The cinematography in the opening of The City Of God is one of the crucial elements that adds to audience response. The first sequence of the film has very cold lighting, even though it is in sunny Brazil. There is a blue tint on the camera lens, making the environment feel almost alien to us as the audience. Most of the time we can't even see the children's faces as they chase the chicken, distancing us emotionally from the characters. There is a massive contrast however when we go back in time to the 60s. The lighting immediately changes, transitioning from a cold harsh light in the first sequence, to a warm softer light. This perhaps conveys the difference in violence in the eras, and how much has changed. The camera handling is also very shaky in the first sequence, moving in and out so quickly we can barley focus on what is happening, creating an intense feel of violence and animosity straight of the bat as they chase the chicken. The camera angle is also almost always on the ground, aligning us with the chicken being chased instead of any of the characters. This also creates a feel of claustrophobia, as being at this perspective in-between narrow buildings makes you feel trapped. This changes however when we transition back to the 60s, the camera's jittery movements resolving into a calm more straight shot, the camera aligned with the characters instead of the chicken. 

The editing in the first sequence creates an extremely jarring effect. Fast paced editing leaves the audience feeling overwhelmed. The first scene starts with several shots of a knife being sharpened, a precursor to things to come in the film. The jump shots of Liz Z grabbing a person selling food adds to this jarring effect as it is not common to see these type of shots in films. The rhythm of the editing also adds a level of intensity to the sequence. 

Key props in the scene include the knife that is being sharpened, as it is saying that someone is getting ready for violence. Also the blood and gun displayed are important as they have connotations with violence and war, two major aspects in the film. The setting of the scene is very narrow, the roads the children run down almost feeling like they're going to swallow you up. We can never see the sky either, adding to the feeling that these people are trapped in the City of God, not being able to look up. 

Liz'z performance gives the audience an insight into his mind. His intimidating body language and almost crazy smile leaves viewers feeling already wary of him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 The narrative of Wallace and Gromit short 'The Wrong Trousers", according to Todorov's theory, starts with an equilibrium. This means everything is going as planned, as Wallace and Gromit went about every day life. However this equilibrium is then disrupted when a penguin comes to stay in Wallace and Gromit's house. The penguin starts to take power in the house and uses a pair of robotic trousers to control Wallace and use him to steal diamonds. Gromit then moves out and a quest to restore the equilibrium begins as he follows the penguin around and realises what his master plan is. The narrative then continues until to a climax when Wallace and Gromit realise what the Penguin is doing and a chase ensues around their house to try and get the diamond back.  Equilibrium is then restored when Wallace and Gromit catch the Penguin and turn him in for his crimes. Life goes back to normal. The evil is the penguin vs the good which is Gromit The penguin is dishonest v Gromit w...
Read more
 David Lynch uses everyday occurrences in the short film Grandmother, twisting them into nightmarish scenes to create a sense of tension and fear in the audience. The first of these occurrence's happens in the first scene, when the son is birthed. The dark grey colours give of a feeling of un-ease and mistrust, with the un-nerving static music playing with our imagination as the seed of the boy, a strange jagged shape, makes it's way up to the ground. As his parents reveal themselves, a man and women on all fours, barking in an animalistic manner, scars on their faces, the dad runs over to his son, behaving aggressively towards him. This could be a pre-curser to the horrors and abuse to come. The twitching, uncomfortable movements the parents and boy make lead to an unnatural distorted feel, making the audience feel uncomfortable, leading to a nightmarish first scene.  There is a scene in the film which depicts the grandmother and the son interacting with each other in a very ...
Read more

Portals-sense of enigma and mystery.

 The film Portals does not contain any dialogue, so there are no hints as to why or how the main character found herself in prison in the first place. This leaves us in the dark and creates a sense of mystery surrounding the whole plot. The fact that it is a In-Media res, meaning the film started half way through also throws the audience of as we have no idea what happened in the first half of the story. We can see she has been there for a long time as her muscular arms shows she has been working out a lot, along with the lines on the wall representing the days she has been in there. There are a few things put into the film that makes the audience question the true nature of what is really going on in the prison. When a portal gun suddenly materialises out of no where viewers begin to wonder whether the main character is in some kind of simulation or video game. Not knowing who she is and where she is makes her an enigma with the viewers, shrouding the film in more mystery. When sh...
Read more