October 15:
- Please view the following three clips from Sansho the Bailiff
(Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan 1954).
- How does Mizuguchi articulate spatial relations in these clips? How
does he place individual characters in their environment, human or natural?
How do certain characters inhabit the spaces around them? How do these
spaces shape their actions and expressions? Do we have many point of
view shots? Are compositions balanced or not? Centered or not?
October 8:
- Please have close look at the following clip from Open
City (Roberto Rossellini, Italy 1945). How does Rossellini in
this sequence achieve what Andre Bazin called "an aesthetic of
reality"? How does the director organize the action and spaces
in front of the camera? What is the function of individual shots and
how do they contribute to the larger whole?
October 1:
- Please preview the following sequence very carefully: Grand
Illusion (1) (Jean Renoir, France 1937). Unlike most of Fritz
Lang's work, French poetic realism was known not only for its lyrical
evocation of everyday life, but also for its attempt to define the world
of film as a momentary frame around, an open window onto, an ongoing
reality. This attempt to create illusions of greater realism affected,
among other, the choice of shot arrangements and editing patterns. It
also stimulated directors to emphasize the role of individual characters
rather than spatial settings and architectural designs. When watching
this particular clip, please pay close attention to camera set ups and
editing strategies. Exactly when does Renoir cut? And for what reasons?
What motivates the camera to reframe the action? Please also focus on
the kind of characters presented in this clip. What social types do
they represent? How does class and social status inform their behavior?
How do they manage to transcend the boundaries of their social positions?
- Please have a look at the final shots of Grand
Illusion
(2). What is Renoir's message here? Does sound and image really
say the same? And exactly what does the title's "grand illusion"
refer to? Does the film's final image of natural splendor overcome nationalism?
And what is the role of nature in the film's overall trajectory?
September 24:
- Please preview the opening sequence of Fritz Lang's M
very carefully. Pay particular attention to the way in which Lang here
articulates sounds and images. When does Lang show us sounds within
the image? When do sounds enter the frame of the visible from the outside?
What different functions do image-sound disjunction play in this sequence?
Pay also attention to the way in which this sequence constructs space,
interior and exterior. How do we get from one space to another one?
How are they linked? How does Lang make us move across different spatial
boundaries?
Go to Top
|
