Angeline's Paradisiaque Palaise

Posts Tagged ‘cinematography’

Analysis on three scenes of my favourite TV series

Before our real shooting day, Paul suggests us to pick one scene of  our favourite drama and  analysis technique methods of it.  I picked Gossip Girl , not only because it is my favourite ( I do love it actually), but also it is similar with the script we gonna film tomorrow. Anyway, Good luck to all the group members!

1.

first part

1st shot: foreground : CU of Chuck: moves from left to right

Then Blair’s voice comes first, then Blair comes(M to MCU)—2nd short  (left to right) connected to the next shot .  3rd shot : Blair’s face to the screen, Chuck opposite as foreground but out of focus

So we can see this scene Blair is the important part , because she is on focus, got more light on her face, sound is louder than Chuck’s (maybe not in tension)

4th and 5th shot are similar with 2nd and 3rd shots, but camera moves towards the characters, which makes audience more into what is happening between them.

6th  and 7th shot : MCU of  B and C, similar with d4th and 5th

8th Blair moves towards to C, movement continues , then cuts to 9th,  quickly cuts to 10th(but at the other side)

……   14th : B”I love you” , CU of B and C. fast cuts to CU of C, at the same time, camera tilts (right?)  up a little bit in a smooth movement. It shows the C’s reactions and he is not like looking down , so means the situation or the inside of the character changes. (15,16 ) 17 th CU of C , out from screen

18 car leaves

19  MCU of B ,looks to the right side

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh-58mP0o-8

I love the colour of  B’s dresses, also matches with V’s  dress. Both delightful, works with the candle’s light and window’s sunlight.

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDe2rLhbbF0&NR=1

1st scene: dark exposure, classical cuts for two people’s conversation . depends on the atmosphere.

2nd   strong contrast with the 1st scene: bright dinning scene, lighting on people’s head, hair and background

3rd: I like the position of this conversation scene : lighting is balanced by comparing previous two shots ,  S walks to R ,  camera quickly moves from S to S and R.    And several smart quick cuts follows of two people’s eye lines.

When S comes to D’s room, Camera moves smoothly follows of D’s eyeline : from CU of Dan to the door -→ Door opens, S comes in.

Last shot may be useful for our ending scene shooting :   CU of S and D, cut, outside view of them (shadow, light)  , camera moves away .

Cinematography: Martin Scorsese:

Martin Scorsese:
“What you put in the frame is a major decision”

I love this quote

“Where I place the camera is very often determined by having to replay the right information”

It is really a matter of the angle, even when you are moving the camera
It is important on the level of how much information, how much you want the audience to see, and somehow there is an emotional thing too.

However I do not really like the film, which has too many long takes, it will make my eyes tired soon. But what I like is the long take with many motions and enough power to keep our eyes on it.
And his words remind us to think more about the camera position, angle, the look of the film, background and foreground,

I love Martin Scorsese’s films , especially his Raging Bull and The age of Innocence.
The camera position and mise-en-sene are all fantastic.
The colours with emotions, stable or smooth movements, all having meanings.

photo from www.wisconsinhistory.org

The Edit

• Wipe in & wipe out

It’s one of the styles that Scorsese use in this film that reminded us a lot on classical Hollywood films especially before the color era.

The use of wipe in symbolize the closing curtain of Archer’s freedom as the narrator says, “With a chill, he knew that in the future, many problems would be solved for him in this same way” and the medium close up of Archer and May sitting in silence began to wipe in.

The use of wipe out is to symbolize the new start as this time Archer start to realize that his life now will always be a set of compromises which he has to make with May and mostly those are the unpleasant ones. His ideology is clearly different from May’s because they are two people from different world. Archer is a person who dreams of new possibilities and longing for the life of imaginations rather than the reality that he lives in.

The Colour Bursts

Scorsese uses color to express different kind of emotions. This film has rich color and texture. Although Scorsese uses a lot of shots of different paintings that tell stories, his film itself is a painting and to liven up that impression, he uses color to distinguish the shifting mood.

Red

The color expressed Ellen’s anger when New York decline to go to her welcome party. She will later learn that the society she’s living with now is not less torturing than the live that she had with her husband. When the voice-over says, ‘The refusals were more than a simple snubbing. They were an eradication’, Ellen looks towards the camera and the red color burst onto the screen.

Yellow

When she gets the yellow roses from anonymous sender, the color bursts into yellow. Yellow represents happiness and it is a color that has the expression of Ellen’s spontaneity.

White

When the narrator says, ‘She remained in his memory simply as the most plaintive and poignant of a line of ghost’, the image started to burst into white color which lead us to the next scene of the archery match. The white color in here represents exactly like what the narrator said about Ellen. Ellen has remained as a memory that Archer tries to fade away. White represents past but mostly the sad one.

The Mobile Frame

The use of mobile frame is not unusual anymore in this film. A lot of tracking is being used whether in the dinner party or the ballroom scene. The camera gives enough time for May to walk as gracefully as she can by using tracking. As she started to walk towards the camera into a big close up, her movement started to be in a slow motion. From the way she walks and her facial expression, we can see the changes from her character. She becomes more mature and elegant.

The Edit

Lots of dissolves are being used in the film. Mainly it is to create the sense of elegant movement by using dissolves every now and then.

Camera Angle

Low angle on May while she’s preparing to aim and taking her shots. The angle affects our perception on May’s figure. It creates a sense of authority and strength. It’s focusing on her classy movement even when she’s in the archery match.

And Dusan Makavejev suggests the importance of frame.
There is a link I found is useful to have a look :

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/cinematography.htm