Choose 3 of the films we watched in class and answer the following questions. Answer all questions for each film to create at least 3 paragraphs.
Le Retour a la Raison
Entr'acte
Le Ballet Mecanique
Un Chien Andalou
Meshes of the Afternoon (this is the one with the Maya Deren interview)
What do you notice about the film's presentation of cinematic space? What do you see on screen? For example, lots of landscapes or closeups? Moving or static camera? How does the filmmaker use light and shadow? Discuss what you see and what you think it all means.
Which "special effects" would you possibly use in your own film projects?
If you can't get enough of the avant garde cinema, check out this site: http://www.ubu.com/film/.
If you want to look more into Jonas Mekas, go here: http://jonasmekas.com/diary/
Le Retour à la Raison is a short avant garde film that uses motion to highlight the importance of light within a scene. The film experiments with light and shadow, as well as the use of an image’s negative space. The majority of the film is a close up as many of the shots have a single subject with a blank wall as a background. This forces the audience’s attention to the man subject of the frame and only that by removing any distractions on screen. It also allows more space for Man Ray to experiment with the lighting equipment. The static camera has the same effect, forcing the audience's attention to the subject while allowing Man Ray to manipulate the light without obstacle. I interpreted the experimental film as a way to depict two juxtaposing elements in a harmonious way. “Where there is light, there must be shadow, where there is shadow there must be light. There is no shadow without light and no light without shadow…”” (Haruki Murakami (born after film was released)) encompasses the overall meaning of the fil, well. By experimenting with light, Man Ray was also experimenting with dark and shadow as one cannot exist without the other, and despite not being able to exist at once, they are able to coexist and create art.
ReplyDeleteUn Chien Andalou utilizes discontinuity to create a film that addresses the negative effects of toxic masculinity as well as the effects that societal pressure has on individuals in a dream-like manner. I interpreted the short film as telling the story of a man who if forced to give up his feminine habits in order to please his father, but as a result goes crazy. Most of the film was shot in closeups in order to place the audience directly into the narrative, forcing them to address the problem. When interpreted as two separate stories, one where the son changes to please his father and one where he chooses to be himself, the endings portrayed are very different. When he changes, he begins to hold resentment for women who are allowed to appear more masculine, as seen with the woman who was hit by the car. The story of the man who was accepted however, depicts a happy couple on the beach, who are eventually killed and buried in the sand (although it is never shown on screen) by the society who could not accept them. Most of the special effects were done post-production, however I am not sure if the ants crawling out of the hand was done using a prop hand or in post. The special effects focused mostly on making things appear to move themselves, as seen with the collar that was laid out in the bed which fixed itself and moved closer to the top of the bed. In the collaborative project my group may have to use a similar technique in order to mimic someone appearing out of nowhere.
Entr’acte is a short film that tackles the subject of war in an avant garde way. Unlike the two previous films, Entr’acte has a diverse set of shot types. This can be understood to reflect the wide range of effects war has. The camera is static, but the subjects’ movements are varied from shot to shot, with subjects dancing, shooting, and running. The use of an exaggerated dutch angle and layering gives a set of ordinary buildings a unique appearance while also enforcing the idea that war makes things that were once ordinary difficult to obtain or understand. A scene that involved a slow motion shot of people running and a scene with a shot of a dancer aids in this enforcement as it takes something as simple as running or dancing and twists the perspective until it appears foreign. The effects used were mainly stop motion and layering of shots, both of which I am not interested in using for future projects as of now. If a project called for certain effects to be used I believe that attempting to learn how to layer without the frame appearing cluttered and messy would be useful, however as of now there is no reason to endanger a current project by attempting something that I have never practiced.
Le Ballet Mécanique
ReplyDeleteThere is not an obvious location of this film. Other than the longer shots (in length) at the beginning and the end of the film of the woman on the swing, there isn’t a definite setting for any of the shots. More So, many of the shots are obscured using extreme lighting. Many of the shots are long shots- of humans or of inanimate objects- and show the full subject. The camera is usually static but the objects in frame are always moving in some sort of way. I see major comparisons to be made between this film and metropolis. In both films, the working class is portrayed as part of the machine. Shots in “Le Ballet Mécanique” go from shots of humans doing repetitive motions (and often the shot is repeated) to shots of repetitive machine movements. The lower class workers shown in these shots are seen as part of the machine, but the ballet dancer shown in the film breaks this mold. Ballet is an art form and it is known for its beauty. Shots of the ballet dancer moving are juxtaposed to shots of machines moving. I think this shows that there is beauty in the monotony of live, beauty in the machinery of everyday life. It isn’t necessarily a special effect but I really want to experiment in unconventional editing techniques. The juxtaposition of shots to produce meaning (Soviet montage) is always something that has intrigued me.
Un Chien Andalou:
Apart from some briefs shots of the street, the entire film takes place in a single apartment. Overall, we get used to the cinematic space. However, at the end of the film, there is a curveball thrown at us. The woman walks out the front door and all of a sudden she is on a beach. This jarring shift seems to be common in avant-garde. In the film, there a lot of long and medium shots. With the use of a lot of long shots, we get a really good feel for the cinematic space, and that is why the end when she is suddenly at the ocean. The camera is almost always static unless it is following an object (for instance the dead cows on the piano). Light and shadow are not as skewed in this film as in other avant-garde films we watched in class. However there is a distinct portrayal of light and dark imagery. For instance the hyper masculine version of the man is shown as wearing all black clothing with heavy eye makeup. Opposite to this is the woman, dressed in light colors, not heavy eye makeup, very natural. There is clearly a divide between the hyper masculine and aggressive nature of the man with the defiant but womanly nature of the woman. This is what I believe the whole film is about, or at least some of it. There is a clear way that the filmmakers show that hypermasculinity is evil and is a similar to a disease. disease. When the man is sexually assaulting the woman, he is foaming at the mouth and his irises have turned white. When he shoots the man his eyes are blackened all around. Opposite of this is the feminine portrayal of the man. He is wearing women's clothes but is rejected completely by the man who comes into his room (possibly father). With these to things considered, I would say the overall message is the rejection of male femininity can lead to a poisonous machismo-esc culture. I would want to replicate the extreme match cut between the moon and the eye getting sliced open. The match cut itself is phenomenal, but the match cut coupled with the immense shock value is something I definitely want to replicate.
Meshes of the Afternoon:
DeleteThis film portrays a woman as she exists in a dream state. In dreams, often what we see is skewed and not too realistic. This is the same for the space portrayed in the film. With the use of skewed angles, it is difficult to get a sense for the film- to understand the cinematic space. We never get establishing shots of the entire interior/ an entire room, but instead, get everything in fragments, similar to a dream. This segues into what is present on the screen. There are not that many establishing or long shots, so the majority of shots are medium shots of figures (mirror face or Maya’s character) or close ups (of Maya’s character or objects). There is quite a lot of camera movement in this film. Most of the movement is utilized to throw the viewer off balance or disorient them. This reinforces the effect of the dream like state. The best example of this is when Maya’s character is ascending the stairs and she throws herself on one wall as the camera moves the opposite direction. This, coupled with extreme close ups of Maya’s character clinging to the wall, gives the effect that the walls are closing in on Maya’s character, that the world is throwing her around. Maya also utilizes extreme lighting angles to again reinforce this dream like quality. In the beginning, even before the dreams seem to start, lighting angles are lower than the horizon. When Maya’s character goes to unlock the door to the house, the lighting is from almost directly under her hang, this is such an unnatural lighting angle and if not explicitly noticed by the viewer, makes the frame seem uneasy. Out of everything in this film, I would probably want to replicate the match cuts with the footprints. When I first saw that I thought it was so cool how the steps perfectly matched up.
Le Retour à la Raison, directed by Man Ray, is a very short film that cuts between multiple images and actions, typically with the action obscured or with the negative of the film shown immediately afterwards. The framing typically shifts between very cluttered (with full screens of static, or multiple images such as screws or lines moving against a white background, and then reversed via the negative) and very empty (with the frame almost entirely in darkness and a few lights moving around). As the film’s title literally translates to “Return to Reason”, these frequent shifts represent the disorganized nature of the human thought process, and the following of some shots with the negatives of those shots to show how humans can revisit things and see them in a different light. This also applies to the juxtaposition between the cluttered, white backgrounds and the empty, dark backgrounds; sometimes you think you understand everything, and sometimes you barely have enough information to process anything at all. Additionally, light and shadow are also used to distort images - such as the shot of the naked women at the end of the film, whose body shape was distorted by the shadows that fell on it as she turned - in general, this echoes the theme of distortion of reality and processing information differently (as has been shown via the negatives). Additionally, the film opens with images that appear 2D, like they were drawn, and as it progresses it begins to show more film of locations or of 3D objects moving around in space. This shows that the mind can broaden its range of understanding the longer it looks at something (or experiences the world in general). Some of these later shots have other versions of the shot with multiple exposure used to impose the shot over it, perhaps showing that you can process something in many different ways as you experience it, or to show that you can remember something in a slightly different way than it happened. Almost the entire film is shot with a static camera, with the camera only moving a little bit at the end, which could serve as a comment on the limited nature of human experience. The camera moving at the end could show the beginning of starting to broaden one’s viewpoints. Overall, some techniques from this film that could be useful would be showing the same shot again with the colors reversed or altered to show a change in perspective, as well as using stacked exposure to show the same shot at a different time in the action of the subject to show confusion.
ReplyDeleteEntr’acte, directed by René Clair, has a few different plot threads, the main one being the death and subsequent funeral of a young man, but also concepts like the city flooding or shots of carnival games. The film has a variety of shot types, but frequently subverts their use in some way. One example is that, during the beginning plot thread, when the two men are talking to each other about the cannon, there are closeups shown of both their faces as they speak, and then a shot of the cannon, framed in a similar way, like the cannon is a part of the conversation. Another example is when the long shots of the city landscape are shown, but the city is tilted at a dutch angle or completely upside down, or when a (normally positioned) long shot of a city street was shown, with a close-up of boxer’s gloves faded out over it. All of these framing quirks and subversions are used to unsettle the audience, as they are not used to seeing shots done in that way, as well as to emphasize the way people were used to violence after WW1 (as the world had, in a sense, been turned upside down). Much like the first film, the camera is mostly static, focusing on the movement of the actors or objects in the frame rather than using camera movement. The camera does noticeably move at the end of the film, when the casket begins rolling away and the funeral procession has to run after it. What is interesting about this sequence is the way that camera movement is used. Several of the shots of the runners use a static camera, showing them running past the camera, or the camera is following them from the side, but moving faster than the runners (and the runners end up out of frame as a result), or the camera is placed in front of them and moving at a speed that keeps the person running in the exact same place in frame the whole shot. Additionally, that last type of shot is also used when the casket is shown in frame from behind (aka the view of the runners). The camera movement is used to show the powerlessness of the runners - try as they might to change the world to how they want it to be, they are unable to - their hard work will not make a dent, as they are unable to reach that point. This is further evidenced by how the moving camera is used for the casket - there are multiple shots from the front of the casket (it’s point of view, so to speak), and these shots show movement and changes in the environment in the frame. This shows that the world is changing, but in a way that is uncontrollable. Finally, the film uses a lot of light for shots that continue a story arc (such as the funeral arc) and a lot of shadows for concepts that are recurring but don’t necessarily have a storyline attached to it (such as the ballerina shots, or the carnival games). The contrast between these two types of shots mirrors what the audience mindset is - light for (at least a small bit of) understanding of what’s going on, and dark to literally throw the audience in the dark again, very similar to how light and dark were used in the first film. A technique used in this film that I could use would be, again, stacked exposure, but this time for thematic symbolism.
