This year in film studies, we studied many directors, such as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and others, along with elements of film such as colour, shots and dialogue. Director Orson Welles, who is mostly known for his film Citizen Kane, is commonly known for his films being in non chronological order which creates a riddle for the viewer as they piece together what happens. Orson Welles is also known for his compression of time, which aids in creating the riddle of the story and allows the characters to possibly move on from something, which could in turn, help them develop. We also studied elements of film like the use of colour and black and white. The colours of a film can easily set a tone. Bright, warm colours will create a feeling …show more content…
of content and happiness for the viewer and characters, while the use of dull, cool colours creates a dark and depressing tone. Black and white can be used to show a flashback or used to display a time period long ago. Another use of black and white is to just let the characters and story create the tone of the film, rather than the colours doing it for them. Director Quentin Tarantino’s use of non chronological order is similar to Orson Welles’. Quentin Tarantino created his film Pulp Fiction in non chronological order. His use of this in Pulp Fiction also creates a riddle for the viewer, as they try to figure out what leads up to certain event. This is most noticeable when Vincent dies at Butch’s hand. We see this scene then later we see Vincent alive and well going about his business. This creates a riddle for the viewer as they try to piece together what lead up to this event as the film goes on. Secondly, Orson Welles is also known for use of compression of time, which allows the story to fill in the gaps of what happened between then and now. Quentin Tarantino also uses this in his films. In Kill Bill Vol.1 this is used when The Bride wakes up from her four year coma after being shot by Bill, her ex lover. We see The Bride awake from her coma and has nothing on her mind but revenge. Instead of this filling in the gaps for the viewer, this also fills in the gaps for The Bride, as she visits her victims and learns what’s gone on, such as when she finds out Copperhead, a woman involved in her shooting, now has a four year old child. The Bride also finds out that O-Ren Ishii is now the head of a crime organization in Tokyo, as well as the leader of the Crazy 88s. Finally, in The Wizard Of Oz, black and white is used in the beginning to first introduce Dorothy and her family in Kansas.The use of black and white in this film outlines Dorothy’s mundane, normal life.
Soon after, a tornado sweeps up Dorothy and takes her to the magical land of Oz. When she is brought to Oz, colour fills the screen and it is used to highlight the world of Oz and this causes it to stand out. This is similar to Quentin Tarantino’s use of black and white and colour in Kill Bill Vol 1. Tarantino switches to black and white during the restaurant fight scene between The Bride and the Crazy 88s. Although both these films switch back and forth between colour and black and white, they are done for different purposes. Kill Bill Vol 1. uses black and white to allow the viewer to focus on the action of the story and the characters. The Wizard of Oz uses it to show Dorothy’s daily life and normal routine. Kill Bill Vol.1 switches back to colour just before something major is about to happen, setting a certain tone depending on the colours shown. In conclusion, Orson Welles and Quentin Tarantino have connections to their films through their use of techniques, The Wizard of Oz and Kill Bill Vol.1 have a connection through the use of black and white and colour, although each movie’s intention is different, they still are similar to one
another.
Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
When the film begins on the farm in Kansas, the scene is shot in black and white, creating a sepia tone of colour to represent the country dust in the air adding to the effect of the ordinary unsaturated colour of the Kansas landscape. In contrast to the Kansas setting, lighting is profoundly used by the director to enhance the overall emotions of the film. Fleming uses a combination of the set, lighting techniques, and colour to create a magical place with very bright colours and deep focus lens to bring the land of Oz to life. In the scene where Dorothy enters Oz, the lighting is positioned between Dorothy and the foreground plants. The director uses the three point lighting technique so both Dorothy and the colour plants are highlighted but no shadows visible. This shot was done with a background of the black and white house behind Dorothy. The Land of Oz is filled with beautiful colours to create the illusion of a happy world that enhances the feel of fantasy. The allusion of contrasts between the real world and the land of Oz support the central theme there’s no place like home. In this way, the director enhances the picture of the film by the use of colour to reflect a mood experienced by the character in the different places. This colour transition used by the director, incorporates two completely different Mise en scene
“Were off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz” One of the infamous phrases from one of the most well know classics of all time. The original movie titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was made in 1939 by Frank Baum. This film featured stars such as Judy Garland, Jack Hayley and many others. This was not only a movie, it was a fantasy, and a musical storytelling adventure with unusual characters that shook the audience. This was one of the first films to make it to the big screen with color. Because of its success, this film has been remade many times with multiple different spins making it rhetorical. Over the years this film has become one of the best films of all time and is still watched today among all ages
Shot 1: Wide shot. View behind Dorothy in black and white. Dorothy opens the door to the color world of Oz. She steps out into Oz and stops. Straight on shot, camera moves into Oz first through the door, followed by Dorothy appearing again in the foreground. Light symphonies playing magical music, birds are singing in the background.
