Film Analysis

Clip C-Silence of the Lambs

Crosscutting is used, showing parallel actions of what is going on inside the home and what the police are doing outside at the same time. This way, the Kuleshov effect is created, because immediately we believe that the man in the house with the woman is going to be busted by the police simply because we relate the two story lines being flashed back and forth at us. Panning and zoom is used throughout to show the action of each shot. To add to the viewer's 'confusion', a restricted narration is used, allowing us only to gain information from the characters in the scene, of whom we have an objective depth of story from. This creates more of a surprise at the end of the scene, when we find out that the police were not targeting this man at all.
Low-key lighting is used inside on the man and woman, creating high contrast and dark shadows. Overall the shots of them are underexposed, creating a dark, uneasy feeling that something bad is going to happen. During conversations the 180 degree rule is never broken (i.e. when the woman officer comes to the door of the man.) When the man is talking to the woman in the hole, there are eye line match shots used to show where each character is related to one another. When the man is looking down at the woman, the camera tilts downward to mimic his eye line. The reverse is true as well--when the woman looks up at the man, the camera tilts upward to match her eye line and so on.

Clip D-Mangolia

This scene from Mangolia uses many elements to convey its message of the mysterious, or maybe even the dark side of broadcasting (from what I can tell from this clip). The most prominent elements are in the cinematography of the scene. First off, the use of the Long Take allows the scene to be seamless and continuous. This creates a sense of urgency in the situation, making the viewer feel the constant movement and bustle of inside the building. The scene is shot with a medium shot on the adults, however cutting of most of the little boy's body. This shows how small and innocent the child is in this adult world. It seems as though the scene was shot with a Steadicam. The way the camera turns to follow different people makes it difficult to be on a dolly, and it is too steady to be handheld. As far as perspective goes, a middle-focal-length lens was used to create a medium depth of field. This allows the viewer to easily follow the character that is being focused on in the story, but also see some of whats ahead or behind the characters to gain some context of the setting. Harder lighting is used from above the adult characters, creating shadows on their faces and making it hard to see their eyes. This gives the adult characters a mysterious undertone. However, when the scene jumps to shots of the child, frontal, high-key lighting is used, eliminating shadows and making the child seem innocent in comparison to his surroundings. When considering narration, and objective narration is used, as well as a somewhat unrestricted narration. This allows the viewers to discover more as the scene progresses, building the storyline from the bottom up. Going along with the 'unknown' feeling the clip creates, the background (nondiegetic) music shadows this as is playing mysterious, almost detective type music. Personally, I think these elements come together nicely to create the whole scene.



Clip E-Amadeus



There is an overall lack of music during the conversational parts of the scene. This silence forces the audience to feel the awkwardness of the situation when the priest does not recognize Salieri's work. The opera music during the flashback is both diegetic and nondiegetic. In the present, only Salieri can hear it while the priest truly believes the man is crazy. In the flash back, it becomes completely diegetic because it is a performance that the characters can hear. This is a nice, smooth aural transition from the present to the past. Composition centers the two characters, making them the grand focus of each shot. Also, the 180 degree rule is never broken, making it easy to follow the conversation and where each character is situated in relation to one another.
Cut transitions are used throughout, making the scene clean and easy to follow. A middle focal length lens is used throughout. During the flash back, with the low depth of field, the camera person is able to switch focus from the source of the melody, to the young creator. This way, the audience sits in anticipation to see what Salieri looked like 'back then'. Backlighting with fill light on Salieri's face makes him look old, cranky, and run down from his experiences. However on the contrary, the lighting on the priest is frontal lighting containing stronger high-key lighting illuminating his entire face, allowing him to be perceived as the young, naive character about to learn something important. Make-up and costume design are also very important in this movie. The make-up on Salieri's character makes him look very old and worn-down. In addition, the clothes the characters are wearing are from the period during which the story takes place, making everything seem authentic and real--especially during the opera scene.



Clip F-Zerkalo

This scene was also shot in a long take, to show the confusion or panic of the situation. The camera first zooms back to reveal the setting, then begins using a combination of zoom and panning to bring the story from room to room, capturing the situation as far as how many people are there, what they are doing, and what is going on outside. In order to create these shots, a zoom lens with deep focus was most likely used, so we can see everything that is going on in each frame. Most of the scene is shot is shot in Medium shot (especially on Michael) and Long shots on the people at the window, and the people outside. The last frame of the people outside looking at the fire is a long shot, showing everyone's body and thus their body language, which allows us to see that they are not only confused by how their shed/house caught fire, but also how they are at a loss of what to do. This scene also follows the rule of thirds, the house on the top horizontal line, the two adults on either vertical line, and the child running to more or less where the bottom horizontal line and the right vertical line intersect (a 'hot spot' used in photography). This gives the frame great balance and composure, maybe something that is counter intuitive to the situation. This scene uses no music at all. The only sounds we hear at first are the clock, dogs barking, and the bottle falling off the table, giving the home an eerie, abandoned feeling. Immediately after this, the concerned yelling of an older man gives us the sense that something is very wrong. Finally as we come closer to seeing the blazing house outside, the sound of burning wood grows stronger and stronger, giving the scene suspense and dread. All sounds in this shot are diegetic. The lighting in this scene is very underexposed. Most everything is dark inside the house, leaving just enough fill light to see what is going on. Because the lighting is so poor in and around the home, the blazing house outside becomes one of the only sources of light, giving more emphasis to the burning house as it holds significance and importance for the family. Overall, the sounds and sights of this shot convey the confusion, and dread of the burning shed/house outside, and what it might leave in the future for this family.