of his techniques become evident. Luhrmann’s belief in a ‘theatrical cinema’ can be observed to varying degrees through the three films and his choice to employ cinematic techniques such as self-reflexivity, pastiche and hyperbolic hyperbole. The cinematic technique of self-reflexivity allows a film to draw attention to itself as ‘not about naturalism’ and asks the audience to suspend their disbelief and believe in the fictional construct of the film.
For example, during the book burning scene, a variety of high to mid-low shots are used to position the audience in the crowd or as one of the speakers up front. In addition, the way the objects in the scene are positioned and the frame are composed creates an intimidating effect. All the large Nazi flags are positioned symmetrically around the town square, yet the camera is framed slightly off centre, making the whole shot feel off and like something is wrong [Fig. 5]. This certainly shows that Percival utilizes Percival employs cinematic techniques such as camera angles and the framing of the shots used to communicate and allow the audience to explore the power of the human spirit when dealing with adversity in his film The Book
Lastly, the use of talking heads was also another convention used to show the real. There were many interview scenes with talking heads such as Guetta, Banksy, Fairey and Invader throughout the film. Using talking heads allows for them to bear witness to and authenticate the claims of the “true accounts” shown in the film, which further allows the audiences to believe in the realness of the
