Blog1
INSTRUCTION
Dogville is a movie directed and written by Lars von Trier. It is a suspense film lasts 178 minutes. Nicole Kidman, Harriet Andersson, Lauren Becall, Paul Bettany, James Caine and some other actors had taken part in this movie. It is first released on May 19, 2003 at the Lumiere Hall of the Palais des Cinema, Cannes. The story is set in 1930s America. The story is as below.
One night, Grace (the heroine) who has been chased arrives in town, where she is discovered by young writer Tom (the hero), who persuades the people in the village to let her stay. Grace has to do some contribution for the townspeople in order to gain acceptance and earn some living expenses. Gradually, the town residents founded the secret of this girl, she is wanted with a high reward by the police, so, the people in the small town started to change their way to treat Grace, they began to ask for more contribution from Grace. One day, Chuck rapes Grace during a police raid, then she gradually becomes a target of small-town venting and bullying. In despair, Grace borrows some money from Tom and try to pay a truck driver to driver her out of town. But she was betrayed by them and taken back to town and treated like a dog by the residents. Tom eventually give the news out that Grace is hiding in the town, and a dozen gangsters break into the village. Finally It turns out that Grace is the only daughter of a gangster boss who has escaped from home because she her own attitude towards humanity. In the end, Grace inherits her father’s power, killed all the people in the town, including the old people and children, and she killed Tom with her own hands, leaving only a dog in the town, making it the real ”dog ville”. I would like to analyze the cinematography in several scenes in this blog, also not only the stylistic techniques will be mentioned about, the narrative about them will also be analyzed.
ANALYSIS
The first scene i am going to talk about is a scene at the beginning from 0.00.34 to 0.1.47. The scene provides the audience an overview of Dogville. With background music, the voice-over tells the background of the story, introducing Dogville as a closed town in America. As time passed the camera zooms in focuses on Thomas Edison's home radio at then end of this part. In this scene there is not many cinematography techniques but just a zoom in, making the audiences know that Tome is the hero, the story happens next will be highly connected with him. Also, in this scene, it is clear that there is no wall no doors in this town only the furniture on the ground. But actually it is not there is no wall but the walls are drawn with chalk even the barking dog Moses. Mentioning this i would like to talk about an aesthetic term called "Distancing Effect" which is created by Brecht. This effect is to remove the familiar features from an object to let the audience not over intoxicated in it. Nikolaj Lübecker(2011) argued that Dogville is special because it combines not only the surrealism but also the Brecht’s. The director set this kind of uncommon scene aiming to add this Verfremdungs effect in this film because the ending is of inhumanity.
The next scene i wanna analyze is from 1.34.52 to 1.36.00. in this scene, Chuck is going to rape Grace in his house. Then the camera zooms in to Tome who is wandering around outside. Then the scene turns to Chuck and Grace again when Chuck already starts to do what he wanna do. Then on 1.35.25, the scene changes to a wide shot where people can have an overview of the whole scene outside Chuck house. Then there is medium close-ups for several characters each. Then a wider shot to see the whole village, including the police. In this scene, chuck rapes Grace on the pretext of not betraying her. Meanwhile, police are outside questioning dogville residents about The whereabouts of Grace. Although the white chalk lines represent walls and doors and Windows, the two acts take place in two places separated by walls, the audience is presented with two simultaneous acts due to the transparent visual effect of the stage. On one side is Grace who is threatened and raped by the shameless Chuck, On the other side, the police were questioning the villagers. The camera is shot from above, covering both scenes and giving the audience a full view. The sharp contrast between the two scenes on the same stage shows the director's extreme satire on the ugly faces of small town residents.
CONCLUSION
Shufan Shen(2020) once said that In the whole story, the occurrence of contradictions and conflicts, plot development, climax and so on are the core of the whole story to attract the audience. Especially in the enclosed space mode of the film, the dramatic conflict should be constantly progressive, the conflict should be intensified layer by layer. In this film, the conflict is gradually progressive, attracting the audience step by step. Because closed space has certain limitations, and the dramatic stage cannot bear too many scenes, so the scriptwriter of the story itself paid great attention to make the story more suitable for such a form of expression, so that the whole story has more tension.
Reference list
[if !supportLists]1. [endif]Lübecker, N. (2011). Lars von Trier’s Dogville: A Feel-Bad Film. In Horeck, T. and Kendall, T. (Eds.). The New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe (pp.157-168). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[if !supportLists]2. [endif]Shen, S. F. (2020). Analysis of the theatrical space characteristics of The movie Dogville.Radio & TV Journal. (pp. 104-105).
申书帆. (2020). 电影《狗镇》戏剧舞台式的空间特性探析.视听(pp. 104-105).
