Science of Sleep
I'm still not sure what I think of the film yet, I found it very confusing and difficult to follow. The main character was different from most movies. He was unsure of himself all the time and wasn't very confident. I don't think he led the movie through very well.
I did like the beginning of the film. All the splashes of paint, and retro fonts. It reminded me of Dali's art work and his surrealism. His work was based on dreams and the freedom of the mind and so if this film so the begining really helped set the mood.
Mise en scène is everything that appears before the camera, namely:
- the setting
- the costume and make-up
- the use of figure, expression and movement by actors
- the lighting
The style scale
| Formalism, expressionism | ↔ | Realism |
| Form over content - how things are shown is most important, and beyond a usual representation of reality. Expressionist films are highly stylised, and are characterised by oblique camera angles, distorted shapes, bizarre settings, high contrast lighting and the surreal and subjective. | ↔ | Content over form - looks like real life - the intent is to make us forget it is a representation. This is the dominant style of most films, and is sometimes referred to as "the style of no style." |
Setting
Setting gives a sense of place and time. Whatever the film is, you should always analyse the set because it provides important clues about the nature of the film, such as:
- where the action takes place
- when the action takes place
- the mood
- the characters
- the genre of the film.
Costume and make-up
Costume and make-up can be considered as part of the set, because they indicate:
- the period
- the state of society
- social class
- cultural backgrounds
- character traits.
Changes in cosutume indicate changes in charecter, e.g.:
- rich to poor
- taking off clothes as lowering defenses.
Clothing might also be a trademark.
Figure, expression and movement
- Body language
- appearance
- facial expressions (very significant in close-ups)
- sound elements.
The way a character stands and moves is important.
- If they are the foreground they might be considered more important.
- If they move against a stationary background attention is drawn to them.
- Even distribution of characters makes for a balanced shot, whereas uneven distribution is unsettling to the eye.
- Positioning of characters within the frame may even indicate emotional distance.
Diegetic Sounds Diegetic sound is sound that the characters in the film can hear (e.g. the character is listening to the radio) Non- Diegetic Sounds Non-Diegetic sound is sound that is only for the audience to hear (e.g. A soundtrack over an action sequence) http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=149722 has some good examples of both.