DeleteMeshes of the Afternoon, directed by Maya Deren, follows a woman’s increasingly fragile mental state as she relives the same event multiple times. Due to the obscure nature of both the events and of the passage of time, there is a lot of use of medium close-ups and close-ups, particularly early in the film, with focuses on body parts or shadows to maintain mystery rather than using establishing shots for character appearance or for location. The film never ends up establishing the space of the home throughout the film, as well, which ends up being disorienting as the audience never knows what room leads where and thus is never comfortable. This reflects the stressed nature of the woman’s mind - because she is not in a good mental place, she can not even exist comfortably in what is (presumably?) her own house. When there are long shots used, they are also used to make the watcher feel helpless - for example, when the film crosscuts between the hooded woman who has stolen the main woman’s rose. A long shot is used of the hooded woman walking away, which is repeatedly followed by a medium shot of the main woman chasing after her. The long shot makes the hooded woman feel far away and uncatchable, while the medium shots feel clunky and claustrophobic in comparison. This sequence also utilizes static and moving camera in an effective manner. The long shot of the hooded figure is framed with a static (but shaky) camera, so she moves out of frame and the camera simply watches, making the viewer feel more powerless as well as emphasizing the power of the hooded figure. The contrast between that and the moving pan that follows the main women’s feet makes the main woman seem powerless, as well, and also reinforces the dream-like, distorted reality atmosphere of the whole film. Additionally, the film has many contrasts between light and dark to further emphasize that atmosphere. One notable scene where this is evident is the scene where the main woman enters her house for the second time and runs up the stairs, in slow motion. The first shot of the stairs has the stairs cast in shadow, with a knife reflecting light positioned on the steps. As she moves up the stairs, her feet and pants become heavily obscured by the shadows being cast by the walls around the step, giving the illusion that she is being slowed down partly as a result of them. This shows that when one is in a dark place mentally, they can feel or even become powerless. One major special effect from this film that I could use is just simply tilting the camera to manipulate space and jar the audience, which can be very convincing if the actor moves in a way that mirrors the camera movements. That’s an old trick, but an effective one.
DeleteUn Chien Andalou is a short avant garde film directed by Louis Banuel and Salvador Dali. The film utilizes a variety of camera movement, such as when the man is chasing the woman around the bedroom, in order to create a fast pace that is intended to place the audience in this chaotic moment. The film opens with a scene where a woman has her eye cut open. The shot of her eye being cut opened is transitioned with a match on action cut of a thin cloud moving across the moon, paralleling the two actions. This along with shots of ants coming out of a man’s hand, leads me to believe that the film is trying to convey the idea that man is product of nature, and that we are not so far off from our animalistic instincts that make us animals wearing clothes.
ReplyDeleteIn La Retour a la Raison, the film depicts multiple acts of violence and portrays multiple weapons of war. There are many landscape shots of weapons, such as firearms and cannons, towering over a city. This is to imply the dominance that war has over man, and man’s drive to create war instead of peace. The treatment of these weapons is rather careless, as if the person's operating them are treating them like toys. With The Great War having ended less than 10 years prior to the film’s release, this communicates the carelessness of man and how we treat war as if it were a game. If I were to use a special effect from this film in any of my own, I would use the effect to edit to make people disappear.
In Meshes of The Afternoon, there is a clear use of Dutch angles. These angles put an emphasis on the confusion the protagonist feels. Point of view angles are used with a swaying motion in order to create sense of disorientation, and the constant whip pans left and right draw out time, making it irrelevant. This constant movement keeps the frame alive and does not rest, much like the protagonist. If I were to use a special effect from this film, it would have to be the match on action cuts to different locations to signify a passage of time.
