Orphan
Film studio/distributor
Warner Bros. PicturesDark Castle entertainment Date of release: 2009.July.24
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Staring:Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman
In the opening of "Orphan", the studio logos of Warner Bros and Dark Castle already sets an enigma for the audience and also reinforces the genre of the movie---thriller. These are achieved by the effect of flashes; Initially the Warner Bros logo enters in a silver color however, after 2 seconds, it flashes into a rusty old silver splashed with florescent paint of pink and blue. There is also a squeaky distorted, rising high-pitched sound that creates a rather scary feeling. The flashes with the aid of the music generates the idea of instability and also foreshadows the two sides of Esther.
Bright florescent pink/purple and blue also creates a binary opposition as blue is a cold tone color and the former is warmer. When shown to these colors, the first impression is of a child because children tend to pick bright colors to draw, this also serves as a hint to who is the frantic one and how she is only presented as a child.
The font of "Orphan" creates a serious and grand impression whereas when it flashes to the second style being a font that seems hand written by a child, or an adult with horrible handwriting... the prints of the hand and splash represents color paint and chaos as the paint is splashed and the hand print creates a familiar imagery of a blood handprint, therefore another enigma is created; who is out of control? what is the correlation of this and an orphan? This serves as a dramatic warning of the orphan that will soon be introduced to the audience and other characters.
The opening giving birth scene of 'Orphan'
At this point, the exposure is high and is soft-focused achieved through either editing or putting some vaseline over the camera lens, this creates a rather confused, dizzy and even dreamy feeling. Because the color temperature is cold throughout the opening we have a bad feeling for what is going to happen because the cold tones of the colors creates a tense and harsh feeling, this does foreshadow when Kate has the miscarriage of her baby and bloody imageries are presented. The high exposure generates a dreamy feeling which is effective because later on we understand that this is indeed a dream that somehow does reflect the truth of Kate's traumatizing past experience of a real miscarriage of the baby Jessica.
The bird's eye view shot makes Kate seem more vulnerable and weak, this is because people usually associate one's size with their power and strength. This is also known as God's perspective because the audience is placed at God's "view" thus, makes us seem more powerful. The doctor is in control of Kate's direction of movement, and this makes Kate seem even more out of control. The overhead lighting in the middle also creates some shadows on the sides of the corridor which almost creates an effect of Kate being pushed/forced into a demonic space: hell. The shadows almost makes it seem as if there is a dark force creeping in on Kate and soon will surround and swallow her up.
This is a crucial shot because of the composition of this image. The cross is positioned deliberately in between the legs of Kate which is where a woman's reproductive system is present and with the blood running down from the same place, it is evident that fate is going against Kate's wish of wanting a third child. The cross is cruel and harsh and explicitly "says" 'no' to Kate's pregnancy and hope of delivering a child safely. The symbolic code of blood links to the idea of suffering, pain and death since usually people bleed when these happen.
The trail of blood creates a very uncomfortable feeling and the fact that the doctor isn't reacting to this situation, from this moment the audience understands that this isn't normal and that Kate is actually dreaming or that she is in a scary hospital or a combination of both. Due to Neale's theory of genre, we understand that the opening of thrillers such as this one is to leave an enigma to motivate the audience to continue watching to find an answer. As mentioned above, this angle makes the audience feel more powerful but because we are unable to help or do anything when seeing this, it also makes us feel a bit bad and this helps draw more sympathy on Kate as well as horror.
At 1min18sec in the video ,there is a time lapse in the movement of light creates a delaying effect. This creates a chaotic feeling and this is heightened by the level of noise in this scene; we can hear Kate's shouts and the sounds of metal medical equipment on metal trays as well as the revolting sound of blood and meat being moved. This creates an unease and discomforting atmosphere for the audience. This is to help decrease the distance between the audience and the character, so that we can feel some of the very disturbing sensations she is feeling.
The cuts are very quick in the operation room and they are all straight cuts whereas when Kate awakes and begins her day, the cuts are much slower and there is the lack of background music. This binary opposition between the pace accentuates how crazy, scary and violent her dream was. This then reflects the traumatizing effect of the miscarriage. The slower cuts later on portrays her life as very plain and rather monotonous and there is a lack in energy, this is another result of her miscarriage; she is lost and unable to rest.
The mise en scène is very symbolic because the color tones of her house are also extremely plain and there are no bright colors or fancy decorations. This reflects on her life after the miscarriage, she is lacking energy and happiness. The composition of this shot is also very compressed and claustrophobic, illustrating the pressure and stress that Kate is experiencing.
