During the film Buster Keaton: Sherlock Jr (1924). and music video Sledgehammer by Rihanna the directors use a series of continuity and discontinuity shots as well as spatial and temporal relations throughout the film to entertain its audience. For example, the film presents spatial discontinuity at the beginning of Buster Keaton’s dream as he finds himself in a movie theater. In the beginning of the film he is in and out of the film portraying himself as part of the film, changing space shots constantly.The music video also presents spatial discontinuity--- while Rihanna appears in different screen shots throughout the video, she goes from being up in mountain like rocks to floor level. In the film spatial continuity is established as well
when Buster is dreaming however this time he is wholly absorbed inside the movie playing and taking the role of a skilled detective Sherlock Jr. this spatial continuity performs in the film to illustrate his dream of becoming a detective and getting the girl. The film however not only has spatial relations it also includes temporal relations with continuous and discontinuous editings. The film presents temporal continuity in the scene to show what another guy is doing in order to charm the same girl; Buster is proposing to the girl while the other guy is pawning a pocket watch to buy something for her. However the music video reveals temporal continuity by demonstrating the brightness of the space. For example, the video at first presents bright skies and once it starts to slow down the skies turn dark. This is set to emphasize day and night with smooth iris transitions. Temporal discontinuity in the film is set with a black background and white letter image that cuts off a scene to explain or give dialogue of the occurring scene. While in the video, it is shown as a faded transition from the rocky setting to the galaxy being portrayed at the end. However spatial-temporal continuity is set on the film at the end, when Buster is catching hints from the movie projecting how to make ‘moves’ on his girl and going back and forth after each one to get more cues. Spatial and temporal relations alongside continuity and discontinuity helps the film and music video be editing in ways to keep the audience entertained or informed of what is occurring throughout the images. The illustrations are set to give a hint of what is occurring at that space or time.
This scene is attempting to insinuate to the audience his failure of being a detective. This presents discontinuity due to the fact that the the film is changing space rapidly with no indication of time. This has graphic discontinuity edit because the scene is trying to create dissimilar environments but present the same visual principle. Rhythmic relation in this also contributes to the discontinuity by montage. As each scene is changing within the scene, the musical background has sudden interruption to follow with the intensity. Therefore, as there is no logic connecting the shots, this is to underline and present bewilderment to the audience due to the rapid change in
Bud from the novel Bud, Not Buddy and Rudyard Kipling the author of the poem “If” both have similar rules to live by.
When Keaton’s character enters the screen and into the cinematic world, the scene around him constantly changes. The scene cuts from a busy street to a cliff top to a pack of lions and so on. It could be that Keaton was poking fun at the conventional nature of mainstream cinema. By staging most of the narrative within a character’s dream, Keaton is given authority to instill a number of gags which would deem impractical within reality. In the article, “Keaton Relates Comedy Secrets,” Keaton gives insight into the world of comedy and what one must do in order to obtain originality. He says that “Comedy must be clean and wholesome and the comedian must be neat. Also the ‘gags’, funny places of business, in the comedy studio, must be original.” This is especially true in a scene where Keaton appears to jump through someone to escape, in another he jumps through a window into a moving car. By staging the narrative within a dream like world, Keaton can push the cinematic boundaries further than many comedians before him. Thus, Keaton can perform tricks that amaze audiences while remaining somewhat plausible. His brilliant technique and innovative performance brighten the film and make it that more
But not only is the film so similar in darkness, the scenes are short, reflecting the shortness of the panels. Unlike a more “normal” movie, the scenes change quite frequently and not only by perspective. The movie is constantly changing both viewpoint and scenes. Although this is common in action movies, it is used more widely in this film unlike in action movies that tend to use this form of filmography during very high tension scenes.
...haracter's movement through the scene should look totally natural. As a scene shows us the basic setting and characters, it generally moves from a wide shot to a medium shot, and then to close-ups of the characters. This use of the space is then conserved by using a set of rules. The first rule is the 180-degree rule, or "not crossing the line." Meaning that the viewer is presented to a shot in which one person is on the right and a second person is on the left, the camera should not rotate beyond 180 degrees, because that would invert the relative positions of each person. The continuity style gave classical Hollywood films their rhythmic power. The spell that style enables the audience the wonder of being able to lose yourself in the world of the film depends on a how the director shows and gives you this new world, most notably done during Hollywood's Golden Age.
The Alfred Hitchcock film; Vertigo is a narrative film that is a perfect example of a Hollywood Classical Film. I will be examining the following characteristics of the film Vertigo: 1)individual characters who act as casual agents, the main characters in Vertigo, 2)desire to reach to goals, 3)conflicts, 4)appointments, 5)deadlines, 6)James Stewart’s focus shifts and 7)Kim Novak’s characters drives the action in the film. Most of the film is viewed in the 3rd person, except for the reaction shots (point of view shot) which are seen through the eyes of the main character.(1st person) The film has a strong closure and uses continuity editing(180 degree rule). The stylistic (technical) film form of Vertigo makes the film much more enjoyable. The stylistic film form includes camera movements, editing, sound, mise-en-scene and props.