In the film “Entr’acte”, the filmmaker uses cinematic space to create a sense of frenzy and urgency. Nearly every shot of the film features some form of frantic movement, be it by dancers, runners, a bustling city scape or even abstract features. All of these feature constant movement, giving the film a very fluid tone. There are frequent uses of wide shots to capture large scenes of movement, for example the busy city street. Some of these shots are accompanied by the the movement of the camera and it tracks quickly yet smoothly to capture the fast paced movements of the subjects within frame. In my opinion, the filmmaker is attempting to capture the fast paced speed at which the world moves everyday, with millions of little parts, all moving together. One “special effect” used within the the film that I find inspiring and interesting is how the filmmaker layers shots over one another, to create a very disorienting and every changing image on screen.
ReplyDeleteThe film “Meshes of the Afternoon” twists cinematic space in often circular and at times illocial ways. For example, in the scene in which the woman chases after the nun walking down the street, distorts the cinematic space between the two to the point in which it is nonsensical. The woman races after the nun, who is not walking fast, and appears in shots to be only a few feet behind her. However, we never see her reach the nun; the two simply keep running and walking respectively in the same direction. The film also utilizes POV shots in an effort to place you in the perspective of the subjects. There are frequent uses of heavy shadow, which give the film a very moody and mysterious tone. With this film I feel that the filmmaker was attempting to convey the way in which life and time is circular, and changes drastically depending on your perspective. One of the special effects in the film that I find interesting is in the scene in which the woman is leaning out the window. The camera is turned to make it appear as if she is about to fall. I admire this effect because it is incredibly simple yet very effective.
The film “Un Chien Andalou” is all about conveying a sense of repulsion as well as claustrophobia. The film does this through the use of shocking and disturbing images, for example the razor slicing the eye, or the hole in the man's palm. These images are very effective especially due to the close up shots in which they are shown, allowing the viewer to see every disturbing and disgusting detail. I believe that the intent of the filmmaker was to produce emotional reactions of distress and confinement from the audience, and they are very successful through their use of these images and the way in which they are shot. One of the advantages of using the close up shot to film the eye being cut by the razor is that it allows the filmmaker to hide the fact that it is of course, not a real person whose eye is being cut. This is a very brilliant special effect, and one that emits strong reactions from viewers even today.
Man Ray’s Le Retour à la Raison is a mix of 2-dimensional shapes and 3-dimensional objects. There is a progression of 2-dimensional images at the beginning to 3-dimensional images at the end of the film. It is overall a showcase of animation and movement. The camera hardly moves, and instead stays static while the subject moves. Sometimes the movement of what’s on screen is fast and chaotic, and sometimes it is slower. Man Ray takes advantage of the clear visual contrast between solid black and solid white. For example, with the stop-motion sequence of nails and what looks like a timer there are solid white shapes on a solid black background and also solid black shapes on a solid white background. 3-dimensional experimentation with light and shadow is shown in the shot of the rotating metal object as well as the shot of the woman’s body. There is a clear awareness of the light and shadow and an intent to make the shots look visually interesting. Something in this that I could use in my own films would be the stop motion animation, to give 2-dimensional shapes movement they don’t have on their own.
ReplyDeleteIn Ballet Mécanique, there are occasional normal, or unaltered, shots of actions such as the woman swinging or the lady walking up the hill. Again, the camera stays static while the subject moves. Also in the film, there are a lot of interesting kaleidoscopic images that visually stand apart from the other shots. These shots definitely do not resemble how the human eye normally sees things, and are meant to appear unnatural in this way. There are images of parts of a woman’s face, like the eyes and mouth, where the rest is covered up. The filmmakers are more interested in showing things in an untraditional way, such as not showing us everything by covering things up, or showing things in a different method visually, like the kaleidoscopic shots. Similar to Le Retour à la Raison, the filmmakers use white on black and vice versa to clearly show shapes, words, and numbers. The mirror tricks that create the kaleidoscopic images is definitely something I could incorporate in my own film.
