How does the sewer scene in The Third Man use framing and composition technques, mise en scene and cinematography to create meaning,metaphors and effect?

Figure1

Figure 1 displays Harry Lime attempting to crawl up the sewer stairs after being shot. One way that this shot displays features of interesting framing and composition is through the use of jagged geometric edges and setting. Particularly the stairs, it appears that Harry is being boxed or framed into a single position, which constructs the sense of entrappment for the audience. Furthermore this adds connotations of German Expressionism, with the use of focused, pinpointed edges and from the use of chirascuro lighting we see Harry's face mixed with light and dark which represents his "evil within"; another connotation of German Expressionism. Also by filming the shot as looking down on Harry's face, or a high angle shot, it constructs the idea for the audience that as they are looking down at him now, that he is inferior to them. This idea also represents Harry's struggle for power, as he is trying to climb up the stairs to freedom but he is being held back and therefore cannot gain the power and freedom that he so desperately desires.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows Harry being spotted by a light that the police are using to try and find him. This shot is metaphorical in the sense that Harry has found the light at the end of the tunnel but he know he cant go the path that it leads as he will be caught. The metaphor here might be that of a Holy kind, being that if he takes the path towards the light and enlightenment he will be doing a good thing, but this means he will be caught. however if he is caught that means he must confess himself and therefore this is a good thing in the eyes of some religious believers. However if he does not take this path he will stay in the darkness and have to keep evading the police to stay alive and free. The use of chirascruo lighting is also very effective here as it highlights the darkness which Harry is currently in and the pure power of the light that is being pointed at him, reinforcing the metaphor. Also as the shot that is being used is a mid shot, this constructs the feeling for the audience that we are following Harry and that we are almost a companion of his. Due to the use of this shot it allows the audience to feel more involved in the film, therefore making this hot very immersive.

Figure 3

Figure 3 is very similar to Figure 2 due to it being the same shot but with different character placement. In Figure 3 we see Harry has moved away and the police are starting to chase him again, and they are immersing from the light that they used to locate him. Using the same idea of the same metaphor, we could suggest that the police are upholders of good, or maybe even saints, come to locate and find the dark character or maybe even demon who has committed a crime, this being Harry. This metaphor links back to the idea of the "evil within" and German Expressionism, as many people during World War 2 thought that God would save them as the war was the work of the devil. Again through the same use of a mid shot, the feeling of entrapment is constructed as the camera does not move as the police move towards the camera. Then linking back to the idea that we were following Harry, it creates suspension for the audience as we are potentially guilty for committing the same crimes as Harry as we were his companion, ands therefore the police are running towards the camera to arrest the audience.

Figure 4

In Figure 4 we see Holly immerging from the light at the end of the tunnel. we as an audience know he has just shot and killed Harry, which we can use to analyse the meaning of this shot. We see that in previous shots that Holly had a mixture of light and dark upon his face. Again the idea of "evil within", and Holly's evil could be debated to be due to Harry, as Harry tries to persuade Holly to help him. Therefore the mixture of light and ark on his face would be him considering whether to help Harry or not; the differences in his morality. Now that Holly has killed Harry, we only see Holly in darkness. And as this is the last time Holly is seen in the movie, we can say that he killed Harry but it turned him into something evil - which is represented in the chirascuro lighting of the shot and him being all black in the shot. However with him emerging from the light, it could also suggest that he was doing the right thing by killing Harry as he had done a lot of wrong before he was killed. Also from the use of a vanishing point into the light, it could be suggested that the path into the light is endless, and linking back to the religious metaphor, the path into Heaven is endless. But as Holly comes back through the light and into the dark, this could represent that Heaven is a safe haven for people at the time after the war or even during the war and that Earth is a dark and dismal place to live

In the Third Man, how are chiaroscuro lighting and vanishing points used to construct a sense of disorientation?- Edited

There are particular shots in The Third Man that display both chriascuro lighting and vanishing points, but two in particular stand out as the two that create the most disorientation.

Here in this image, we see the character Holly wandering the streets of Vienna at night, full of despair due to the fact that his recent friend Harry Lime has recently "died". In this shot, we see Holly looking away to the side of the shot. What makes the shot most disorientating is that the vanishing point is in the opposite direction of which Holly is looking. So disorientation and confusion is created as the audience become unsure in which direction to focus their attention on: the direction Holly is looking in or the vanishing point, which appears to be the natural direction the setting is looking in. This is due to the lines on the side of the building and the street pavement all pointing towards the vanishing point. Also the use of chiaroscuro lighting in the direction of the vanishing point also makes the audience feel inclined to look towards the vanishing point as the high light intensity might signify that an important moment is going to occur there.