...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 amazing actions scenes just leap out of the screen and the film is still
Mise en scene is a French theatrical term meaning “placing on stage,” or more accurately, the arrangement of all visual elements of a theatrical production within a given playing area or stage. The exact area of a playing area or stage is contained by the proscenium arch, which encloses the stage in a picture frame of sorts. However, the acting area is more ambiguous and acts with more fluidity by reaching out into the auditorium and audience. Whatever the margins of the stage may be, mise en scene is a three dimensional continuation of the space an audience occupies consisting of depth, width, and height. No matter how hard one tries to create a separate dimension from the audience, it is in vain as the audience always relates itself to the staging area. Mise en scene in movies is slightly more complicated than that of an actual theater, as it is a compilation of the visual principles of live theater in the form of a painting, hence the term “motion picture.” A filmmaker arranges objects and people within a given three-dimensional area as a stage director would. However, once it is photographed, the three-dimensional planes arranged by the director are flattened to a two-dimensional image of the real thing. This eliminates the third dimension from the film while it is still occupied by the audience, giving a movie the semblance of an audience in an art gallery. This being so, mis en scene in movies is therefore analogous to the art of painting in that an image of formal patterns and shapes is presented on a flat surface and is enclosed within a frame with the addition of that image having the ability to move freely within its confines. A thorough mise en scene evaluation can be an analysis of the way things are place on stage in...
The use of jump cuts within Breathless and Contempt was an unconventional technique during the French New Wave and still is today because it violates one of the rules of Classic Hollywood Style. Jump cuts create “…discontinuities that the perceptual system will not ignore because the stimuli fall outside of the accommodation ranges for perceptual continuity, then spatial coherence breaks down” (Berliner). Even though jump cuts are not aesthetically pleasing, Godard uses them for the deeper meaning of the films.
I decided to use Herman Lee for my artist comparison. The first piece that I saw of his was a series about Great Romans and they were portrait pieces. He has five pieces in this series that contain five different Roman people. They happen to be portraits of a person in vector/illustrative style. I decided to use this as a starting block for my piece. Instead of doing a leading figure in our today society as my portrait piece, I chose to do myself. Doing a portrait of yourself to me is harder to manage then doing a portrait of another person. Doing a portrait of yourself is hard to me because it involves figuring out what side of you, as a person, you want to be seen as or what you want to be seen as. You have to show a piece of who you are as a person and be quite vulnerable to the viewers, so I decided to go outside my comfort zone for this piece.
Therefore, it is possible to notice how the cinematography, the mise-en-scene and the editing are used to resemble the peculiarities of the space in which the actions are taking place. For instance, the first part is characterized by long pan or tilt shots, the camera is steady but still manages to follow the characters actions. The editing points to the linear occurring of the events. Also, the characters and the objects are usually methodically placed in the scene. All of the elements are used to convey the rigid organization, efficiency and control typical of the military environment. On the other hand, in the second part, there are usually shorter shots and steadicam shots. The camera is free to investigate the space of action. Here, the editing is used to create a dynamic perception of the events. In this way Kubrick is able to bring in the spectators’ minds the chaotic reality of the war. Moreover, colors become another tool to communicate to the audience this sort of split within the film. In fact, after Pyle’s death the viewer can notice how those metallic and cold colors, that are present at the beginning of the film, shift into wormer colors. It is actually through Pyle’s suicide that the the spectator gets this switch. In that scene the dark red blood stains, and ideologically violates, the cold white tiles of the bathroom. This film is also different on
Montage is from the beginning of the twenties characterized as a process of synthesis, building something new and in terms of the physical planes also something quite simple. Most montage’s films were created as a dialectical process, where initially from a two meanings of consecutive shots form a third meaning.
The use of sound has been greatly developed and is now considered as "one of the richest sources of meaning in film art." (Giannetti, 2002). When sound in film is being examined, two positions must be assumed; digetic sound and non-digetic sound. These positions relate to the basis of the sound in film and television. For example, digetic sound refers to the sound that materialises inside the creation of the film (if a character h...
Mise-en-scene, Cinematography and Sound in the Film Leon (Luc Besson) 1994 In the opening sequence of Leon, Besson uses a travelling aerial shot of a lake followed by a huge park, which is finally dominated by huge, cosmopolitan skyscrapers. The camera rests here to show the contrast in jungle and urban life. We then enter the urban city, where several travelling shots going through the streets are used giving an apparent sense of setting and location. The added use of non-diagetic sound combined with many beautiful shots of New York's streets combine to produce a very mysterious atmosphere.