The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1977) is a film full of emotion, and a lot of it comes from the mastering of cinematography. The film uses a combination of shaky-cam and close-ups to emphasize the amount of fear and terror that the characters encounter through the picture. Yet, there is not a single moment in the film that does not exemplify fear and the horror of war like the scene in which our two main characters hide from the Nazis in the attic. In this moment of the film, Soviet soldiers Rybak and the wounded Sotnikov take refuge in a woman’s, Demchikha’s, attic as the Nazis come to the house in search of the two men. The film is shot in black and white, leaving a lot of the screen look empty for much of the film due to the snowy setting. However, this scene is one of the few in the film where not so much of it occurs outside. Instead, the black and white footage in this scene gives the film a very bleak and dark vibe to it. A lot of this scene is shot as if it was the point of view of the soldiers. The blocking in this scene is set up so the audience can look through the same holes in the ceilings and roofing as our characters are. It frequently alternates from a point of view shot to close-ups of the actors, going from showing the terror that the characters are hiding from to showing the actual terror in the actors’ faces. One shot in particular is a point of view shot as the characters are looking through the little hole out of the roof that looks outside. As the Nazis push Demchikha inside of her house and into a bunch of pots and pans, the camera moves as if the soldiers are walking through the house. When the shot ends, they watch Demchikha land into the pots. The shot that follows is a reaction shot of the fear on the c... ... middle of paper ... ...th the terror in our characters’ faces as the man holds the gun in the same direction where he is about to take fire. A close up on the barrel of the gun gives off the idea that the gun can fire at any second, right in the audience’s faces. When Rybak yells, “Don’t shoot!”, it switches to what could be considered our first medium shot of this whole sequence. The Nazi soldier, with a smile on his face as he says, “Gotcha, sweeties,” gives the same type of hopeless and emptiness feeling as the snow does. The scene ends as Rybak and Sotinkov surrender to the Nazi soldiers by putting their hands up. Rybak obeys, but as the camera slides to the left, Sotnikov puts his hands down on top of the amounts of hay that has been hiding his face. Director Larisa Shepitko has given us an instance where we feel just as defeated as the characters that have been caught by the Nazis.
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
The opening sequence sets the stage for the surreality and subjectivity of the picture and sound of Apocalypse Now. Initially, helicopters fly over a palm beach in slow motion. Rotor blades beat much too slowly to be those of a life-speed helicopter. The viewer can immediately distinguish this as indicative of a dreamlike perception because common expectations suggest that life runs at normal speed and thus film of real life do the same. This gives the sequence a surreal feeling. Smoke, stirred by the helicopters, drifts subtly; elegantly; leisurely. However, the shoreline soon erupts into mini mushroom clouds of napalm fire. Still in slow-motion, it appears to the viewer both artful and fascinating. A normal shocked reaction to the destruction is suppressed in favor of wonder because of the films illuso...
The attitude the soldiers have towards their enemy in the scene shows how evil humans
The screenwriter chose an effective way of illustrating the point of attack, establishing the setting and handling of exposition. The first scene of the film was a black screen which had audio of a man and a woman having a conversation. After, the film switches to a grainy video of men being detained by police. The video clip manages to bring the dramatic tension to all time high because an unidentified character is shot by the police. Therefore, this left a sense of uneasiness and tension throughout the whole film. The beginning of the film also did a wonderful job of establishing the setting. The scene of the grainy video clip had a caption box stating it was “Fruitvale BART Station 2:15AM New Year’s Day 2009”. The film then introduces the
It depicted the war how it actually was and how it was lead. The film demonstrates trench warfare as a winding labyrinth of muddy blood soaked holes that men fought and died in. It illustrates the industrialized manner of the war, with the sounds of machine guns firing and artillery shells falling and exploding. The inept leadership appears in an almost comical manner. The generals were looking for personal gain and tried to hide their incompetence under the veil of blaming the men for their lack of courage. This portrayal of World War One was as accurate as one could be without actually fighting in the war itself. Kubrick did an excellent job at highlighting the drama through lighting and complimented the multitude of characters, as they developed into their
The film has a tremendous energy filled with flags waving, soldiers saluting, women and children waving while happily marching together. The film expresses love and pride for the country. A dark side of nationalism, militarism and Nazism is not seen. Instead Riefenstahl’s vision is idealistic in a sense, causing the viewer to wish they were there. She filmed endless marching men who did not even carry guns, with orchestral music to match. The seemingly innocent army has organized energy and displays discipline and sacrifice, remarkably without any weapons. It is important to remember that documentaries don’t document just an event, they also document the perception of an event, and that perception is enacted in the film itself. While Riefenstahl uses editing techniques and upbeat music to paint a happy scene of positive energy and patriotism, the film has an eerie element that constitutes the truth behind it. Hitler is celebrated as a savior in the film and embraced as a social phenomenon, when the rest of the world knows him to be a truly evil mastermind with a seductive
