Cinema Paradiso
Movie: 1988, color, 155 minutes
- Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
- Actors: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Canavale, and Antonella Attili
Cinema Paradiso is an Italian drama film centered on a successful film director’s flashback to his childhood, and his return to the town he grew up in for his mentor’s funeral. With evident themes of nostalgia, Cinema Paradiso is a perfectly painted picture of what it means to grow up.
How does the director’s use of zooming and panning contribute to the film?
In the film, Tornatore’s takes are often long, the editing very smooth and never choppy. In most cases, long takes can make for a slow film – but this is not the case for Cinema Paradiso. Although the takes are long, one might never realize it due to Tornatore’s use of constant smooth movement in a take. A method used many times in the film is a specific zooming that leads your eyes to the subject, while showing you just enough of the subject’s environment as well. For instance, the film opens up on a bowl sitting on a balcony ledge in front of a vast ocean. It then gradually zooms out – first we see a door, then a table with fruit, and finally a woman sitting on a couch with her phone. The woman is obviously the subject, and Tornatore’s use of zooming out directed our eyes straight to her – while showing the audience her environment. Tornatore used this method many times in the movie, slightly switching it up each time. Whether zooming out, zooming in, or panning around, Tornatore’s takes succeeded at their job.
How does the director’s use of lighting contribute to the film?
In the film, the director often uses special lighting on Salvatore, clearly showing us that he is a special character. The first time we see special lighting on Salvatore is when he is lying in his bed during a storm (as an adult). He is restless, and can’t fall asleep. As lightning strikes, a flash of light floods his face. The use of severe lighting on Salvatore shows us that he is the main character – and this idea is reinforced when that moment transitions into Salvatore’s flashback. The next moment when the director uses special lighting on Salvatore is when he is in the church as a young boy. Salvatore is in charge of ringing the bell, but always seems to fall asleep much to the priest’s dismay. In this scene, the church is overly dark, with the exception of a bright ray of sunshine right on the sleeping Salvatore. This signifies that Salvatore is a special boy, and foreshadows his accomplishments.
City of God
Movie: 2002, color, 130 minutes
- Directors: Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
- Actors: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele, and Leandro Firmino
City of God is a Brazilian crime film, based on the true story of gangs and organized crime in the slum of Rio de Janeiro. The film centers on Rocket, a boy living in the slum who never gets involved in either gang, but instead making his big break as a photographer when the opportunity to photograph the gangs for the newspaper comes up.
How does the fast paced editing and handheld camera effect contribute to the film?
In the film, the first scene Is a montage of many close-ups of things that have only a slight relation to each other, cut extremely fast and choppy. The scene cuts from a knife being sharpened, to a chicken’s face, to blackness, to a camera being clicked, to a guitar being played, to carrots being chopped. Each of these shots are contradictory and don’t come together fully in the spectators eye. But as the film goes on, this first choppy montage helps to set up the entire film, foreshadowing what will happen. The benefit of the choppy/contradictory editing style is that it creates a strong mood of anxiety and excitement in the spectator. The quick cuts between completely different subjects are a boggle to the human mind, causing nerves to erupt. Another aspect of the film that creates the same effect is the handheld camera effect. Much of the film looks as if the filmmaker shot purely by hand. With added shakiness, it gives the film an aspect of realism, making the crime subject of the film appear more believable.
What part does death play in the film?
In the film, death plays a very significant part, as it is a crime film. In almost every scene, a death occurs with extreme nonchalance, and guns are treated as toys to the point where it becomes a popular accessory for the children of the slum. Lil Zé, the most powerful gang leader, does most of the killing in the film. Since a young age, Lil Zé hasn’t had anyone significant or close to him in his life. Lil Zé finds his solace in power, and he achieves the feeling of ultimate power through taking lives. Lil Zé satisfies his crave for power through killing – which has basically become his casual hobby. In most scenes when a death happens, there is no grief, pain, or remorse. But, there is one scene in the film that escapes this norm. The turning point of the film is when Lil Zé’s best friend Benny is accidentally killed right in front of him. Benny is one of the only people Lil Zé becomes close to and finds trust in. After Benny is killed, we see a long shot of Benny lying dead, and Lil Zé hovering over him, crying out in pain. This scene is the first time death is associated with grief, and is the first time Lil Zé shows weakness and sorrow.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Movie: 1972, color, 93 minutes
- Director: Werner Herzog
- Actors: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, and Helena Rojo
Aguirre: The Wrath of God is a German drama/adventure film based on the true story of an insane and ruthless Knight who leads a Spanish expedition in search of the fabled El Dorado (City of Gold), ultimately leading his troop down a path of mass destruction.