This image is very similar in the way that it disorientates the audience by making us want to look two separate ways. In this case we see Harry's shadow cast on the wall as he runs away down the street out of sight and we see the vanishing point, pointing towards the archway which Harry ran through which has high intensity light on the side of its arch; another example of chiaroscuro lighting. Again the audience naturally wants to focus on Harry's shadow, even more so as it is the only moving object in the shot. However we are also naturally drawn towards the vanishing point and the chiaroscuro lighting as it appears that the setting is directing us towards where we as the audience are meant to be focusing.

The use of chiaroscuro lighting could be an effective technique to use in our own thriller opening, due to its effect of disorientation and confusion in The Third Man. Therefore if we were able to replicate the use of chiaroscuro lighting in the same or a similar way, then we could create the effect of disorientation and confusion in our own piece, which is something that would likely get us high marks if we were to use it effectively. Another technique would be to use vanishing points in our thriller opening piece as well. Again, like chiaroscuro lighting, its effect of enigma and disorientation in The Third Man could allow us to use the same technique to create the same or a similar effect in our own piece, potentially leading to a higher mark.

How does the director of Se7en establish character?

When we are introduced Morgan freeman's character, somerset, we see that he lives in a bland and incredibly dull apartment, which immediately presents the audience with the representation of Somerset that he may be quite a basic and standard character. Then in the next shot, Somerset is illustrated neatly and very accurately putting on his suit, almost to the point where it appears abnormal to the audience. After we he has put on his suit, we see Somerset picking off a speck of dust off os his suit jacket which is neatly displayed on his bed, which is also incredibly neat and tidy: again to the point where it might appear abnormal to the audience. When Somerset picks off the speck of dust, it becomes a vital part of establishing who he is and what he is like, as it finalises the idea for the audience that he is a very fixed character. After the shots where the audience sees Somerset as a pinpointed character, we see him collect a number of props from a table, which again are neatly arranged. The objects on the table include: a switch-knife, his golden homocide police badge, keys, a pen and a paper rose. Most of the shot supports the constructed idea that Somerset is a focused and undeterred character, except from the paper rose. The rose is angled to the side on the table, and appears to be the first item in Somerset's possession that isn't neatly aligned like everything else. And the paper rose offers no meaning to the audience but clearly holds value to Somerset or it wouldn't be in with his essentials otherwise. Therefore the paper rose is an item that constructs a sense of illusiveness to Somerset, which no other item does in the opening sequence.

When Brad Pitt's character, Mills, is introduced, we see that he is a distracted character and appears to not take the detective role very seriously.Whereas Somerset is very serious and focused on his work unlike Mills. We even see as Somerset and Mills leave the building where they're investigating a murder, that Mills looks at an attractive women as she passes both the characters. This again illustrates the idea that Mills is distracted from his work. From Mills exchanged dialogue with Somerset, we see that he is in some sense a vain character. We see this when Mills interrupts Somerset mid-sentence and from seemingly short answers to some of the questions that Somerset asks, which could suggest that he views himself as superior to Somerset and therefore Somerset is inferior to himself despite Somerset having served in the Homocide department longer than Mills has.  

Preliminary Task Write Up

We were tasked with creating a preliminary video, which we had to plan, film and edit in our own groups. We had to include certain techniques in our video such as different camera shots, editing effects and plans. Particularly, the task involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

We had to plan out exactly how we were going to film and direct our video. We had to create our own floor plan, which detailed where, and when the characters would walk and speak. We also had to create a storyboard, where we could create our own script and story or we could take the script and story of a TV show or a movie.

One technique that we needed to particularly focus on using was the 180 degree rule, which is where you're only allowed to film on one 180 degree side of a person or object. We achieved this during the conversation that we filmed for the task but at the very beginning when we had one of the characters walking, unfortunately we broke the 180 degree rule.
Our teacher (Mr Seal) may have made us do all of the planning ourselves because he wanted us to be independent in the making of our film so the end product fully reflected what us students were capable of instead of what the students and the teacher was capable.
Some extra planning that may have been useful would be the memorisation of the script. his would have made it easier to keep the filming continuity going.

