Classical Realist Texts American Films between 1916 and
Classical Realist Texts: American Films between 1916 and 1960 Mise-en-scène
Visualizing Methods in Classic American films (Mise-en-scène = ‘put it in the scene’; what is filmed, and how it is shot. It includes the directing of performance, the placement of cameras, camera movement, lighting, the choice of lenses, design, costume, location hunting, etc. )
Visualizing Methods in Classic American films (Montage = editing, how to present shots. It includes cutting, mixing sound effects and music, and dubbing)
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • Classical Hollywood films aim to make the viewer notice that they were watching a film. They do so through telling a plausible narrative. • In making narrative the dominant force in a film, the classic Hollywood cinema chose to subordinate mise-en-scène and montage to narrative. • It lets mise-en-scène serve for the ‘invisible’, plausible and realistic narrative.
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • They achieve reality and truth effects by concealing filming techniques through sophisticated filming techniques MISE-ENSCENE and MONTAGE • Unartificial → natural → real • Use of arts → make a film look artless → natural → real
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • Film arts which are employed to make a film artless • No unusual angles, eye-level placing of camera, follow-focus (follow shot), no strong contrast, choice of normal size lens (35 to 50 mm), balanced composition, verisimilitudinous camera movement, etc.
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • ANGLES OF FRAMING • High angle shot • Low angle shot • Expressive and formalist arrangement of angles in Citizen Kane (1941) • Camera angle can suggest either the vulnerability or power of a character.
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • Straight-on angle • Following the point of view of a character the most natural positioning of the camera – angle and level
Formalist Mise-en-scène • Expressive angles • Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange (1971) • Extreme low-angle shots
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • LEVEL OF CAMERA • Low-level and highlevel placing of the camera • Following the eye level of a character - the most natural placing of the camera.
Formalist Mise-en-scène • However, eye-level positioning of camera becomes expressive and formalistic, when it is set at an extreme level. • Expressive level • Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996)
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • COMPOSITION • The important figure should be placed in the slightly off-centre of the frame
Mise-en-scéne in Classic American Films • Slightly off-centre composition: Douglas Sirk’s melodramas, All that Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind
Formalist Mise-en-scène • Yasujiro Ozu’s famous composition in which a character comes right in the middle of the screen • Unconventional composition stands out in his films more formalist stylistic element • Ozu’s influence on Kitano films
Realist and Formalist Mise-en-scène DEPTH OF FIELD: FOCUS • SELECTIVE FOCUS or SHALLOW FOCUS = only one plane is in sharp focus • To direct the viewer’s attention to that plane.
Realist and Formalist Mise-en-scène • RACK(ing) FOCUS • Changing of focus within a shot in such a way that one plane of the frame goes out of focus and instead another plane comes into sharp focus. • CSI
Realist and Formalist Mise-en-scène • FOLLOW FOCUS • Keeping a moving object or character in focus
Realist and Formalist Mise -en-scène • DEEP FOCUS • Keeping elements at different depths of the field in focus, by using a relatively wide angle lens, strong lighting and a small camera aperture. • Preferred by realist film makers
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • Camera movements • The camera moves following the movements of a character - the most natural way to move the camera • F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise (1927)
Realist and Formalist Mise-en-Scène • In Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1998), the camera moves following the movements of a character (point-of-view shots) • Are these camera movements more realist or more formalist.
Mise-en-scène in Classical American Films • LIGHTING • High-key lighting: all areas of the image are equally lighted. • Low-key lighting: create strong contrast between light and shadow e. g. A Touch of Evil
Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • Mise-en-scene ought to be motivated as narrative does. The chain of cause and effect should dictate mise-en-scène. • e. g. When a character is a hero, he may be placed in the centre of the frame. When he walks into a room, the camera also moves with him. When he is walking in the darkness, no strong light is cast on his face.
Mise-en-scéne in Classical American Films • However, Mise-en-scène should not let itself stand out. • e. g. A protagonist must be placed in the centre of the frame, but not in the dead centre. When he walks into a room, the camera also moves with him rather than it uses rack focus. When he is walking in the darkness, not too much contrast between light and shade.
Mise-en-scéne in classical American films • F. W. Murnau, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) • Travelling shot from a tram • Motivated: when the characters and the vehicle on which they are on move, the camera moves. • Sunrise
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