Location:

The town locations in the films are seen to have open, barren spaces between buildings to give the rural feeling to the area portraying the poverty people faced.

The country side within the movie also was empty, flat, wide open spaces giving an adventurous feeling to the movie as the characters travel through unknown spaces to escape the law.

Set:

The house in this scene is broken down and rural accurately displaying the great depression era as many at the time could not afford expensive house leaving many abandoned as scene in this part of the film.

The banks in this movie are seen to be more expensive looking showing the power difference between the government and the people and how unfair it is.

Costumes:

Bonnie and Clyde wear more expensive, fashionable clothing in the movie not being realistic to the real characters the film is based on. This was done to make the characters more appealing to the audience with many people copying Bonnie’s style after the films release.

These characters in the American countryside more accurately reflect the real people of this time period wear more scruffy and dirty clothing making their struggles and world feel more relatable to the audience.

Props:

Guns are seen a lot in this movie breaking the norm for movies in regards to violence at this time. This was done as the French wave film movement allowed for more creative freedom for directors allowing them to break the rules with this film inspiring many other productions to be more violent.

I would give the film a 8/10, being an interesting story throughout with unique cinematography for the time, a memorable scene would be the ending scene where they are shot dead being unexpected and impactful for an ending being a fitting conclusion.

iconic shot:

French new wave is a film movement from France in the 1950-1970 rejecting traditional filmmaking with more creative freedom for individual directors making more experimental films with different editing and visual styles.

French new wave films experiment with editing using long shots and discontinuous editing. Realism and commentary was also played around with within French new wave films.

Many French directors like Jean-Luc Goadard and Francois Truffaut inspired Arthur Penn to create Bonne and Clyde inspired by the style and sense of freedom from French filmmaking.

new Hollywood is a period of film in the 1930-1990 where technology used to make film were updated as well as more creative freedom for directors instead of large studios.

some examples of some films from this era include, bonne and Clyde and taxi driver. Some directors from this period include Robert Aldrich and Woody Allen. Some stars from this era are Ned Beatty and René Auberjonois.

During this time period many events occurred some being the civil rights movement with MLK. WW2 came to an end having the cold war be more of a threat with people fearing communism spreading into America. The Vietnam war also occurred inspiring many of the movies from this time.

underscoring:

in the scene where Rick and Ilse see each other in the bra. A dramatic underscore is use to show the shock of the characters as they thought they would never see each other again.

Sound mixing:

sounds of people talking as well as drinking clicking together were added into the scenes set in Ricks bar using Foley. This immerses the viewer making the set feel more realistic as if it were a real bar.

realism: Casablanca doesn’t fully stick with accurate realism overexaggerating aspects in a way to reflect what the audience wants to see rather than something to relate to. This can be seen through the romantic plot of the movie taking up most of the attention instead of life during the war. As well as the characters being played popular attractive movie stars wearing costumes that don’t accurately portray what lower class refuges would wear. Making a more ideal looking reality to what it actually it due to audiences at the time looking for an escape from their bleak lives during the war.

Tone: Casablanca has dramatic, suspenseful and romantic tones. Reflecting the feelings of war at the time.

Visual style: Casablanca has elements of “film noir” in terms of visuals. Using low lighting, harsh shadows as well as being in black and white.

Casablanca uses continuity editing to give a steady flow to the narrative an example being this plane scene.

1.establishing shot of plane landing to set the scene and further display the setting

2.XLS shot showing the large army giving importance to whoever’s landed.

3.LS shot shows the man walking out the plane into the frame.

4.MS shot to show man up close as ell as establishing a second character he will talk to.

5.MCU shot to give an up close reaction of the man.

6.MCU reverse angle shot to show how the other man is reacting.

location:

The location of the Casablanca market is shown to be rural, exotic and busy to give off the chaotic feeling as people were rushing in and out of the city to escape the Nazis.

The location of Paris is made to look light hearted and romantic to reflect the good times Rick and Ilse had there. People back then were unable to visit Paris so it was seen in a higher light make this scene more desirable to the audience.

Sets:

Ricks café is seen to be expensive and glamorous being one of the busiest places in Casablanca. This is done to make Rick look important and mysterious.

The set of the hanger near the end of the film is made dark, open and foggy to give a sense of danger being chased by the Nazis as well as sadness as the two characters will never meet again.

Costumes:

The suit the main officer wears is dark coloured with overexaggerated features like the collar to give off a powerful and menacing feeling reflecting people views of Nazis in WW2.

The white formal suit Rick wears throughout the film makes him feel important standing out from the crowd to the audience as he takes an important role being the café owner.

Props:

The gun pulled by Ilse on Rick is one of the only times a gun is seen within the film making it more dramatic to the audience to see her threaten someone she’s had a close connection to.

The note from isle to Rick gives a strong emotional beat within the film with the note being smudged for added effect making it seem more tragic.

1. During Casablanca’s filming, a few already famous actors include, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid.
2. Humphrey Bogart had already been in some films including, the Maltese falcon and Sabrina. Ingrid Bergman had previously stared in gaslight and Notorious. Paul Henreid had been in now voyager and rope of sand.
3. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman were already under the contract of warner bros during the filming of Casablanca.
4. I feel that Humphrey Bogart was cast as rick for his history of playing though characters which reflects rick as an anti hero, Ingrid Bergman was casted as isle for the movies love interest.

I would give the film a 4/10 was an intriguing story but the other areas lacked compared to the other films on this course and can be hard to follow sometimes, but is forgivable baring in mind how old it is. My personal favourite scene is the plane scene where Rick tells llsa that she is flying without him as it was a really impactful scene with lots of emotion.

iconic shot: