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 hearty paragraphs.
Le Retour a la Raison
Entr'acte
Le Ballet Mecanique
Un Chien Andalou
Meshes of the Afternoon
What do you notice about the film's presentation of cinematic space? What do you see onscreen? For example, lots of landscapes or closeups? Moving or static camera?
How does the director's use of lighting help to create meaning?
Do you identify with the camera's lens? What does the director compel you to see? What is left to your imagination? What does the director leave out altogether? Describe the mise-en-scene and how it helps to create meaning in the film.
What implicit meaning do you find in the film?
Due: Monday, 9/24
In Entr'acte, the camera movement alternates between static shots, and quickly moving shots (exhibited through the chase scene that takes up a large portion of the film). Similarly, the camera alternates between landscape and close-up shots frequently. Dark lighting is used in the shots of the ballerina to create a mysterious aura. The viewer definitely identifies with the camera lens in the very last scene of the film, wherein the scene is shot to look like a man is ripping and jumping out the screen. In this scene, the camera and the viewer are experiencing the same thing. Clair leaves out any explicit meaning or plot in the film, causing the viewer to create their own meaning in what they see. Some of the film (such as the scenes with the ballerina, shooting range and funeral) seem to be a parody of bourgeoisie, but for the most part, there does not seem like there is supposed to be any implicit meaning, since this is a Dada film.
ReplyDeleteMeshes of the Afternoon presents its cinematic space in a very surreal and nightmarish way. There are points in the film where the camera movement makes it appear as if the gravity of the film's universe has changed (such as when Deren floats up the stairs, or when she is shook back and forth while trying to walk up them). The lighting of the film is generally bright, but makes extensive use of shadows, to create a nightmarish feeling. The director either compels the viewer to see Deren, or her perspective on whatever she is looking at. There are points in the film where the perspective of the camera switches to first-person, showing Deren's view on the environment. The mise-en-scene is generally very cluttered and claustrophobic, creating a feeling of tenseness. The film seems to imply a distrust towards men.
In Le Retour A La Raison, there barely is any cinematic space. Almost all of the shots are very abstract, and it is difficult to distinguish time or place in them. The camera remains static throughout the film, but there is always movement on the screen. The viewer is not really supposed to identify with the lens here. The viewer is compelled to see abstract or dreamy imagery. The director leaves any explanation for the visuals. Since this is a Dada film, I do not believe that there is supposed to be any implicit meaning here.
Meshes of the Afternoon- This film has a lot of close-ups, mostly of shadows and the woman’s feet at the beginning. The camera moves for most of the shots, rarely static. This gives the film a very chaotic feel and the viewer is confused about what is happening. The lighting causes multiple shadows on faces and objects. This gives a very menacing feel to the film as a whole and gives a sense of danger. The director shows much of the feet and shadows of the woman at the beginning, sot eh viewer is in suspense about the woman looks like. This adds mystery and suspense. Not much is left to the imagination; because this film wants to show the viewer what the camera and film are capable of, like showing the key transform into a knife instantly. The mise-en-scene is quite normal; it consists of typical everyday items and takes place in an average looking house. There is a reoccurrence of the key vanishing or transforming into a knife. The vanishing key seems to represent a loss of oneself or of home. The key transforming into a knife seems to represent that what you let into your home, or heart or mind, can harm you (be careful what you watch and let in). The film seems very random and bizarre, but also seems to imply that what you watch or listen or read, whatever you let influence you and let inside you, can harm you.
ReplyDeleteEntr’acte – This film has a good mix of close-ups and landscape (establishing) shots. There are many shots of places and buildings; there are also a fair amount of clos-ups of faces, a cannon barrel, a chessboard, etc. The camera is still a significant amount of the time and this adds a certain degree of stability, the camera moves more during the scene when the people are chasing the coffin, and this adds chaos, but not so much through the camera movement, but through the editing of quick clips. The lighting creates meaning. It is very dark when shooting the ballerina dancing, and this seems to represent how it was frowned upon by people at the time. The director compels the viewer to watch a multitude of actions and effects, varying from putting two shots over each, slow motion, sped up motion, and stop motion. There is not much left to the imagination, because everything is shown. There is nothing left out completely. The mise-en-scene in this film are typical, everyday things and objects. The things in this film are made fun of though, for example, the ballet performer is revealed to be a man, making fun of ballet. Another thing is having a paper boat appear to be traveling across roofs. The mise-en-scene is ridiculous and adds to the random and non-sensible tone of the film. This film appears to be implying the bizarre and randomness of life. Random things happen, yet they are connected. The ending, when the man comes to life and makes everyone disappear, seems to imply the danger of chasing the dead (attempting to bring the dead back to life).
