Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Task 

 

Mise-En-Scene is an aspect of ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ (1920, Wiene). Due to this being a silent film Wiene had to tell the story of Francis and Caligari through various other narrative devices like, mise-en-scene.  

Firstly, it is important to understand that The Cabinet of Dr Caligari was not produced by a mainstream company, therefore it had limited resources. And because of this, not a lot of money could be spent on artificial lighting, so paint was used to indicate lighting and shadows. This is one of the most innovative techniques in my opinion and was a great contribution to the overall verisimilitude of the film. Although the film did not have color, verisimilitude could still be created effectively due to these innovative techniques. 

The cinematography in the film is innovative because it was able to make the film visually interesting without using color and the cinematography helps to build the verisimilitude and makes the film seem believable.  The cinematography in this film can be regarded as innovative because it helps to reinforce the theme of insanity and it communicates this to the audience in a tasteful and subtle manner so when they discover that the narrator is actually insane.

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