In the opening scene, the camera zooms out to focus on both the men individually. The camera switches focus back and forth from Harmonica to Frank. The camera views the men from their faces to the whole body picture. By doing this effect to the men’s character it builds suspense on who may or may not fire first in the movie. Throughout, the beginning moments of the duel, the camera angles follows both men capturing them both, but the while the camera angle is facing both of the men I can see the emotional expressions in each of their faces. In Harmonica’s face, I see revenge, hurt, but also a man of much courage and bravery to defeat a man who had him kill his brother. In Frank’s expression I see a man of much confusion since at this point in time he still does not truly recognize who Harmonica is. Both men lead to a very suspenseful, but meaningful ending to the movie. I can sense violence in the future by the way the camera was used. The camera angles allowed Leone to depict a scene of terror, but builds the bigger picture of what Leone intended for it to be. I feel that movement was also a major key in the film. Right before, the men start to approach one another Frank begins to take off his coat and throw it to the grown. From this, Frank realizes that he is going to have to face the consequences of his actions, and be a man about it. I
The sound used in this scene are all diegetic, the sounds of gunfire and explosions show that the characters in this scene are in very real danger of being shot or blown up, this helps the viewer develop a more personal connection with the characters since the scene is towards the end of the film, the viewer has developed a personal connection with the characters and do not want them to die. The diegetic sounds of military personnel can be heard, this is used to show the urgency that the military personnel have to get The Sapphires and Dave out of the dangerous situation. This scene is used to emphasise the danger that Dave and The Sapphires are in very real and very lethal danger, the mixture of sinister camera angles to emphasise the visual danger that the characters are in to the inhospitable sounds portrayed by the scene to highlight the explosive danger that the characters are in. The lighting used features the darkness and the difficulty to see due to the night sky.
The movie Triumph of the Will is about Hitler's activities in Nuremberg, which include, riding through the streets in a parade and giving speeches to crowds of supporters (Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will). The movie show excited people lining the streets to salute Hitler as he passes them (Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will). This use of photography show the viewers that the Nazi party is supported by the people of Germany. The director chooses to use closeup shots on the smiling faces in the crowds to show that people are happy and supportive of the Nazi movement. In contrast to close up shot, the director also chooses to use extreme long shots to show the massive crowds lining the streets. This again shows the viewer that not only a few people
“Alright men, we're going. I want you all to remember who you are. You're the 10th Light Horse. Men from Western Australia. Don't forget it! Good luck.” In this scene the director uses a series of close up shots and camera movements to help create a sense of claustrophobia and fear in the trenches, along with the use of exploding artillery, noise and dust to create a desolate wasteland where the men awaited their deaths. These techniques and imagery portray the futility and brutality of war.
Most of the film was shot with 50mm lenses on 35 mm cameras. This technique carefully lets the audience see the film as though watching a ‘live scene’. This has the effect of drawing the audience closer into the action.
For example, The Mortal Storm is about the Roth family living in a small village in Germany who gets separated when the Nazis come to power. This film shows the truth on how and what families went through when they were separated during the time of the Holocaust. Frank Borage, the director, analyzes the truth in the film by giving the right balance of
This film captures this class distinction without subduing the atmosphere through the use of a variety of cinematic devices. “A good film is not a bag of cinematic devices but the embodiment, through devices, of a vision, an underlying theme” (Barnett, 274). The audience can see this theme of the realities of the oppression, poverty and despair of this time period through the use of the things mentioned, but also through the character development that is driven by the character’s hopelessness. Each of the characters associated with the lower class is motivated by the conditions, which are viewed through the cinematic devices mentioned above: color, spherical lenses, long shots, and high angle shots. Sources Cited:.
As I watched, I had to wonder at the manner in which action shots, such as actors jumping from moving trains, were completed. Today, with current technology, a predominant amount of the action scenes are created digitally, with green screens. It is with a knowledge of the dependency of actions films on special effects, that I gained a profound respect for this particular film. The action scenes with trains colliding, derailments and military conflicts were capable of eliciting a stark drama in black and white magnificently enabling the sense of true to life action. The Train, is a tale fraught with suspense and espionage, of two opposing forces, a vanquished countryside and the foreign foe. With that said, it is important to note that majority of the characters placed more value on the artwork than human lives. Ironically the main character, Labiche was the only person predominantly concerned with the loss of life and not the art collection. On the other hand Waldheim, the man who held little regard for human life, the enemy’s as well as his own people, treasured that art collection beyond
The parallel between Alicia’s dependence on Devlin and Alex’s on his mother is prominent in the final scene. The scene takes place on the grand staircase of Alex’s mansion. Influenced by German Expressionism, stairs serve an integral role in this and subsequent films. Alicia, propped up by Devlin, and Alex, shadowed by his over-bearing mother, all descend the grand staircase in the mansion under the eyes of the Nazi party. Outside of the house, Alicia and Devlin make their escape to freedom while Alex reluctantly returns up the stairs to his fate with the Nazis. Ending the film on the stairs attests to Hitchcock’s style.