How does the film score contribute to the film?
The film score of Aguirre: The Wrath of God is one of the first scores that experimented with extremely electronic sound, making for a very synthesized sound. This effect made the film very formalist, almost as if it was a painting, a work of art, rather than a narrative. The sound distances the audience even more from the characters than they already feel, making everything seem a bit dreamy and unreal. The sound is also a bit dramatic, which adds drama to a film that lacks drama from the actual characters, creating a perfect balance. Watching the film is almost like watching a moving painting with music – the unreal sound preventing us from ever really becoming involved with the characters.
Does dialogue play a big part in the film?
In Aguirre: The Wrath of God, dialogue plays a very minor part – which distances us from the characters even more than the sound does. When Werner Herzog wrote the film, he didn’t actually write any dialogue. Most of the dialogue was either written a week before shooting or improvised on the spot. Aguirre, who is clearly mad, is really the only one who has large speaking roles. Due to the lack of dialogue from the other characters, the audience never gets a chance to get to know them, bringing all of the audience’s attention to Aguirre (which was the goal). Also, the lack of dialogue from other characters gives the film a very dreamy effect, almost as if everything we are watching is a dream/nightmare straight from the mind of Aguirre. Also, because the audience doesn’t connect with any of the other characters, the audience doesn’t feel much when they die. The other character’s deaths are extremely casual, and no grief Is felt when they occur.
Breathless
Movie: 1960, black and white, 90 minutes
- Director: Jean-Luc Godard
- Actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Henri-Jacques Huet
Breathless is a French crime/drama film centered on a young car thief (Michel) who shoots a policeman and must go into hiding. Michel becomes smitten with a young women (who is an aspiring journalist), and tries to convince her to go into hiding with him.
How does the editors techniques contribute to the film?
The editors of Breathless (Cécile Decugis and Lila Herman) used a new technique for the time the film was made, known as the “jump-cut”. The editors would literally repeat short clips of scenes either that were exactly the same or from a slight different angle, to evoke feelings in the audience and convey feelings of the characters. One example of when this technique is used is when Michel and Patricia are driving and the camera cuts between many shots of Patricia’s face, all very similar, all slightly different. In this particular scene, a feeling of boredom or “going nowhere” is conveyed, almost as if they aren’t really driving to a destination at all. The jump-cut inspired many editors, and was a revolutionary method.
What effect does the camera movement have on the viewer?
In the film, much of the scenes are filmed handheld, making it look a bit unfinished, real, and edgy. At the time Breathless came out, this camera technique was very new, and hard for some to accept. Most viewers took it in with excitement – the extreme camera movement rattling their nerves more than the smooth movements of the films they were so used to. The camera angles and movements were all very bold and were not meant to be pretty. The director used his camera technique to both shock the audience and to evoke unfelt feelings. The handheld camera effect added with the jump-cuts created an unforgettable film that helped to start a revolutionary period of film called the “French New Wave.”
8 1/2
Movie: 1963, black and white, 138 minutes
- Director: Federico Fellini
- Actors: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, and Claudia Cardinale
8 ½ is an Italian Fantasy film about an Italian film director (Guido Anselmi) who is suffering from director’s block. As Guido tries to work on a new film he doesn’t have much interest in, he falls into a series of flashbacks and dreams – often incorporated into his reality.
What do Guido’s dreams tell us about his character?
Guido’s constant daydreams and fantasies clue the audience in on his character to a large extent. What Guido fantasizes and dreams about show us what his mind is glued on, and gives the audience an insider’s access as to how Guido’s mind works. For example, in the beginning of the film, Guido’s first dream shows him struggling to get out of a smoke filled car, and then shows him falling through the air. This scene in particular is the first that shows us Guido’s anxiety, and the pressure he feels. As the film goes on, we learn that Guido is a film director who has “director’s block”, hence the themes of pressure and anxiety in his dreams. In his first dream, Guido being trapped in a smoky car and falling through the air show us that he feels a lack of control because of his creative struggles.
How does the editing/ camera movement contribute to the film?
The editing in 8 ½ is very smooth and hardly noticeable. It is a bit slow at times, making for a film that is very slowly paced. The smooth cuts create a realist effect, and cause the viewer to really become lost in Guido’s dreams. The camera movement is very smooth, the director using a lot of panning. One method the director makes use of is panning straight to the subject/object that the director wants us to see. The smooth panning and camera movement also adds to the dreamlike state of the film, making it slow and trance-like.