Blog2
BACKGROUND
In the middle and late 1940s, a huge film movement about an aesthetic system broke out in Italy. It is called Italian Neorealism In 1948, Vittorio de Sica directed Bicycle Thief is one of the greatest films of this stage. The reason why the neo-realist film movement appeared in Italy is that after the Second World War, Italy was in trouble in all aspects, and the whole society was faced with poverty, unemployment, crime and other problems. Italian filmmakers wanted to rise from the ruins of fascism's long rule and after the war. They tried to raise money to make films to show the poor life of the people after the war. In this blog I will list and analyze some of the critics on this film and take a look at how it is commented. In the following paragraph, the story will be roughly introduced.
The story takes place in Rome after world War II. There are throngs of people at employment agencies waiting for jobs. After being out of work for two years, Antonio(the hero) had a chance to work at the poster office, but there is a condition: he had to have a bicycle. The wife pawned all the sheets in their home to get back bicycle. However, his bicycle got stolen by a thief on the next day. When Antonio and his son Bruno finally caught the thief and got the chance to get the bicycle back, the thief went in to convulsion. Residents excused the guy, blamed and intimidated Antonio, although Bruno called the police, there is nothing they can help. Antonio had to retreat. As Antonio passed the corner of the street, he saw a bicycle parked in an empty spot on the street and an idea flashed into his head. He quickly sent his son home, he secretly rode the bike, however, this is seen by the owner, then he was caught by passers-by, to take him to the police station. Bruno, who was waiting for the bus on the street, saw what was happening and ran over, screaming and crying and desperately holding on to his father. When the car owner saw Bruno crying, he told them to let Antonio go. Finally they did not get their Bicycle back.
ANALYSIS
Liu Yani(2017) said that the reasons that this film is great falls in to several parts, first, it is narrating normal people’s lives at that time. The hero and his friends, thieves and the people around are all the bottom of the society for life. In the film, hero's room, shabby clothes, and poor life are showing the sad reality. However, people can only adapt themselves into this situation. Second, the film invited the actors who are not professional actors. The hero is not a professional actor but an unemployed worker that the director found in the street. Although it will be harder to shoot film employing unprofessional actors, the actor will understand how it is difficult to live at that time. This idea also has been mentioned in Li Binjuan’s(2017) article. She also said that In this film, we don't feel the montage editing technique, the director uses the long shot very well, making the audience feel that the whole film is narrated in the form of real record, especially when the hero is chasing the old man who is related to the man who stole his bicycle in the church and on the street. The camera runs after the characters and then changes to another set of shots. The editing are greatly reduced, which aims to weaken the influence of shots and skills and strengthen social background and characters' behavior. Instead of setting up scenes in the studio, the film focuses on the streets of Rome and the real misfortune of the underclass, making the audience feel that this is a record of reality. Last but not least is the profound humanitarian spirit. When watching the movie, the details are very touching. To think about the plots where they lose the bicycle and look for it, It is the father and son in the movie who make us reaffirm human dignity from the perspective of tragedy. According to Ou Lanhua(2018)’s comments, In Bicycle Thief, the bicycle is not only a tool but given a more significant symbol, it is raised into a family's life hope. The hero Antonio lost his bicycle, so he cannot support his family, and more importantly, he lost confidence in the society. The director starts from a small accident, the loss of a bicycle, and touches on the world of the lowly people living in postwar Italy. The film's chatty meetings, tinged with banter and irony; A dark bargain between merchants and thieves; The dramatic pleasures found by idle people. Both reflect the real state of decadence and stagnation of the whole Italian nation from the side, and also show the anxious emotion and longing psychology of the social masses to this chaotic situation. But at the end of the film, Antonio and his son had a warm ending. it prompts thoughts about how love and hope can break or save a person. At the end of the film, Antonio has a good ending, which is also calling for the return of his good side and completing the redemption of human nature with the family love.
CONCLUSION
As far as I am concerned, also, to conclude all the comments above, this film explores the relationship between society and groups with the help of Antonio, reflecting the blow and harm caused by the changes and development of The Times to individual characters. A bicycle represents the different ways of life of social class and the hope of life for Antonio and the whole Italian nation. The cruelty of the society makes more and more people step into the abyss of evil, but the film also conveys a kind of humanitarian concern in an invisible way.
Reference list
[if !supportLists]1. [endif]Liu, Y. N. (2017). A discussion about how a great movie is formed-take Bicycle Thiefas an example.Researches about news(pp. 144).
刘雅妮. (2017). 论一部伟大电影的诞生——以《偷自行车的人》为例. 新闻研究导刊(pp. 144).
[if !supportLists]2. [endif]Li, B. J. (2017). comments on Neorealism film Bicycle Thief. Comments on films. (pp. 55-57).
李斌娟. (2017). 评新现实主义电影《偷自行车的人》. 电影评介. (pp. 55-57).
[if !supportLists]3. [endif]Ou, L. H. (2018). Film and TELEVISION Aesthetic Revolution: An interpretation of Italian new realism film Bicycle Thief. Foreign Film Review.(pp. 38-41).
欧兰花. (2018). 影视美学革命：意大利新现实主义影片《偷自行车的人》诠解. 外国电影评论.(pp. 38-41).
