Children of Men
The group is riding in the car through the woods. Julian and Theo play a game in which they are spitting a ping pong ball back and forth between each other’s mouths. The mood is jovial as Theo and Julian recall why they used to be married. Kee is happy and wants to see them keep playing the game. Suddenly they see a car up ahead hurtling out of the trees on fire. Everyone starts yelling to punch it, but they can’t get past in time. They stop when the car obstructs the road. People come storming out of the woods around them screaming and wielding various forms of bats and clubs. The group puts the car in reverse and drives away as the ambushers start beating on the sides of the car. 2 men on a motorcycle come speeding toward the car from in front of them and shoot Julian in the neck. They drive up next to the car to shoot Theo but Theo opens his door and the men are knocked off the motorcycle. The group pulls out onto a road and drives past a line of cop cars. They attempt to keep pressure on Julian’s wound but she dies. One of the cop cars turns around and follows them and tells them to pull over. As the cops approach, the group yells out to them that they are British citizens, and hold up their passports. As the cop goes to radio for assistance Luke shoots both of the cops. Theo and Luke get out of the car and Theo asks why he shot them. Luke points the gun at him and tells him to get in the car. The group drives off.
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Hugo
There were a few key moments that I really enjoyed and thought stood out from the rest of the film. I especially loved the scenes that dealt with George Melies’ work. The case with all of his drawings being dropped and swirling around Hugo was particularly well done. In actuality the papers would have been hard to see and quickly have fallen to the floor. But in the film we get an almost slow-motion effect and close-up of a few pictures to really show the magical effect that Melies brought to the cinema.
Another scene that I felt was particularly powerful was Hugo’s dream sequence with the train running him over and falling out a window. Not only is this scene powerful, but later we see the same scene in one of George Melies’ films at his ceremony. The meaning of the pocket watch, along waking up and seeing it missing and looking down to see that Hugo has become the automaton is startling. Upon waking from the second dream it appears that the automaton had something to do with the dreams. This may have been done to signify the parallels between the automaton’s connection to Melies, and Melies’ belief that cinema could bring dreams to life in his films.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Single Man
A Single Man (2009) focuses on the little moments in life that should be treasured. Ford uses color to draw our attention to those special moments for our main character, George Falconer. The film is shot primarily with a de-saturated, bland look. This is done as a visual metaphor to further the feeling that Falconer sees little to enjoy in the world anymore, now that his love is dead. But there are certain occasions which remind Falconer of what he enjoys in life, or as he puts it, “A few times in my life I've had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp and the world seems so fresh…”. Ford cranks up the color contrast and saturation to make these moments feel more vibrant and more alive. But these moments, as Falconer says, never last. “… I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.” As the “moment of clarity” passes, Ford fades the color back to the dull, bland look to further the feeling that the moment has faded.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Prestige
Rivalry: Good or Evil?
When hatred fuels your actions, the results can be disastrous. In the end, even if you’re successful, it doesn’t mean you were justified. The Prestige keeps this message in the forefront throughout. Nolan chooses to not depict either magician as good or evil, and it has a dazing effect on the viewer. Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist? Sometimes it’s one magician, sometimes it’s the other. Mutual hatred fuels the rivalry. Secrecy and lies lead to death and misery.
The film, upon first viewing, can be hard to follow. While this may have been intentional, I feel it detracts. I loved this movie on this, my second viewing. My first thoughts on it were that it was OK. After watching it Monday, I thought it was amazing. One cinematic device Nolan should have used was to visual signal when jumping forward or backward along the timeline of the film. Unless you already know what’s going on in the story, it can be too much to take in.
That aside, I feel that there numerous themes in this film, all swirled together. The nature of obsession, deceit, devotion to a craft, science as magic, all are entwined and delivered magnificently as the “three steps of the magic trick.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hurt Locker
The movie The Hurt Locker portrays the brutal reality of war through unique filming techniques that captures the “documentary” feel. Three scenes in particular embodied the spirit of the film.
The first scene was the first IED explosion scene where their squad leader is killed. From the very beginning the audience is set on edge. There is little or no music, just the sound of wind and the occasional sound of creaking buildings. The camera switches multiple times throughout the scene to viewpoints from surrounding buildings, giving the audience the feeling that they’re being watched by someone with malevolent intentions. The glare of the sun on the lens a few times and the heavy breathing from inside of the suit gives the audience the feeling of being trapped and suffocating in the oppressive heat of Iraq. In this scene the director seems to be saying to the audience, “In war you can’t always see the enemy. It’s uncomfortable. You’re faced with difficult decisions, and if you choose wrong someone can die because of it.”
The next scene that stood out was the sniper scene. The scene portrays the chaos of war. The realization that someone has been shot is slow. There’s a delayed reaction, and it emphasizes the chaos. The reaction of the men is to shoot in every direction; the camera shows extreme long shots of motion that may be enemies, highlighting the feeling of the men not knowing where the shots are coming from.
The last moment for me that captured the essence of the portrayal of the brutal realities of war was the scene where the man is forced to be a suicide bomber near the end of the film. James can’t get the suit off, even though the man is not “an evil man”. The hopelessness of war and the sad reality that even innocent men can be casualties in war are simultaneously portrayed in the scene. James’ efforts to get the locks off the vest and the sheer number of locks portray the helplessness in war. The man not being able to be saved despite James’ efforts represents the brutal realities of war.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Journey to Italy
Shot: When Katherine is in the museum, she sees a statue that looks like her.