John Gibbs and Douglas Pye (2005) Style and meaning : studies in the detailed analysis of film. Engalnd: Manchester University Press, pp 42-52.
In"The wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L.Frank Baum, Baum uses colors to describe different scenery. Color plays many different roles throughout book because it helps you create a mental picture of what things would look like. The colors symbolize feeling and give a really good description on things. The next few paragraphs will explain a few colors and they're roles in the book.
Welles prominently portrays his figures with a specific amount of light or darkness, stunningly affecting whole scenes stylistically. The scene at Xanadu establishes Mr. Kane as an overbearing, controlling character. Throughout the scene, Kane is shadowed with darkness upon his face, emphasizing how ‘dark’ he is. Conversely, oftentimes light is directly on Susan, portraying her innocence and how ‘light’ of a character she is. Within this scene, Welles shows Susan wearing white and Mr. Kane wearing a dark colored suit, an overt portrayal of light versus darkness. Susan wearing a white, light colored ensemble portrays her as the submissive one with a lighter, happy-hearted spirit. Wearing a dark suit, Charles Kane is depicted as an overbearing and controlling person....
...successful collaboration of sound, colour, camera positioning and lighting are instrumental in portraying these themes. The techniques used heighten the suspense, drama and mood of each scene and enhance the film in order to convey to the spectator the intended messages.
The Wizard of Oz is a fiction story written by L. Frank Baum. The story has two main settings. The first setting is, Dorothy’s home, the Kansas prairies. The prairies are described as dry and gray. The second setting is the land of Oz. Oz is opposed from Kansas, it is colorful, bright, and full of joy. The Wizard of Oz has a grate theme or message behind the story. The message is that we all have good qualities in us, but it is up to us to use them.
The biggest and probably most memorable special effect of the movie is the transition from black and white film to color. The film starts in black and white while Dorothy is in Kansas then as soon as she lands in Oz the film magically transitions to color. This was extra unique because during the time it was made, most movies were strictly in black and white. “As a child I simply did not notice whether a movie was in color or not. The movies themselves were such an overwhelming mystery that if they wanted to be in black and white, that was their business. It was not until I saw ‘The Wizard of Oz’ for the first time that I consciously noticed B&W versus color” Here, Ebert expresses just how wowing that effect was to him and how it really added to the movie (Ebert 1). There are so, so many other special effects expressed in The Wizard of Oz like the house getting spun up in the tornado, trees coming to life and throwing apples or a beautiful woman in a beautiful dress traveling by bubble. Frank Nugent from The New York Times makes a comment on these effects “They are entertaining conceits all of them, presented with a naive relish for their absurdity and out of an obvious—and thoroughly natural—desire on the part of their fabricators to show what they could do” even though the gentlemen does almost mock the people in charge of these effects here, he does
Gallagher, T. 2002. Senses of Cinema – Max Ophuls: A New Art – But Who Notices?. [online] Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/feature-articles/ophuls/ [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014].
"A baby has brains, but it doesn 't know much. experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get." − L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This quote from the original book shows how the first of anything will not be very good as it was the first of its kind in this case the book turned stage musical turned film adaptation but as the years went by people improved different aspects in order to make the original more entertaining as well as interesting. That would be like how L. Frank Baum says above where the more you learn and see things the more things that you would learn and know. Although the general public is more familiar with the 1939 version it was in fact
Studies of the Auteur Theory in film have often looked toward Alfred Hitchcock as an ideal auteur: an artist with a signature style who leaves his own mark on every work he creates. According to the theory, it does not matter whether or not the director writes his own films, because the film will reflect the vision and the mind of the director through the choices he makes in his film. In the case of Hitchcock’s earliest films when he was still under the control of his producers, there is still a distinct stamp upon these images. Hitchcock has said that he was influenced by the German Expressionists, and admired their ability “to express ideas in purely visual terms”. It is this expression of thought and psychology that Hitchcock achieves throughout his films, even early on. Even the psychology that is in the films can be particularly a signature of Hitchcock - critics have found throughout his films a fascination with wrongful accusation and imprisonment. They are present in even his earliest films. A particular sequence of Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps bears the mark of Hitchcock through the visual expression of the fear of wrongful accusation and confinement.
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.
‘Then came the films’; writes the German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, evoking the arrival of a powerful new art form at the end of 19th century. By this statement, he tried to explain that films were not just another visual medium, but it has a clear differentiation from all previous mediums of visual culture.