Silent Film Evaluation

For this task, we chose to make a horror about two characters that each represent Innocence and Evil, showing the chase between the two until the innocent girls death, which was successfully displayed in our setting of a haunted house. The title ‘Mordhaus’ is German for ‘Murder House’, and we chose this to link to the theme of German Expressionism. We chose to have the Evil character portrayed purely through shadows, whereas the innocent girl was always clearly in shot. This made a clear distinction of opposition in our use of mise-en-scene and approved to very successfully show our narrative, but also relates to Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu, from which our film was inspired.

During post-production we chose to make the piece black and white to show the internal conflict of light and dark emphasised by the chiaroscuro lighting, and is a key element of 1920’s German Expressionist silent films of the horror genre. The Evil character was shown predominantly creeping up on the Innocent character, and also their shadowed figure expanding to show their evil nature developing as they go through with the murder. This suggests that death slowly creeps up on us, and that evil nature can quickly dominate an individual. Our use of the music ‘Danse Macabre’ is played throughout and suggests that when the Innocent character is running away from the Evil, they are essentially portraying the ‘Dance of Death’. This is highlighted in long shots of her running and exaggerated movement, as dances often are - and is a key element of early German Expressionist Silent Cinema. If we had more time to edit the film, we would have improved it by altering the tone of selected clips to make them warmer or colder, contributing to the mise-en-scene of the narrative.

Comments

'With close reference to two scenes from 'Pan's Labyrinth', explore how cinematography and mise-en-scène create meaning.'

' P an’s L abyrinth ' is one of the most profound contemporary films. Comprising so many symbols, themes and ideas, it presents a genuine masterpiece bequeathed to the film industry by a magnificent Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro. Released in 2006, it was critica lly lauded with 3 Academy Award wins in 2007 for Best Makeup, Art Direction and Cinematography. It is widely regarded as Del Toro's definitive film. A key scene in the film is when Ofelia meets the Faun, as it is the beginning of her fantasy adventures and he gives her the book which inspires her to complete all the tasks that he sets. The scene begins when the fairy leads Ofelia to the Labyrinth. The fairy itself changes its form to what Ofelia imagines a fairy should look like – according to her story books. This suggests that the whole world that Ofelia is about to enter is based upon her own imaginations and p...

How far does Blade Runner reflect the auteur signature features of Riddley Scott?

Riddley Scott is seen by many as a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production gives a film its personal and unique stamp – this is known as an auteur. Scott is known for his notable films such as 'Alien' (1979), 'Gladiator' (2000), 'Prometheus' (2012), and of course 'Blade Runner' (1982). One element of Scott's films that contributes to the auteur theory is his narratives are often stories of Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy, or historical events. 'Blade Runner' is undoubtable a Science Fiction/Fantasy film but interestingly further includes conventions of Horror as well. All his films center around a pivotal event, mostly on a short timeline, that surround escaping or finding something. For 'Alien', it's escaping the alien planet and the Xenomorph, in 'Gladiator', it's escaping slavery and avenging his family and 'Blade Runner' follows the narrative pattern by trackin...

Review 'Lolita' (1997) Arguab ly one of the most controversial films of its decade, Adrian Lyne's 'Lolita' is a captivating adaptation of the highly acclaimed Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel of the same title. Comparing Lyne's adaptation to the earlier Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita' of 1962, I was rather surprised to much prefer Lyne's take on the story. C onsidering how sexual a lot of Stanley Kubrick's films are, his version of Lolita is restrained in the sexual aspects of the story, failing to go where its story begs for it to go to. It fades to black in key sequences, and lets the audience imagine what is happening between Professor Humbert and Lolita. I feel as though director Adrian Lyne decided he wanted to do another take on Nabokov’s novel, taking the detail further and really showcasing the powerful dynamic between the characters, and allowing the audience to fe...

Elise Booth Film Studies

Search This Blog