Clip  – sound editor – escape action

Only one character used – protagonist chased from unseen force presumably another person or external threat

No clear character used to give chase, to add suspense and tension by not giving away too much. Makes plot more mysterious and intrigues audience
Character bio

Name – unknown, no reference to name or anything identifying him. Implies that he is on the run, so little known personal information is assumed to retain anonymous

Age – late teens, early twenties. Again; little is known, but his age is implied from his build and stature

Traits – mysterious, fearful, ambiguous

Motive – to escape whatever, or whoever is chasing him

Casting

I have decided to cast a friend, Aleksander in this role. For one, he understands the role I have explicably described to him. After discussing the role, I think he would fit the mysterious character of which dominates the short clip because understands the potential and drive that needs to be shown

Visually, there are no specifics in regards to how I want the character to look. Tall, and mysterious should be important in representing the ambiguity within the film

Since we do not know much about the character it is vital that the physical look represents the traits explained above. As little is known about the character, it is down to him to express the fear, paranoia and mystery which are the important traits displayed by the main and only character I conceived for this piece

In regards to finding a backup, should he not suit the role; it would not be particularly difficult to find someone who could portray such a vague character

Despite the complexities hidden behind the characters’ anonymity, the versatility of the characters’ look, allows for me to adapt my perception of how the character should visually appear

As a result of this, actors should not be difficult to find because they are no physical traits which make the character stand out that could make casting difficult

It could be possible to adapt the character to a female as there is little information given about his backstory which builds an interesting and mysterious narrative

Breathless – French New Wave 

  Breathless is a film directed by Jean Luc – Godard in 1960. It is a film which was part of the French New Wave film movement. The film was filmed in Paris on sight. This was because breathless had a low budget, around £15,000, which is an extremely low budget for a film. Continuing with this theme of a low budget, the whole film was recorded in black and white in order to save money. However, this also contributed to the films feeling of Noir.    The idea of film Noir is a big idea in this film. From the black and white film reel, to the stereotype of a chain-smoking man in a suit and fedora. Both contribute to the Film Noir style. This film set the standards for Film Noir in the future, any other Noir Film you see will almost seem like or make references to this film. For instance, films such as Blade runner and a Touch of Evil depict dark worlds, in which we follow a dark character (though in Blade Runner is a police officer) through chase sequences, and the main character being either a detective or on the wrong side of the law. Either way, the police Is usual involved in some way. However, Blade runner is a little different because the film is in color. However, in the intro for instance, the shots of the city are very dark. This is a theme throughout the film, although they have access to color, the film tends to steer away from using color in its shits when it can. Keeping with the idea of Noir being black and white. As we as all that, in Noir films the characters tend to smoke a lot. I think this had to do with how mysterious the main character usually is, using smoke to hide their appearance.   

As well as that, this film was made during The French New Wave film movement. This film shows its references to this, by making an unconventional film. Some scenes in the film show off stuff that audiences weren’t used to seeing at the time, and even to this day, some parts of the film and the script seem odd. For instance, there’s one scene in a hotel room, which takes up about 25 mins of the film. This was certainly an odd choice. As well as that, the script can be quite random at times, going from talking about how their day is going, to Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) asking Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg) to sleep with him, in what seems to be like one sentence. 

Use of Soviet Montage in Strike 

  ‘Strike’ is Sergi Eisenstein’s first full-length film, released in 1925. ‘Strike’ is a silent film about the workers at a factor, who are mistreated, and go on a strike until their demands are met. Eisenstein was one of the first students of the USSRs first film schools, known as the Moscow film academy. At this academy, they couldn’t film their own stuff just yet, because the USSR were low on recourses at the time. Instead, they got old films and cut them up in order to practice editing. That is why Eisenstein made some of them best editing work of his time.   Russian montage uses quick cuts to show off a lot in a short amount of time. One use of this, is in the first scene, in which we’re shown the factory workers working. We’re shown short clips, no longer then a couple seconds, of the workers faces. This is a use of montage, it gives the audience the feeling that the film is going faster than it really is. Here, he is using Metric editing in order to give the film its tempo.  As well as that, Eisenstein uses Montage in order to show multiple events that are occurring at the same time. For instance, when the workers are revolting against the factory, the shots we are shown keep switching between two of the workers having a fight with one of the owners, while we are also shown all the workers running out of the factory and becoming free. At some point in the film, he uses another method of editing called “Over-Tonal Editing”, which combines three methods of editing. This includes, Metric editing, Rhythmic editing, and a third one I haven’t talked about yet, called Tonal editing, which focus on the lighting in the shot. However, my next example is a perfect use of this anyway. In the intro scene, the series of shots we are shown consist of workers doing their jobs at the factor, to a couple workers plotting against the capitalists (shown above). 