Un Chien Andlou – There are not a lot of close-ups but mostly medium shots which reveal a lot of the landscape and surroundings. The camera is static most of the time, which reveals a calm and peaceful tone. The camera becomes quite unstable when the man tries to have sex with the woman and she goes in a corner, and this represents his instability due to lust. The lighting creates meaning. When the man appears to be brought back to life, his lighting is bright and this gives an angelic feeling and a feeling of innocence. His lighting becomes darker when he decides to kill the man who appeared to fire him and this represents his evil desire, his desire for revenge. Not much of this film is left to the imagination. This film wishes to glorify their effects and show everything on screen, like when the man cut her eyeball in half. The mise-en-scene is quite symbolic, like the box that the people had worn when they died. It represents the secrets they hold on to, because the box is locked and only they have access to it. Their secrets destroy them. The broken box shown near the end symbolizes their freedom from their secrets, and they were happy and joyous, because they did not bear the burden of secrets any longer. The film implies the dangers of secret keeping and how the burden they possess can destroy.
ReplyDeleteBallet mecanique:
ReplyDeleteBeginning at 1:00, a series of images is supposed to disorient the viewer in his identification with the camera lens: an image of a woman swinging is turned upside-down and the camera swings toward and away from a person as if on a pendulum. The film is constructed of a series of clips recording objects rapidly spinning and moving back and forth, up and down, and side to side. The dizzying montage seems to be intended to experiment with the viewer’s visual perception of film. These images juxtaposed with an image of a crowd of people walking in formation (in a medium close-up focusing only on their feet, their synchronized steps) comment on the heightened pace of an industrialized world. The sharp black and white tones and the emphasis on the geometric shapes in everyday objects come out of the cubist aesthetic, attempting to deconstruct things we see and reduce them to their simplest forms.
Since the expressive purpose of Dada was to be nonsensical, that’s exactly what La Retour a La Raison is, the title itself ironically remarking on its lack of meaning. Man Ray does experiment with lighting and camera movement in interesting ways though, capturing the swirls and bends of shadow that fall across the nude upper torso of a woman, the shadow cast against the wall by a mobile hanging from the ceiling, or the bright lights of a carousel; much like the cubists, Ray often seems to invite the viewer to examine the basic geometric shapes that make up objects. The camera itself never moves but the objects before it are rarely stationary.
As a surrealist film, Meshes of the Afternoon has a dreamlike atmosphere and an obscure narrative, seemingly constructed from impressions and repressed desires manifested in dreams. The relationship between the grim reaper-like character and the woman can be read as a demonstration of the struggle between libido and death instinct and the phallic destruction of woman; the sharp black and white tones such as the woman and mystery man’s costumes, the long heavy shadows such as when the woman attempts to murder one of her doubles, the low-angle close-up of the man standing above her, and the emphasis drawn on the knife and flower (representing beauty) suggest this theme. Moments like the freely moving camera on the stairway, the key that falls down the stairs and appears to be moving on its own through the editing and camera placement, and the circular structure of Meshes of the Afternoon, disorient the viewer and create a powerful dream-atmosphere.
Meshes of the Afternoon is presented in a very bizarre, surreal way. Its use of cinematic space is cluttered, utilizing disorienting close-ups. The camera is constantly moving, implying a "point of view" that causes the viewer to identify with the camera's lens. The camera's movement also causes the viewer to experience supreme disorientation at some points, such as when Deren's protagonist is climbing down the stairs. The camera's movement makes her appear to defy gravity, constantly switching directions and climbing in all directions.
ReplyDeleteThe film is brightly lit in black and white to cause the images to look stark and dreamlike. There is very little grey in the coloring - the bright lighting casts things as either bright white or infinitely black. The bright lighting also causes long black shadows to clutter the screen, making the film appear even more dreamlike. I found the film to be a meditation on a dangerous relationship - the woman appears to see her lover as a sinister, Grim Reaper-like figure. His face is literally a mirror in her dream - it causes her to reflect back on herself in a negative light. The recurring knife motif implies that she has killed herself at the end of the film in a desperate attempt to escape the unhappiness her lover brings her.
Un Chien Andalou utilizes a wide variety of shots, with some close-ups to intensify the disturbing power of the shot. Shots like the deer corpse, the eye-slicing, and the ants crawling on the hand are rendered in ghastly close-up, focusing on the grossness of the images. The camera is mostly static, with the exception of a scene in which a lecherous man chases a woman around a room. In that instance, the moving camera conveys the intensity of the situation, and the manic pace that the man assumes in his insanity. The camera's lens is disorienting - the viewer does not identify with the camera lens. The film is not very well lit, making it difficult to discern what is being shown onscreen for many parts of the film. I see the film as an exploration of Dada philosophy, a willfully meaningless exploration of gross-out technique.
Entr'acte is for the most part a depiction of inanimate objects, with many close-ups of their details. The camera remains still throughout most of the picture, taking itself out of the action. This lends the film a stable quality of viewing the proceedings rather than being a part of them. The viewer therefore identifies with the camera's lens as a viewer of the procession. Sophisticated lighting marks the film, with stark white highlighting little of the screen against darkly lit surroundings. This leads to some comic payoff - the ballet dancer seen throughout is revealed to be a man. The film appears to me to be a critique of the times - the ballet dancers are crude and unattractive, the technological advances lead to blunders, and the men operating the cannon at the beginning (a symbol of the powers behind war, perhaps) are seen as bumbling rubes.