In Meshes of the Afternoon, the camera moves a lot more than in the other avant garde films. The camera follows the subject and occasionally resembles the subject’s point of view. The face of the subject is not fully shown until four minutes in. Before the face is shown, only silhouettes and close up details of body parts are shown (such as her feet, hands, and eyes, similar to in Ballet Mécanique. There is a definite intent to make the silhouettes clearly seen and a focus of the shots they are featured in, meaning the shadows are an important aspect of the film’s image. One detail that specifically affects the viewer’s perception of the cinematic space is the fact that the subject basically teleports through space. In one shot, she is inside her house but soon after, she is outside chasing after the hooded figure. In dreams, travelling through physical space is not the same as in real life, which is what this film is trying to convey. This difference in travelling through space is shown in the shot where she’s walking up the stairs, moving side to side while the camera moves as well, which is an effect I could use in my own work to convey the same idea.
Le Retour à la Raison-
ReplyDeleteThe film uses cinematic space in its most confusing form. The visuals are so rapid and constant viewers can barely focus on one image before another is presented in front of them. The visuals are very active and never allow the viewer to be uncomfortable. The screen jumps back and forth between closeups and landscapes, helping to add to the uncertainty the film exudes. Some scenes last no more than a second, whereas others will last over ten. The beginning is composed of static and early animation/drawings that move at a very fast pace that consumes the whole frame. I think my group should in some way try and play with these effects for something like an entry screen because of how unusual and captivating the visuals are. Next, it seems like the director purposely took everyday objects or images and photographed them in a way that leaves viewers struggling to identify them. Towards the end, light and shadows are utilized more as a visual tool to complicate the frame, and create a depth to a standard figure or form. To be honest, I am not aware of any implied meaning within this film. I think the filmmaker more so had the intention to create stimulating, rapid visuals to inflict an uncertain response in viewers.
Un Chien Andalou-
This film presents cinematic space through a combination of indoor and outdoor locations that seamlessly weave into one another to represent the the actions of the characters. Nature plays a big role in the narrative of this short through imagery that implies the fate of the characters themselves. There are very few landscape shots in the film, the majority are medium or close up shots that help dislocate the viewers from ever having a full grasp on the setting. The camera movement is static, switching shots in order to show movement out of frame. There is a lot of movement within the scenes themselves with lots of violence, sometimes consuming the whole frame with action. Out of the avant garde films watched in class, this film is the most cinematically “normal,” using mostly standard techniques but with a bizarre, interpretive storyline. Most of the special effects were created in post production, and shots were edited in a way that experiments with the idea of location. The film comments on gender roles and how expression or suppression of said expression can take a toll on specifically men. In this case, when the man is rejected by his father from appearing more feminine, he becomes crazed and violent, taking his internal anger out on the women that have the ability to show a more masculine side. When the accepted man is shown on the beach with the women, things are calm and he appears respectful, not having to deal with so many of his own demons. A technique I think my group should utilize is the use of mixing locations in editing, for example how this film shows the women leaving the apartment at the end and walks out on the beach. I don’t think this kind of scene would be too difficult to compose and comes off as being very mature and imaginative.
Meshes In the Afternoon-
ReplyDeleteThis film shows a woman and her interactions with two individuals: one being a death figure, the other a man, perhaps her husband. The visuals and general overlapping narrative suggest this is a dream or even a hallucination that the woman is experiencing. Because of this, the cinematic space is hard for viewers to get a hold on, which seems to be recurring characteristic in avant garde film. The camera work is at times static and at times moving, and the camera angles are often dutch or skewed to reflect how unstable the characters are. There are very few landscapes in the short, instead close ups are most used to once again keep viewers from seeing the full picture of what’s going on. There are a few items/images that keep appearing in the sequences such as a knife, a flower, a key, and a mirror. The colors (or lack of) of these objects tend to be called attention to with the camera work to emphasize their boldness. Lights and shadow are used most at the end, when the woman is in the house rather than outside. This contrast heightens the suspense and mystery of the scene by continuing to keep actions and intentions unclear. One special effect shown that would be very cool to replicate or even just take inspiration from is one in which the woman is walking up the stairs, clearly off balanced. It is filmed by having the woman fall against one side of the wall while the camera skews towards the other. It gives off the impression that the scene has gone through a fun house, while in actuality no real effect has taken place.