Eisenstein’s favourite method used throughout the film, is the Intellectual method. This is used a couple time throughout, from the characters named after animals, to the cow being slaughtered. When, for instance, the Owl is introduced, the film shows us his face for a second, and then cuts to an Owl, then back to his face. This subconsciously shows us that this character is like an owl, hunting a night. Then, when the cow gets slaughtered later, it keeps cutting from the cow being cut open, back to the factor workers being hit. This is meant to allow the audience to see that the workers are like animals to the slaughter. This helps the audience bring new meaning to the shots the film is showing us, this shows how Eisenstein is using the art form of film to its biggest potential, as showing two consecutive shots is what makes film unique to any other form of art.   As a final note, I’d just like to mention how I think this film was also big on the development in technology in film. This is because, there are techniques and transitions in this film that were rare for the time. For instance, there’s one shot near the start when the camera is looking into a puddle. This shot is reversed, showing it backwards give off a great effect, and reveals the factor to us in a unique way. As well as that, there’s a lot of layering film over each other in this film. This is when two bits of film are shown at the same time, allowing us to see, for instance, a face in the sky. It gives the film a feeling of being supernatural. 

Cinematography and editing are presented in Breathless, (1960) by Jean-Luc Godard, by using multiple techniques. This includes jump cuts and making scenes longer than standard. Godard creates this unconventional timing in the scene where the characters, Michal and Patricia, are driving in the car and several jump cuts are used.

These jump cuts are inconsistent and appears to be unconnected and random. This creates the Brechtian technique, used in theatre, which reminds the audience of the fact they’re watching a movie. This was also used in the scene where Patricia waits in the taxi while Michal gets out to speak to a man. The usual way of presenting this scene would be to have the camera follow Michal and allow the audience to hear the conversation however instead, Godard had the camera remain inside the taxi and have the conversation appear as a mix of ambient noises to show it from the perspective of Patricia because she, nor the audience, can hear what’s going on.

The “pointless” jump shots were unusual because although Michal was continuously talking, and Patricia hadn’t changed positioned, the jump shots still persisted. It is strange due to the purpose of jump shots being to cut to the next scene, although the scene still took place normally. By disconnecting the audience from the film, it allows them to understand it better and observe from better outlook. By being emotionally involved in a film, you allow your emotions to distract you from the real message behind the story. By feeling what the character’s feel, your reliable outsider’s perspective is gone. Another reason for these random jump cuts was because Godard was told to make the film a bit shorter.

Due to audience’s during “The Golden Age of Hollywood” becoming used to films ending with the protagonists having a happy ending, Breathless stood out even more because of Michal’s death, showing the opposite of what you would expect out of the film. Another way that Breathless was so different was that, due to a low budget, they replaced the idea of a constructed set with a real street in Paris in the final scene. These features, among others, were all reasons as to how French New Wave changed cinema.

Strike (1925, dir. Serge Eisenstein) is a silent film. It was created during the rise of the soviet union and tells the story of one of the workers. The way he does this is by featuring different soviet montage techniques. This includes Metric Editing which is a technique in which lengths of shots make the tempo of the scene. This is used at the start of the film where this strike was being organised

To increase the tempo of the scene, he quickly cuts between the factory worker’s faces with only a second in the shot for the audience to process what’s happening. This is barely any time at all, which only speeds up the scene and creates a sense of chaos and panic and gives the audience a sense of urgency; which correlates to what the workers are feeling.

To allow the audience to understand each of the characters, Strike uses the intellectual method of editing when the agents are being introduced. In this scene, it cuts from pictures of animals, to the pictures of their faces, and then reveals their code names. This creates an understanding as to why they were named after the animals they were. He fades the animals’ faces into the characters to make the comparison obvious, and then traits that the character has that the animal also has will seem more noticeable to the audience.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920, dir. Robert Weine) was created in Germany by a film studio known as Decla. It is a well-known silent horror film that influences many other films, including some in modern day cinema as well as film noir in the 1950’s-60’s.

In this scene, you are able to see where these strips of light have been painted on the floor. It was made in the period of German Expressionism which allows this to show the genre of the film. One feature that is shown is the Distorted Landscapes, which is prominent in this shot. The set appears disoriented due to the slanted window which, again, accentuates the context of German Expressionism, however this could be viewed as a foreshadowing of the fact that this story was told by a mental patient with a disoriented mind. This warped appearance allows the audience to see things through the mind of the mental patient. This twist ending was what made The Cabinet of Dr Caligari a cinematic breakthrough, due to the unreliable narrator and the plot-twist.

In this film, an “Iris Wipe” is frequently used which is an editing effect that typically closes the iris of a camera and then slides a piece of card over it to make the shot cut to black. This technique was used in the shot where Francis tells the story about the fair. In this flashback scene, the iris cut shows the audience that it is a flashback scene and creates a surreal like feeling to the scene to make sure that the audience is aware that it’s a memory. This film had no outside shots and was produced entirely on made up sets which means that they used artificial lighting. This led to them painting strips onto the sets of light and dark in order to present shadows and contrast.

The characters’ emotions had to be cleverly expressed, due to the fact they couldn’t talk, and also highly detailed. Weine found a way to show how each character was feeling, in this film, by the use of makeup. When Cesare is first exposed to the audience, his dramatic makeup is emphasised in the close-up where he is first revealed. The dark eyes and lips establish him as the villain, and create a creepy feel to the audience. The Mise-en-scene in this film was used as expression in order to create emotions that can’t be presented through speech to the audience.