1st Order: Denotation
The shot I chose is 13 seconds long. It begins on the statue’s face in the museum. As Katherine walks past, the camera follows her and stops when she does, to keep both statue and Katherine in the frame of the shot. The face of the statue is partly in shadow. Katherine passes behind the statue and through its shadow before stopping in the light to turn and look directly into its face. The face of the statue looks similar to hers. She is startled and turns and leaves. The shot lingers on the statue for another second.
2nd Order: Connotation
Statues of people can be creepy. She sees a reflection of herself in the statue’s face. The emotionless statue reminds her of death. Her disappointment with her life make’s her even more terrified of death, because she doesn’t feel she has really lived yet. The creepy music reinforces the mystique of the statue and museum.
3rd Order: Myth-Production
When you get left behind by the tour guide you’ll be all alone in a big scary museum and statues will creep you out. The camera starts on the statue, leading the audience to believe she will stop to look at it. The music reinforces the idea that startling music should be paired with startling images.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psycho
After seeing Psycho for the first time, I understand now why it’s one of those “classic masterpiece” films everyone talks about. Cinematically, Hitchcock created a work of art. The first cinematic moment that stood out to me was the voices Marion “hears” as she is driving. I say “hears”, because we are shown Marion’s face while we hear conversations going on that may or may not be going on in other places. Are the voices real, and happening as we are shown her face for no reason? Or are they imagined conversations that are manifesting in her head as paranoia?
I feel that a novel could be written breaking down every cinematic element of the shower murder scene. But my favorite part was the match-cut, or form-edit transition from the drain to the lifeless eyes of Marion. By showing her eye (window to the soul) after the drain, it links the images and draws the connection that her soul is disappearing down the drain too.
Another scene that really stuck out to be was Arbogast’s questioning of Bates. I thought it was a simple, linear scene at first. But as it dragged on I noticed that the editing really jumped back and forth between concentrating on the reactions of each character to the other’s question and response, and at the same time it kept cutting off Bates, with dialogue, but also with shot selection. This added an extra pushiness to Arbogast’s questions that at the same time shows Bates increasing uneasiness from the questions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Grapes of Wrath
I found many moments, during the first half of the film in particular, that struck me as purely cinematic. The scene lit entirely by one match was the first time I noticed the director attempting a unique, cinematic effect. The shadows cast upon the faces of the farmers during this scene seemed very chaotic, and went well thematically with the dust storm outside, a metaphor perhaps for the whirlwind of confusion sweeping them off their land.
The tractors were also made to seem very ominous and lifeless evil machines through a montage of imposing camera angles and menacing music.
A very creative cinematic moment occurred when the Joads’ are being warned to clear off their land, and Tom Joad enters from off camera to stand in front of the rest of his family wearing all black, in stark contrast to the helpless farmers, a foreshadowing perhaps that he may be an unforeseen obstacle to the farm company one day.
Another artistically cinematic shot to me was the multiple times Ford filmed some of the characters walking along a hillside, with the foreground pitch black and the silhouette of the characters pitched against a bleak cloudy sky. This seemed to show a battle between man and nature throughout the film.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Midnight in Paris
From the very beginning of Midnight in Paris it seems as if Woody Allen is making a statement about what cinema can do that other art mediums cannot. The beginning scene is a montage of shots set to 1920s music. What makes the montage different from other art forms such as photography is that the camera was left running to capture daytime life in Paris all the way to nighttime. The music is classic and the visuals are captured modern motion, a combination unique to cinema.
The next scene that really stood out to me was the scene in which the Bar that Hemingway is in “disappears.” Since the audience goes into movies with the ability to suspend disbelief, it allows for some “movie magic.” By editing and the trick of the camera, the audience is made to believe that the bar really did just disappear.
Owen Wilson’s character comes out and says it, “no painting can capture Paris.” But film, I believe the director wants us to believe, can come close. Why else would he include shots that look as if the camera was just left there to capture the everyday sights of Paris, if not to “capture Paris?”
Throughout the film Time is manipulated by the mise-en-scene; the costumes, décor, and composition of the scene. Time is manipulated in this way to make fantasy, or time travel, feel very real. Cinema alone can accomplish that feat in such a believable way. More so than any book, or painting.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Masculin, Feminin
Godard’s film is a stark, stylistic break from the Institutional mode of film representation. It’s quite apparent throughout the film that Godard is critiquing and playing with the accepted norm of film-making. In doing so he draws the audience in and makes them more involved than they may usually be in a typical film. To me, the most prevalent and unique trait of the film is the long conversations where the camera stays focused on only one character, creating an interview-like feel. This departs from the classic back-and-forth shots of the IMR. The long takes show the characters when their barriers are being tested and are most vulnerable. Overall it is quite a unique and refreshing style that just feels more real than typical movie dialogue.
Although there are countless instances where he breaks from the IMR in the film, the other specific moment that stood out to me was in the Bowling Club, when the man stabs himself. In a normal model of narrative story-telling, the man comes at the protagonist with the knife, and the protagonist must find a way to overcome the conflict. In this film, the man comes at Paul but then turns and stabs himself instead. I feel this ties in a little bit to the “intellectual montage” we talked about in class. Whereas a man with a knife who comes after you may strike fear into you and cause you to flee one moment, that same man turning and stabbing himself instead may cause you to feel sympathy and want to help him the next. This happens to Paul, and although it’s largely an unexplained occurrence, Godard very successfully breaks from the IMR.
-Ben Elliott
"Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.”