We used different camera techniques such as tilt shots, ECUs, medium shots and over the shoulder shots. We used them to make the video more sophisticated instead of a bland and boring video.

The main learning points from the task where that we need to work in a group to get the most effective results and that we al need to reach a conclusion quickly about what techniques and scripts we are using to make sure that less time is wasted.

Preliminary Task

How do directors film a conversation?

Throughout the clips provided, all clips use extremely similar techniques to film the conversations within them. The clips that I looked at were: Breaking Bad Coffee and Cigarettes Lord of the Rings
In Coffee and Cigarettes, there are different techniques which are used across all of the clips, but specifically in Coffee and Cigarettes, these techniques are used extremely well, especially considering that there weren't as many examples of these techniques used during the time period of film making that Coffee and Cigarettes was made in.

The first technique is the 180 degree rule. This means that the camera can only film on one 180 degree side of the characters or objects that are in focus. By using this technique, the clip constructs of balance between the two characters: Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, despite a lack of physically appearing opposition. To accompany the 180 degree rule, the director uses a very small amount of cameras. From using a small amount of cameras, the director constructs a sense of focus on only what is happening in-between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. Sometimes, using too many cameras constructs a sense of idleness and distance from what is actually happening in the movie. Another feature of Coffee and Cigarettes that is well used is the "quirky" angle. The angle in particular is the high shot that looks directly down onto the table. The shot still follows the 180 degree but it doesn't construct the same feeling that the normal shots do. During the quirky shot, if focuses mainly on the coffee in the middle of the table, so it might be suggesting that the coffee is one of the main factors of the scene and maybe even the movie itself considering "coffee" is in the title of the movie.

In Breaking Bad, all of the same techniques are used from Coffee and Cigarettes. The 180 degree rule applies, the director uses a small amount of cameras and there is even a quirky shot. The only way in which there are different in terms of techniques is that Breaking Bad uses over the shoulder shots whereas Coffee and Cigarettes doesn't. By using over the shoulder shots, the director re-enforces a sense of opposition between the two characters. However in Coffee and Cigarettes there appears to be no or extremely low opposition.
Again with the Lord of the Rings clip, it uses the 180 degree rule and small amounts of cameras. Throughout all 3 clips, the techniques all construct the same sense on the audience. However, lie Breaking Bad, there is one technique which is only in the Lord of the Rings clip. The use of shot reverse shot. By using it in the lord of the rings, the director is able to establish the difference between the two different characters of Gollum.

Peaky Blinders analysis - Edited

This first shot from Peaky Blinders, introduces us to a group of people walking through a puddle. At first glance, the puddle was very still and calm. It almost constructs a connotation of peace. However, as the group of people walk through the puddle, this connotates a sense of destruction and desolation from the group of people walking through the puddle. From this the viewer can recognsie the connotation that the people that are walking through the puddle who are, have or will cause a lot of damage and disruption to places and people who and which are very peaceful from the use of mise en scene. Also, from the colour of their matching boots, we can presume that these people are part of some sort of gang or maybe even cult. Because the matching boots are black, this reinforces the idea that these people are going to cause a lot of damage.

This second shot illustrates the image of the group of people walking through the street. We see that they are all wearing suits and hats of some sort, part of the mise en scene of the scene. This signifies their unity and, in some sense, brotherhood. We see that the character in the middle is being focused on by the camera, which suggests that he is the main character. However, as the 3 people at the front people at the of the group all have their hats covering their eyes. This could suggest the connotation that these 3 people are the main leaders of the group.

The third and final shot shows us what appears to be followers of the leaders of the group. We see the bystander in the background wielding a flamethrower, however the group appears to be unphased by the ferocious weapon. This illustrates the groups power and authority to the point where they feel stronger than what they see around them. Throughout all of the pictures, we see the group not changing their facial expressions, which are all unamused and even angry at some points.This connotation constructs the idea that these people are not the average people and are not to be messed with.

Summer Bridging Task - Edited

Following are the Clips that were discussed in the video above

Casino Royale


L.A Noire


Chiaroscuro lighting - lighting that is used to create a high contrast bewteen colours, particularly black and white

Introduction

Oi oi, I'm James Kirkham and this is my media blog.