Even the city she lives in seem bleak and the symbolic code of the season-Winter foregrounds the idea that her emotional status is out of balance and the environment is cold and harsh. The binary opposition between the black and grey tone os the overall shot and the minimal bright red of the traffic light sends out a message of warning. The cultural code of red meaning stop in a traffic light offers the audience an idea that it is like its warning Kate to stop and truly reflect on her decision of adoption due to its dangerous consequence which she didn't expect.
The wide shot of Kate's house shows that its design is rather contemporary and its relatively a big piece of land, therefore, the family isn't poor and rather wealthy but they live a simple life. According to Todorov's theory of equilibrium, we are presented with Kate's initial equilibrium; she has a nice family but unfortunately experienced a miscarriage that has traumatized her since. We do get an idea that her new equilibrium will be the possible adoption of an orphan, and this will also bring destruction to her new equilibrium.
There is a binary opposition in the temperature of lighting between the white and harsh lighting of the house in general and orange, warm lamp in Max's room. This creates very different atmospheres, in Max's room it seems happier and more cozy whereas the rest of the house is more tense and depressive. This represents Kate's mood when she is in a space with her daughter, she is happier with her children then when she is alone, she is vulnerable and lonely at this stage but she hides it and smiles when she is in front of her family. This reflects her quality of valuing family more than anything and is very responsible, she finds pleasure and happiness in taking care of her children. This also explains why the miscarriage was so traumatic to her and why she wants to adopt rather than giving birth to another child; she is afraid that she will fail again and be even more depressive. The lack of sound in this scene is important as Max is mute and this highlights the silence that she would experience. No music accompanies this scene because the warmth of this scene is all presented through the happy facial expressions of the two characters as well as the lighting.
Most shots in the opening of the film are stable shots however, this clean single 3 seconds shot is hand held. The camera also moves in forward slightly, as if something is creeping in on her. Because this shot is repeated twice already at different times of the opening, it creates an enigma and makes the audience wonder why there is a hand held shot at this point and only for this shot. This perhaps foreshadow later on at some point of the film, something or someone does creep in on her. This generates a very eerie and creepy feeling because of our unawareness of what is going on or what will happen.
The Revenant
Film studio/ distributor
New Regency productions20th Century FoxRatPac EntertainmentDate of release: 2015
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy
Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck.
The first thing I noticed in the opening of The Revenant is the editing, within the first 9 minutes of the film, there are in total 16 cuts. This is relatively a small amount for traditional thriller movies because quick cuts are usually applied to create a sense of chaos and tension. However, the long shots used in the opening of the movie also creates an effective tense atmosphere because it gets the audience "hanging on the edge of their seats", it builds the suspense and the fact that more action is compacted in one single shot similarly makes the scene seem very chaotic and overwhelming.
When looking at the director, I realized why these longs shots were significant; Iñárritu is also the director of Birdman, a movie very well known for its minimal use of cuts. The whole of Birdman contains only 28 visible cuts which did influence many films to challenge themselves and apply more invisible cuts to create certain effects.
We are first presented with a Caucasian man(Hugh) presumably sleeping, and then the camera pans to the left to a young boy and a female who looks (from a western point of view) foreign. This is due to the cultural code of darker skin color and black hair. The pan shows that the three characters are all lying down in the same space and proxemics are very close especially the young boy and female which, we could infer that they are mother and son. This represents the fact that Hugh is different from the mother and son as his back is facing them, this suggests his different family background and nature. However, when a shot pans from right to left, it creates an uncomfortable feeling because we are used to reading and writing from left to right and therefore it creates an eerie feeling and forebodes something the misfortune of the mother's death and tribe's destruction. The desaturated and cold lighting emphasizes this sad and melancholic atmosphere because although proxemics are close, there is a lack of coziness and warmth of a happy family.
In this wide shot, the proxemics between all three characters are distant. Hugh is walking towards Hawk. Slow motion is applied in this scene so Hugh moves at a very slow pace, all though his body is facing the mother and son and he is aiming to join them, the fact that it is in slow motion, creates this even more isolated feeling. It is as if Hugh is trying to join his family but due to an invisible force, he will never be able to reach them and the family will not be able to be reunited.
This is linked to Todorov's theory of equilibrium, the beginning of the film which presents Hugh and his family in a place of peace and serenity. In this shot, there is only the three of them, no one else which creates and idea that they were in their own little world, content with life. This is Hugh's initial equilibrium, however, the general and Caucasian people came to burn down and destroy the village and the new equilibrium is presented after the fade out and the forest fades in again. Hugh is now older and his son Hawk is a young adult, they both hunt for Moose and are on the "side" of the foreign invaders.