Le Retour à la Raison is a film which creates harmony through light and the shadow. A story or narrative is replaced with single subject shots, featuring an object or visual being manipulated through the use of movement. This movement is used to create effects in conjunction with light, casting silhouettes and creating contrast between the subject and its background. While there is a large amount of movement within the frames, there is little to no movement of the frames themselves. In fact, the film is mostly comprised of close up static shots, as it allows the focus to stay on the object. One of my favorite shots from the film however is the rotating carousel, which is covered in small lights. As it rotates, it creates an almost surreal visual, with the lights directly contrasting the deep, dark background. This shot is especially different through its use of a moving frame, something unique to the sequence. This creates its own sort of contrast, with the jerky movements of the camera being completely different than the smooth and consistent circular motion of the carousel. When looking at this film, I am inspired by its dramatic battles between shadow and light. I could use this manipulation of light to create extreme silhouettes within my own films, exaggerating the effects of the lighting within the scene.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Le Retour à la Raison, Un Chien Andalou does include a narrative structure of sorts. In fact, it is much less purely experimental than Le Retour a la Raison, as its sequences are connected through its utilization of characters and actions. The film itself does follow many of the qualities of Avant Garde filmmaking, with jump cuts and surrealist visuals, but is still much more normal cinematically. The shots are mostly dominated by close up and medium shots, which add to the surrealism of the movie as it does not allow the viewer to fully understand the environment. Furthermore, a majority of the shots are static, instead utilizing quick cuts to create movement and dimension around its action scenes. The most interesting part of the movie to me is its use of jump cuts to create cool effects. For instance, in the scene in which the effeminate man confronts his father, the books he is holding are instantly transformed into guns. This creates a magical effect, reminiscent of a magicians show. The lighting within this film is much less dramatic than other Avant Garde films however, as its chooses to focus on experimental editing much more. Although it is less prevalent, there are still instances of the contrast between dark and light, with the overly masculine character being clothed in almost entirely black. This black is representative of the toxicity and evil in his mindset, with his overt masculine traits leading him to sexually assault a woman, as well as oppress the effeminate man. This is the commentary of the film, which focuses on the extremes of gender roles, and the negativity that can be created by following these extremes. I would love to incorporate the use of strategic jump cuts in my films to create a sense of surrealism, whether through the sudden appearance of an object, or the sudden disappearance of a person.
The film Entr’acte by Rene Clair creates a commentary on war, almost mocking it with over the top and over exaggerated sequences. Much like Le Retour à la Raison, the film is almost obsessed with movement, as every frame seems to capture frantic running, cars driving, or people dancing. Unlike Le Retour à la Raison however, the shot types and angles are extremely diverse, capturing motion while also sometimes creating motion. For instance, there is a shot in which the camera is attached to an upside down roller coaster, which creates both movement within the frame as well as movement of the frame itself. The diverse range of shot types are also used as an agent of capturing motion with, long, wide angle shots used to capture street commotion, or close ups of a dancer’s feet showing their graceful steps. This film also utilizes a large amount of special effects, with many sequences featuring layering. This layering is used very creatively, as evidenced by the scene in which a man with a rifle is shooting at a balloon. As he begins to take aim, the balloon suddenly copies itself, with multiple identical balloons appearing on either side of it. One scene that stood out to me however is the opening shot, which creates the most scathing criticism of war and weaponry in society. The scene features two men dancing around a cannon, extremely cavelier in their approach of handling a death machine. This serves as a microcosm of sorts for our integration of war into our society, as we have become completely desensitized to it. The scene ends with a close up of the barrel of the cannon, which is pointed directly at the camera. The barrel fires, insinuating that the audience is within the line of fire. Overall, I found the use of layering within the film as the most impressive aspect. Next time I edit a film, I would love to experiment with layering as an easy way to create special effects.
