Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, U.S.A., 1927, 94 minutes)
As you'll know from Chapter 1 in Understanding Movies, the technical elements of cinematography include choices of shot, angle, and lens, as well as the effects created by light, shadow, color, and film stock. For this week, I'd like you to choose one of the images from Sunrise below and write your post about the photographic elements that help to produce its specific effects. You might think particularly about the use of light, shot, and angle. What is the content of the image? What story does it tell, and how do Rosher and Struss's choices shape or enhance this story? Briefly describe the significant qualities of these choices. Why are the choices appropriate or effective given the shot's narrative context (i.e., its position in the film and/or its relationship to the film's themes)? The images are arranged in the order they appear in the film. Looking forward to your comments!
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The techniques used in Sunrise were innovative and risky. For example, the merging of different actions into one simultaneous scene was a special effect that was far from the norm. This technique was perfect for representing the meshing of ideas in one’s mind. Also, the early use of a green screen provided a rush to the movie. these new techniques, combined with the different shots, lenses, and lighting used, all combined to make one cornerstone movie.
ReplyDeleteA good example of this advanced cinematography would be the scene in Sunrise where the husband is strangling the city woman. The different components it took to create this scene were all perfect choices. First would be the shot. A close up of the couple, framing them at an angle instead of a full side shot, helped to create a dynamic setup that really complemented the momentum of the action in the shot. Something to also be noted is how the two were captured as blurred. The blurriness of the two help to reflect the senses of both the husband and the city woman. His mind is clouded with the conflicting emotions roiling around in his head, while the woman is lightheaded from the lack of oxygen to her brain and lungs. The setup was also well arranged. With the two to the left of the screen and the path leading back to the house in the background, there is a sense of anxiety that is coupled with the violence of the scene. With the path still in the shot, the audience is reminded that the two are not that far from the villagers and that they can be spotted at any moment. Lastly, the choice of lighting also added to the already dynamic shot. The use of an intense spotlight that is tilted upon the couple so that its edges of light reach for the house helps to complete the intensity of the scene. Also, with the light tilted instead of beaming directly upon the two actors, it makes it look like moonlight, giving it a more realistic and believable setting.
"Citizen Kane of American Silent Cinema" is what some used to refer to F.W. Murnau's brilliant cinematic achievement as. Coming from the school of German Expressionism, Murnau along with his cinematographers Rosher and Struss created a very vivid and artful way of showcasing the right mood and tone of the film he was trying to make. One way in which this was achieved was through a term known as Mise en scene which described where stuff was placed on a stage or film. If you look at the third picture where the wife is sitting in the boat in the foreground with the vast lake opened up behind her and off in the distance there is, what appears to be the onset of darkness, one can understand the mood of excitement and joy, which will soon be encased in despair. This is even more telling because the previous scene showcases the husband's mistress unveiling her plan to him, to have him kill her by drowning her in the lake and saving himself with a bundle of reeds which he gets right before this scene. The sense of foreboding is even more prevalent due to the appearance of the light highlighting her, seemingly in this joyous white dress and appearance, but how the audience knows what will soon happen i.e. dramatic irony. Also, when the use of the first person point of view camera is used along with George O’Brien’s distinctive Frankenstein-esque walk, as he moves to his wife it is almost like ripping a band-aid off very slowly, as the audience is just waiting for the horrible actions to unfold. The breadth of the film and how Murnau works with his cinematographers is unheralded and is blatantly obvious why filmmakers’ decades later would still be inspired from their work.
ReplyDeleteSunrise: A Song of Two Humans was a great movie because both the lighting and the characters did a great job of conveying the story and the emotions to the audience. As we briefly discussed in class, the darkness (i.e. stormy weather, woman from the city) represented the negatives, while the light (the man's wife) represented the positives. Since the man was married to the woman in the light dress, there was peace when he was with her as opposed to the chaos that resulted when he tried to follow the woman from the city.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the 4th picture, where the man and the woman are returning from the carnival and are drifting peacefully back across the lake under the moonlight. As they drift pass and away from the folks partying on the water, I think it represented how they were moving along in the story, leaving the crazy day and night behind them and moving along the peaceful water back to their home. Judging from the looks on their faces, they were both content and on the same page on where their relationship was going. This was the first movie I saw where German Expressionism was used. It really helped intensify the various effects of the film to show the audience what the characters were doing and thinking, and what they represented.