Magic Lantern MaryAlice pushed open the door of the darkened screening room, and the shaft of light from the hallway stabbed through the black all the way over to the screen. “Eeehhh!” The sound was definitely John, but strained, muffled, near a word but not a word. She stepped inside and let the door close behind her. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she waited to hear the soundtrack of whatever John was watching. She heard nothing but the consistent train track click of the projector from the back of the room. She squinted her eyes, waiting for the hazy block of brightness across the room to clarify itself. It took shape slowly, a rectangle filled with black and white shimmer. The shuddering blink on the screen seemed at first …show more content…
It was a silent film, hand-cranked when filmed, and the image rushed and lulled with the uneven swing of the cinematographer’s hand. The shot was a single, static take, unadorned. This film was from at least thirty years ago, maybe longer. What was in the picture, though, was spectacular. A choir of fifteen angels, maybe more. They were just men in white robes, metal frame wings atop their backs, standing on bleachers covered in sheets. But in the midst of this scratched-up, grainy old footage, the wings popped in golden contrast. The color squiggled and swirled on the screen; the film was clearly made before the advent of color, but someone who cared enough about the impact of the film went back in, frame by frame, using paint and a tiny brush to add a golden sheen to every angel’s wing. It was accidental genius; she stared at it, silent, momentarily forgetting the reason she came in the room. The shoddiness of the rest of the film, the amateur framing and the stilted performances, it was like they all existed to make you underestimate, to dismiss, and then to surprise you with the simple beauty of the …show more content…
John nodded slowly. In the dark, with the flashing of the film, she couldn’t be sure, but it looked like tears were pooling on his lower eyelid, refusing to fall. “Mom and Dad watched those people mesmerized by the movie, just like I did,” he said, pulling in a slow breath. “I saw the most meaningful way to communicate with another human being that has ever existed. They saw a way to sell Jesus like Tupperware.” MaryAlice reached over and squeezed his arm with her fingers. “You still believe in Jesus after all that?” John nodded, smiling. “I still believe in movies, too.” MaryAlice turned her eyes back to the screen. The angels had returned, and gold winked around the edges of the frame. “You’re going to be fine,” she said, squeezing his arm tighter. “You’re going to find a job.” “I know, I’ll find a job,” he said. “Do you know how to get in contact with that damn carpetbagger?” MaryAlice said, peeking over at John through the corner of her eyes. He turned to her, mouth open; the teardrops shuddered on his eyelids, then spilled down his face. “Because we’re making Queen of the Moon.” THE
In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.
thing in the shot was his eyes and the wall. A beam of light shone
“He set it up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside.”
In the fall of 1989, people all around the world were watching unbelievable scenes on their televisions. Thousands of people in eastern Europe were meeting in the streets and squares and demanding the end of the communist rule. For the first time in history, opposition to communism was publically voiced. Barbed wire border fences in Hungary were being torn down. East Germans were fleeing to the West. Overnight the Berlin wall collapsed. The start of these historical events was the Polish Revolution of 1989.
“Yes, it is me, no need to whisper though.” She stated, playing around with the hem of her shirt. “I need to talk to you.” She said plainly and Philip kept blinking his eyes, wondering when she would vanish again.
The tube of light came back a couple of seconds after the first one was gone. When the third tube of light came down, Nancy was back downstairs to watch the strange phenomenon with Robbert. They went outside with flashlights to look at the field across t...
...f the film either on a metaphorical or objective level. Actors are the only form of mise-en-scene that portrays characters in films through the use of gestures and movements. Performance is the only central component around which the narrative as well as mise-en-scene revolves (Corrigan, 2004). Gerald Millerson writes about the science behind how the human eye interprets light, how lighting a frame with purpose can trick what the audience views. The book also goes on to explain the nature and intensity of lighting, an assessment of colors and how integral color mixture is to achieve a desired result (Millerson, 1999). Costume and makeup go a step further as they connect the performance to the settings (Speidel). Transition can be shown through make up and costume and also one can be creative with makeup and make a young character look older in age (Bordwell,1979).
In Browne’s essay, he describes what he calls the “position of the spectator”, and suggests that cinematic techniques can constitute a connection between a given character(s) and the spectator. Browne values less of what David Bordwell believes to be important in narration, the syuzhet (Bordwell 1986). Browne believes the connection between the spectator and the character(s) solidifies less through narrative techniques, the syuzhet, than through cinematic means, for instance, cinematography. The composition of a shot can allow the audience to see over the shoulder of a given character, thus positioning the spectator in the character’s approximate point of view. Likewise, action or dialogue from another character can be shown from the approximate field of vision of the character that is linked with the spectator. (Browne 1986).
... shadow of his narration suggests the significant influence of Joe’s bias on the manner in which the film is portrayed. The writer claims to represent the voice of empiricism, promising to deliver “the facts…(and) the whole truth” before the story gets “all distorted and blown out of proportion”, but his personality overlays the narration and his supposedly impartial retelling of the series of events contains opinions, editorials, and literary references all too reminiscent of a Hollywood drama. Joe Gillis, being a writer of fiction with an intense personal investment in the story he is telling, cannot be expected to adhere to scientific impartiality. Instead, he illustrates an essential tenet of storytelling and Hollywood mystique, the subjective nature of facts when coupled with human interpretation. Joe Gillis shows how a road can be more than a strip of asphalt.
Director Max Ophüls is known for his distinctive smooth camera movements (Liang, 2011, p. 2). Frame mobility keeps the audience focused on the subject (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008, p. 203), and this can be seen in this shot. Due to the camera tracking Lisa and Lieutenant Leopold after they enter the frame, the audience’s attention stays focused on Lisa and Lieutenant Leopold, even thoug...
Andi Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a beautiful, young, and successful writer who maintains a “How-To” section in “Composure” magazine. Her dream is to “write about things that matter, like politics and the environment, and foreign affairs- things I’m interested in.” (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, time stamp 02:00). She knows that the only way she will eventually be able to write about subjects she’s passionate about is to be successful in writing her superficial “How-To” section in the magazine.
Before she opened the door, she asked, “Who is it?” But no one answered. A few seconds later there was another knock. Janine flung open the door, “What the...”
...en a strange feeling down his spine again, as if something was breathing on his neck. He turned slowly… seeing if someone was behind him and then boom! The figure was right there, about seven feet away, trying to grab him with his big, skinny, hands, with his sharp and dark fingernails that could rip a man’s heart out… He fell down, so surprised by the strange figure.
and Other Greats : Lessons from the All-star Writer's Workshop. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
Trottier, David. The screenwriters bible: a complete guide to writing, formatting, and selling your script. Silman-James Press 1995