Stephen Petrelli Cinema 121 Final Paper Chantal Rodias 1) In the film Ali:Fear Eats the Soul director Rainer Werner Fassbinder implements Brechtian devices to his film soundly. In her essay “An Anatomy of Racism”, Shohini Chaudhuri supports this claim. Shohini writes about the Brechtian style of cinema and advocates first, for actors to distance themselves from their role. She writes that this aspect of cinema came to be know as “the alienation effect”. It is used to remind the audience that what they are watching is not reality enabling them to think and act rather than becoming involved in the play. She also advocates for long shots of the film used to constrain emotional identification by placing a concrete distance between the audience …show more content…
The scenes visual presentation by use of long shots, composition, and framing is critical to the overall meaning and aspect of Brechtian cinema style alienation. Ali and Emmi are sitting at a table in the middle of the courtyard where the seats for the cafe are. They are surrounded on all sides by empty seats portraying the isolation they have from the rest of the society they are living in combined with the drooping trees that enclose their area and the frame. The use of the color yellow, for the seats and tables exemplifies the fear that Emmi has for the situation she is in. To add on to all of this a group of waiters and waitresses are all standing on the outside of the courtyard tables. They are also outside of the frame of the shot to show their distance from Emmi and Ali. These waitresses and waiters are a combination of male and female and young and old to also show that no matter what type of person they are in society they are frowning upon what Emmi and Ali have done. With them not being shown in the same frame or space as Emmi and Ali it adds to the Brechtian technique of alienation. Later, a viewpoint is later shown in which the camera is behind Emmi and looking at Ali with the group of people far off in the distance and she is yelling at them and crying. The camera cuts to Ali looking at her from his point of view. She is yelling and crying at this moment. After this, the camera just shows them two and she stops crying. She says she wants to go away with Ali since the group of waiters is not in the frame anymore showing how isolated they are from
Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining
Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen, eds. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, Fifth Edition. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
Bresson’s other films are made much in the same vein. Though, for example, L’Argent was made in 1983—far from the reaches of the New Wave era—it still has the Bresson-typical ambient sound, tortured main character, and dreariness about it. Jack C. Ellis says that Bresson’s “search for ever greater clarity and simplicity of visual-aural statement, his concentration on only those themes that most deeply concern him, place him among the very select company with which he is being considered.” So, while some directors may be debated upon continually as an auteur, it is clear from the consensus of historians and critics, as well as his consistent work in his thirteen films, that Robert Bresson has secured his role as an auteur.
...ent from the silent era of film, overt racism of ethnic minorities was blatantly apparent within the film medium. However, presently this overt racism however has shifted into a more subtle segregation of casting and racial politics within the film medium. It seems that both the problem and the solution lies in the Eurocentric domination within the Hollywood film industry – and it seems that it still remains challenged to this day.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
The alienation effect creates a temporary state and identity for the actor that allows him or her to explore social boundaries. By basically putting on a mask, the performer
Rascaroli, Laura. "The Essay Film: Problems, Definitions, Textual Commitments." Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 49.2 (2008): 24-47. JSTOR. Web. 08 May 2014.
Connelly, Marie. "The films of Martin Scorsese: A critical study." Diss. Case Western Reserve University, 1991. Web. 07 Apr 2014.
... movie stars like royalty or mythical gods and goddesses, viewing the drama between great archetypal characters in a personal psychic realm. By considering the statements made and their societal impact from a Marxist perspective, Benjamin’s method is highly effective, as it does not simply consider art in terms of pure aesthetics anymore, but considers art’s place in a society capable of mechanically reproducing and endlessly duplicating film, photography, and digital art. His qualm with losing the aura and mystique of an original work is negated by the cult of movie stars, the adoration of fame, the incorporation of soundtracks which embody a particular time period, cinematographic allusions, and time-capsule-like qualities of a film such as Basquiat, a 90s tribute to the 80s, produced both as a part of and resulting from the art movements and trends it addresses.
Kracauer, Siegfried. “Basic Concepts,” from Theory of Film. In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, Seventh Edition, edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 147–58. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Through this analysis, I plan to prove that the purpose of the narrative bridge in the film was not only to provide a segue from the first sequence to the second, but also to show a different side of personality within the main characters. The first element of mise-en-scene to be discussed is setting. In general, this is a very simple comparison. In the red hued scenes, Lola and Manni are in a private place that appears to be a bedroom. The only thing shown in the scene is them lying on a bed.
middle of paper ... ... In final analysis, the motion picture is the one that goes deeper inside the spectator’s mind. Other mediums such as still picture and theatrical play also provide the visual and aural elements for the spectator, yet they seem to be inferior to the motion picture in that they lack the reality, affinity, and creativity in terms of use of time and space. The levels of emotions such as attention, memory, imagination, emotion, and unity, which were introduced by Munsterberg, indicates how the spectator perceives the elements of the film and ends up with it.
Hayward, Susan. A. Key Concepts in Cinema Studies. London: Routledge, 1996. http://www. Stokes, Lisa, and Michael Hoover.
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.