DeleteBallet Mécanique
ReplyDeleteIn terms of cinematic space and framing, Ballet Mécanique uses many extreme close-ups to fill the frame. This along with fast-paced editing creates a sense of both urgency and claustrophobia. A good example of this is at 10:30 where there is a repetition of either the letter O or the number 0 (to me it could either refer to the “O” in “On a volé” or zeroes in a large number such as 5 million). There are many jump cuts as the letters/numbers appear, disappear, and change size. The camera does not move as this entire sequence is just different things on the same background. Also in this sequence the background is black while the words are white. It almost looks like they are glowing. It really makes the letters/numbers stand out. When paired with the close-ups and rapid jump cuts it creates a lot of emphasis on the phrase at the beginning (10:30) but also on the parts (letters and words) that make it up. This goes along with the idea of machines where there are different parts making up a larger whole. I think that it is really effective so I would definitely think about replicating this in one of my own projects.
Un Chien Andalou
For this response I am going to focus on the section starting with “three in the morning” about 9 minutes in. Many of the shots have relatively plain backgrounds to focus on the subject in the center of the frame. For example, the man sleeping in bed is just sleeping on plain white sheets so we focus on his face and him as a character. In addition, when the doorbell rings and it is represented onscreen by a Martini shaker the wall is plain and flat with little shadow. However as the man comes through the door towards the man in bed, the shots get more complicated and more shadows are introduced. This is to represent the growing complexity and chaos of the situation as the door man aggressively yells at the man in bed. As the door man takes the bed man’s things it reveals the dark suit the latter is wearing underneath, indicating the increasingly negative mood of the scene. This “three in the morning” sequence ends with the bed man’s defeat as a conclusion to the building chaos. Two things are increased to represent this escalating chaos: complexity of framing and contrast. They are both very compelling ways to tell the story visually so I will definitely take note of things like chiaroscuro in my films.
Entr’acte
I am going to focus on the part starting at 3:10 with the white boxing gloves on the black background. The framing is pretty close so the gloves are fairly large in the frame. This framing and the contrast makes the audience focus on the gloves punching, and in turn, focus on the idea of conflict. The camera itself appears to be static but there is still movement onscreen within the frame. There are also some shots of city lights at night time, again creating stark contrast with bright white against a black background. Next is my favorite moment where a man scratches his head while the film uses multiple exposure to show matches. These two shots were filmed separately, but when they are blended together with multiple exposure it looks like the man has matches on top of his head and that his hair is catching on fire. This also brings me back to Montage theory because they are unrelated clips that create a new meaning when put together. I would definitely take inspiration from this for my own projects. I like how a lot of it was done in-camera, like with the stop motion being used to show the matches collecting on the man’s head.
Meshes of the Afternoon is probably my favorite experimentalist movie we watched in class. My favorite scene is the scene when Maya Deren is going up the stairs and the sense of gravity keeps changing. The scene is extremely closed off as to her it seems as she is stuck on the stairs forever while she is having much difficulty going up the stairs the camera is movie smoothly and perfectly to make sure she is following straight behind it almost appearing as she is trying to get to the camera and the camera is watching back. This effect is an effect I would use in my films if i could find a good way to do so.
ReplyDeleteEntr’acte was a movie focused on the normalization of war and how war affects everyone. The camera seems to almost alternate between static and moving, like the running away scene, some of the shots are static and some move and it gives a mass sense of hysteria to the scene as a whole. The shots seem to be almost always open leaving us to feel like nothing is wrong and everything is okay, even though war seems to be the main topic of the movie. The movie uses a plethora of shot types which is used to show the many perspectives that war gives. A effect I would like to do is slow motion because it looks very nice a lot of the time.
Un Chien Andalou gives the viewer a mass sense of uncomfort. A majority of the movie is closed dark frames until they leave the house, these shots make me feel very stressed. The shots tend to be static as to give us a sense of viewing the actions but not being apart of it. The movie also makes us uncomfortable with the actions of the movie, such as the bugs crawling out of the hand(which is an effect I would love to master) as well as the awkward groping scenes in the movie that give us a complete sense of uncomfort.