While film creates mood through actors, settings, and the script, cinematography is the unsung hero of mood creation. Cinematography includes camera angles, types of shots (camera's proximity to a subject), depth of field, use of color, and camera movement. In class we looked at films that varied in genre as well as execution (live action, claymation, animated, etc.) to see how these technical techniques affect the story that each one tells.
The first film we watched was the short film Bunny, a claymation/animated film about an old rabbit making a cake while a moth refuses to leave her alone. This film utilizes many camera angles, shots, and movements to fit the mood of the scene. During the calm and meticulous opening, there are defined shots and angles to reflect the bunny's strict routine. As the moth continually annoys and interrupts the bunny, the angles get wackier and the camera's speed and proximity gets faster and closer, which again reflects the mood of the scene. When the bunny is flying with the other moths the cool, striking blue differs greatly from the soft orange light of the kitchen. The use of contrasts and reflection throughout the whole film is a testament to how technical aspects can heighten and perfect mood or an action within the film.
This creation of mood is also used in Cabeza de Vaca. This film has a scene that uses parallel editing and tight camera angels to create a mood of urgency when the main character is fleeing captivity and being summoned back by a shaman. The rough camera movements and quick cutting during editing doesn't show the audience that the protagonist is running in a circle, so when the camera settles as he runs back to captivity the audience doesn't realize he is captured until it is too late.
Another film we watched in class was Harold and Maude and the scene is question used camera angles and proximity to create a comedic effect during a scene. The mother and sons faces were in a shot composed in a way that showed off their comedically different reactions to a singular situation.
Technical sequences reflected symbolism in the films The Wall and Northfork. In The Wall, one object would transform into another, symbolizing that those two different objects are the same thing symbolically. Northfork used mountains and cars to symbolize the permanence of death and the transience of life.
Finally, in the film Paris, Texas, the director uses a lot of long and extreme long shots to make the protagonist appear as though he is being swallowed by his environment. These shots also contain many modes of transportation to continue the theme of the protagonist's desire to escape his situation. Those modes of transportation also reflect how people hardly connect with one another with compassion, which is demonstrated further when the protagonist tried to understand a "crazy" man above a freeway. This desire to escape and the lack of communication between individuals culminates to the climax of the film where the protagonist finds his wife and tries to reconnect with her despite the literal and emotional barriers between them.
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