Cinematography and Aesthetics

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 Cinematography and Aesthetics


Previous lesson review

-Lighting creates emotion/s -> Pans Labyrinth back lighting creating atmosphere

-Hand held camera in Fish Tank represents the family’s conflict

-Motif of yes in Pans Labyrinth / No shoes in Fish Tank (Mia)

-Pans Labyrinth -> canted angle to canted something is not right - not as they should be 

-In Pans Labyrinth camera tracks Ofelia -> We see everything as she does


Working title: With close reference to each film sequence, explore how cinematography as a key element of film form creates meanings and generates responses in the spectator.

Cinematography

Meanings and responses

 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Schnabel, 2007)

Locked in                        

 -Were in a POV (seeing it through the characters eyes) which allows spectators to relate

-Pull focus and shallow field of depth. Makes us feel vulnerable as we can’t really see what’s going on or what’s in front of us properly

-Extreme close up of faces make us feel vulnerable

-Only we can hear the character but we don’t realise this until the doctor tell him he can’t speak. 

-The POV allows us as spectators to really get into the characters shoes as were experiencing everything as its happening to the character.

-The shallow field of depth puts us on edge and increases tension as we aren’t able to properly understand and see what’s going on because everything is pulling in and out of ficus

-Extreme close up of the character makes us feel kind of uncomfortable and vulnerable, especially with the face being unknown and being pulled in and out of focus.

-Only we can hear the characters thoughts as he isn’t able to speak which we find out when the doctor says “You’ll be able to speak again” and tell us “Its a long process”. This again heightens anxiety as no one can hear us and were in an unknown setting.

This is England (Meadows, 2007)

Leave him Alone combo

-Whilst there are adult themes in the scene like smoking and drinking, and even adult/inappropriate photos in the back, there’s child laughter in the background which sort of juxtaposes the scene.

-The music switches from being fairly happy and calm to being sad and melancholy as the mood of the characters changes

-The ratios and blending of colours used is very reminiscent of the time it was set in

-Milky and Combo were in the same shot throughout the scene as they were happy and bonding together, but as the conflict sparked they got further and further apart before they couldn’t even fit in the shot together.

-The juxtaposing of the child, and the very adult themes, makes the spectator really uncomfortable as these things shouldn’t really mix.

-The music switch changes emotion in the spectator from being calm and relaxed when the instrumental music to becoming more sad and maybe even tense as the music changes because we can see the emotions of the characters change along with their actions.

-The rations and colour blending can be nostalgic for an older audience as it represents how television would have looked in those days.

-The separation of the once friendly Milky and Combo can cause growing tension in the spectators as the tension between the characters grows along with the space between them and can leave the spectators wondering what could happen.


ANSWER Working title: With close reference to each film sequence, explore how cinematography as a key element of film form creates meanings and generates responses in the spectator.


The role of cinematography plays a big part in how the spectators respond to each scene. For example, both movies create tension for the spectators with different uses of cinematography. In the french film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Schnabel 2007)”, the director uses a shallow field of depth and pulls us in and out of focus, which can build anxiety and tension in the spectators as were not really able to understand what’s going on or where we are. Moreover, in the english film “This is England (Meadows 2007)”, the director uses music in order to get emotions from the spectators. The diegetic music in the scene starts off as quite quiet and chilled/calm. But tension between the characters (Milky and Combo) rise, this is reflected in the music as it turns to non-diegetic and goes from a calming mood to a more sad and melancholy mood; The music also gets louder as tensions grow which can make the spectator grow uneasy and anxious as they’re worried what the characters may do to each other. These examples of how different elements of cinematography such as Field of depth and Music can create responses and emotions in the spectator, shows how cinematography is a key element of film form.


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