"World Cinema" by the Coen Brothers is very interesting in the sense that the entire film is essentially comprised of three main shots.
The first one is a symmetrical long shot of an small movie theater. This is also essentially the establishing shot of the film for it tells the audience where the film is taking place. Because this is such an important shot in the film, the composition must contain a significant amount of value. It is important to note that the titles of both of the movies are placed in between the upper third and middle third of the shot. Because this is usually where cinematographers places a subject's eyes, which is also referred to as the eye-line level, it feels more natural for the audience to focus on the text that is on display. The lighting in this shot has not been manipulated because they are taking advantage of the natural lighting. The angle of the shadows can also indicate the time of day, although at the end of the film, the shadows have not moved (although the temperature of the shot, perhaps through a lens filter, is slightly warmer indicating a passing of time) which is an error in continuity.
The second and third main shots make up a conversation between two men that are facing each other in the two shots: one is a movie-goer, and the other is an usher (or ushers, as there is a second usher in the second half of the film, but applies the same exact composition techniques). Both of these shots use the rule of third to help compose the shot. In the shot with Josh Brolin, the movie-goer, his head is placed on the upper right hand intersection. By doing this, the composition looks more natural to the audience. His face is also lighted properly, insuring that the audience's eyes are immediately drawn to his face without lingering around in other areas of the shot. The edges of the walls are vectors that creates lines that also helps to draw the audiences' eyes directly to the subject. It can be said that the brightly lit spot on the purple wall helps to balance the image by providing a visual counter-weight to the main subject.
The third main shot is of the usher (who is wearing a shirt with a purple star, that suggests a color motif). This shot is also composed with reference to the rule of thirds because the subject's head is in the upper left intersection of the frame. Like the previous shot, he is also properly lit, ensuring the audience is directed to the subject. However, this shot differs from the second one because it utilizes a frame within a frame. The frame in this case is the movie-goer's body. And not only does Brolin's body serve as a frame within a frame, it also acts as a visual counter-weight to balance the image. Again there are vectors created by the counters and desks that draws the viewer's eyes to the subject. Deep staging is used in the shot with Brolin's body used as the foreground, the subject as mid-ground, and the room as background.
This video is very interesting in terms of its content and i can see why you chose it. As for the cinematography, i thought that it was very basic, yet appropriate, so that the cinematography doesnt distract the audience from the content that is being said. Although somewhat self-explanatory, perhaps you could have talked about how the framing gives the man in the cowboy hat is portrayed as the dominant character between him and the other two sitting down. With this you could also talk about its effect on the story itself. But you have a very deep and important analysis that reflected the film in a great way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said with each of the establishing shots, but i don't think that the passing of time was and error in continuity because you have to take into account that the man was just in a movie, which could have been anywhere between 1-2.5 hours. your analysis seems well developed as you talk about all of the things I noticed as well. But you confuse me when you say that the lighting is natural and when you say the characters are properly lit, unless you mean the lighting is natural for the outside shot.
ReplyDeleteSimple film, yet a complex analysis. Everything was solid that you said. The analysis about light and how it affects where our eyes move was a new idea to me that makes total sense. The only thing that you could have added is an explanation of why there were so little shots. Regardless, your explanation was thorough enough. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like the film that you choose it was interesting. I liked in your blog how you talked about where the camera was always placed in relevance to the viewers eye level and how use talked about the rule of thirds. I also liked how you noticed the mistake of the shadows.
ReplyDeleteLike Luke said, the film was very basic yet appropriate, and i can see how that would keep the audience intact with the film. I thought that your analysis on the three main shots were good, you could have talked about camera angles, and how the camera effects showed a development of the characters. But overall i thought your analysis was thorough, and good.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this choice in film, as others stated, because it presents many important techniques, strongly using lighting as well as the cutting between waist shots to portray some level of neutral emotion between the two men which was analyzed very well. But I felt that the development of the main character should have been touched on, as it is very impressive how the director packed emotion and growth of a character into such a short piece. It is seen at the beginning of the short that the cowboy is somewhat uncomfortable talking to the usher who can be seen as a 'geek'. More than uncomfortable with the usher himself, the cowboy seems to not care about the situation at all with very little interest in either of the movie options presented by the usher. This dramatically changes after watching as we see how the cowboy is almost flustered in trying to pass on a message of thanks to the usher who recommended the movie. This transition from an indifferent movie-goer to an interested and compassionate man who seeks to thank the awkward usher that helped him, is very important as a reflection upon the directors abilities to manipulate motion over such a short period of time.
ReplyDelete