Analysis Of Bela Balazs: A Close-Up

“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can convey emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” The written word and the moving image have always had their entwining roots deeply entrenched in similar narrative codes, both functioning at the level of implication, connotation and referentiality. But ever since the advent of cinema, they have been pitted against each other over formal and cultural peculiarities – hence engaging in a relationship deemed “overtly compatible, secretly hostile” (Bluestone 2).

The 1954 film Rear Window discusses those within society who feel isolated. In showing those who are isolated by society 's expectations, and contrasting the way in which individuals put up a façade in public, Hitchcock demonstrates the impact of isolation. However, Hitchcock also illustrates through the progression of the film how people can

“Honey, you are changing that boy’s life.” A friend of Leigh Anne’s exclaimed. Leigh Anne grinned and said, “No, he’s changing mine.” This exchange of words comes from the film trailer of an award-winning film, The Blind Side, directed by John Lee Hancock, released on November 20th, 2009. This film puts emphasis on a homeless, black teen, Michael Oher, who has had no stability or support in his life thus far.

Evey is subjected to torture whilst in prison due to her non-compliance in providing information to the government. A bird 's eye view camera shot looking down at Evey lying on the floor communicates her helplessness and vulnerability, locked in a cell with nothing but the story of a fellow prisoner. The low lighting during these scenes communicates a dark and depressing mood. The reflection of the light off the grey concrete walls convey a feeling of isolation and draws sensory feelings of coldness off the concrete floor.

With Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock proved himself to be one of the best directors of suspense thrillers filled with mystery and humour. He himself called the film his most cinematic one because it was told only in visual terms (Morrow), but it was also a challenging “editing experiment” as the entire film was shot from one place, Jeff’s apartment that overlooked his backyard. The Film follows L.B. Jeffries “Jeff” (James Stewart), a photographer confined to a wheelchair in his apartment after breaking his leg at work. He spends his days watching his neighbours and eventually suspects that one of them killed his wife. His caretaker, his girlfriend Lisa and his detective friend, at first unconvinced of his suspicion, eventually join him in his voyeurism and help him to solve the crime.

Moreover, the film depicts the relationship as reminiscent of another time, often with the use of medium close up shots as the two interact in a disengaged demeanor. However, once Rick and Ilsa converse passionately, the shot distance converts to a close up in order to capture the tension between them. The

Revealing the character’s inner conscious, I believe helps reveal the

Over the fifteen weeks of the first semester of film school, we were taught many interesting types and styles of early world cinema which were extremely informative and influenced the filmmaking style of the whole class and made us better filmmakers instantly. One such ‘ism’ which inspired me the most was German Expressionism which is a unique characteristic of Weimar Cinema. In this essay I am going to talk about the history of this ‘ism’, its impact on cinema, some significant works and how it inspired me and influenced my filmmaking style. German Expressionism is one of the earliest artistic genres to influence filmmaking, and one that ostensibly prepared for some other cutting edge artistic styles and techniques. It is an artistic genre

The film reflects on the fact that the audience assumes the role of voyeurs to the screen exhibition because it plays on emotion through the character of Hugo and his

She argues that the act of moviegoing satisfies these voyeuristic desires in people. She writes, “The mass of mainstream film portray a hermetically sealed world which unwinds magically, indifferent to the presence of the audience, producing for them a sense of separation and playing on their voyeuristic fantasy,” (pg. 186). In this essay, I will further discuss her viewpoints on cinema and voyeurism, and how it connects to the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window is a film that follows the

The narrator begins to change as Robert taught him to see beyond the surface of looking. The narrator feels enlightened and opens up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience has a long lasting effect on the narrator. Being able to shut out everything around us allows an individual the ability to become focused on their relationships, intrapersonal well-being, and

The movie Hidden Figures by Theodore Melfi is talking about the civil rights and equality of men and women in 1970 's to 1990’s. The Mise-en-scene means "setting up a scene. " There are six elements that make up mise-en-scene acting, costume and make-up, setting, lighting, composition or space and lastly. In Hidden Figures, the mise-en-scene helps audiences to become closer to the story and have the same feeling as those main characters. The director uses many different kind of shout angles to show the unbalanced between black people and white people at that time and the color and lighting also help the director can present the emotions that the characters are facing different kind of events or people.

Film takes photography to another level. Film, or the cinema “is objectivity in time.” For the first time with film “the image of things is likewise the image of their duration, change mummified as it were”. Bazin argues "only the impassive lens, stripping its object of all those ways of seeing it, those piled- up preconceptions, that spiritual dust and grime with which my eyes have covered it, are able to present it in all its virginal purity to my attention and consequently to my love.

The cinematic language that we hear in modern day movies would not be as it is today if we hadn 't had synchronous sound recordings from the beginning of film. Cinematic Language is the systematic method by which movies communicate with the viewer. Some examples of cinematic language are, Mise-en-scène, camera angles, the use of long takes, & depth of field. Barthes theory of Expressionism, the use of lighting techniques, montage and elaborate props push to make The Wizard of Oz appear to be a spectacle of realism.

Many scenes would have been deemed irrelevant in typical films, such as the small talks Lucas has with Theo, Marcus, and others. However, The Hunt uses these scenes as a way of displaying how normal, relatable and real the story can be in everyday life. The common phrase “stand in my shoes” thus becomes essential in film when a spectator seeks to understand a character. Introducing a point-of-view (POV) helps in relating one’s self to the role that is played on the movie screen, therefore fabricating a connection between viewer and character. Per Persson (n.d., 64) asserts that the range of view or eye line matching shots play an influential role in placing the spectator in the character’s position.