The sound in the opening of the film is significant because there is a J cut of a voice over of an old woman with a very deep and wise voice, she speaks in a foreign language and with the support of the mountains and meadows as well as the appearances of Hawk and his mother, the teepee we can infer that this is perhaps situated in West America where the native Americans live in the 19th century. We are able to hear the swirling sound of the wind and brushing noise of leaves as well as very discrete drum beats, these musical instruments create a rather exotic and mysterious, ancient feeling which again emphasizes the setting of the narrative. The small volume, slow-paced drum beats generate a serious and majestic feeling and the empty, wide horizon enhances this majestic feeling. This reflects the power and importance of Hugh within the narrative.
The wide-angle shot of Hugh present his face as if it was pulled to the middle and it takes up most of the space in the shot, with the aid of his messy hair and confused yet profound look in his gaze we feel as if he is out of balance and lost in his thoughts or in present because through the montage we understand that he lost his wife, the mother of Hawk and is devastated. It is as if the present him revisits his glorious memories of the wife.
At this point there is a follow shot and shows the initial environment, the symbolic codes of hunting guns as well as animal skin and blood allows us to understand that these men are hunters who hunt to get the animal skin and trade them. The fact that the team captain says "leave before dawn" and that he was worried when he heard another gun shot from the distance because he knows that Hugh is out hunting for more Moose skins imply that they are perhaps hunting the Moose in discrete and don't want to be found out by others. From previous analysis of the film's setting being in the Western America where the native Americans have their tribes, we understand that this hunt is happening in the territory of Indians and that these men are robbing their possessions. This is important because during the early 19th Century, animal skin (especially Moose) trade from America was very popular and this business was very much in demand.
The symbolic annihilation is very evident, there are no females. This reflects women's expectations and status in society; the lack of women in this environment indicates how it was inappropriate for women to do the rough jobs out of home. Women's job in the 19th Century was to take care of the family and do house chores, when men would go out and do the "tough" job to gain financial income in order to support the family. The mindsets of that generation was very reserved.
The low angle mid shot of this man creates a very desperate feeling. Although low angle shots are usually used to create a sense of higher power or status, at this point it is used to create a feeling of fear and anxiety. This is because from this angle and his panicking action we feel that he is lost and we almost see a more exaggerated version of his facial expressions. The clean single shot foregrounds the idea of fear because it isolates him from the rest of his teammate and makes him seem he is all on his own. Another reason why this low angle shot makes him seem feeble is because the audience is placed at a lower position compared to this man and we look "up" at him, thus, by merging the idea of low angle shots accentuates one's power and that it also makes one seem lost, we see a man who is more powerful (He is holding the gun and shot from a low angle) being afraid. Hence, this adds on to the tension and makes the audience more nervous and confused. The color tone is extremely cold and makes the setting seem harsh and bleak, the man's skin tone is grey which is unusual for a healthy person, this suggests that he is exhausted from all the work and the working conditions aren't good, but mainly it is to highlight his fear and emotional turmoil. The emotional turmoil is caused by hearing multiple gun shots from their camp which means that they are being attacked, however he doesn't where it comes from.
The composition and mise-en-scène of this shot is fantastic. The main object is placed in the very centre of the shot and there is a big amount of empty space around it which creates a feeling of isolation. This is to accentuate how the group of people are alone because they intruded the native American's land and are viewed as enemies to them. The shot is desaturated and almost seems black and white. The lake's color is bluish black and we are unable to see through the water, this is very symbolic because dark waters tend to represent unknown danger which reflects how the native Americans appear all in a sudden to attack them and forbids a dangerous adventure ahead of them. The mysterious and unforeseeable idea is foregrounded by the fog that hides the mountains and forest in front of the boat. And the fact that the boat is sailing in to it foreshadows that they are going in to the danger.
The silhouette of the boat hides the facial expressions or details of the characters and although they are on the same boat, they seem to be lonely and in their own worlds. Because they are aware of the danger ahead of them. The black figure of the boat and characters also allow the audience to view these men from the point of view of the native Americans.Conventionally the symbolic code of black represents evil and sinful, which to the native Americans, they are evil and sinful because they stole animals and women and anything that is valuable from them, they disrupted their balance and equilibrium.
Summary
I have learnt the effect of color tones of a shot and the effectiveness of it if well used, it can enhance the mood and atmosphere and can also be used to foreshadow. A grayish blue filter can also make the character's skin tone become cold and grey and can generate the effect of unhealthiness and tension.
Slow motion is also used extensively in the opening of the film and with the aid of proxemics, it creates a dramatic effect of isolation and not just highlights details within the frame.
Both long follow shots and quick cuts can create the effect of chaos and tension, however the follow shots depends slightly more on the action happening within the shot. They are both effective and can be explored to see which one matches more with the theme or the feeling created and also the style of director.
In my own work(2 minutes film opening) I would like to explore in depth the usage of color tones and filters to create impact on the audience and how it may elevate the concept of the film.
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