eden’s film blog

 The High Sign early 20th century conventions portrayed accurately - juxtaposition of exterior surroundings of the poor and rich; upper class elderly man and daughter live in rich home with posh furniture and butler working for them but working class men (the blinking buzzards) hideout in basement of shooting range in small enclosed scarcely furnished room. also beginning when Keaton is kicked off of the train, workers traveled around to find work. juxtaposition between tall, supposedly scary and threatening gang members in small enclosed room adds to comedic effect, results in them not seeming so threatening after all. repetition of the gang crowded around small spaces e.g. all of them outside the house looking through the window waiting for Keaton's character to carry out the murder - uses framing to tell us the story house full of moving walls and trap doors, elaborate set design using secret passageways; distorts reality for the audience. shots include multiple floors of the ho...

One week meaning is created in the frame itself, rather than through editing or cuts editing is extremely minimal, as invisible as possible, only present when completely necessary editing used is all for functional purposes rather than to create meaning; for example the opening shot cuts briefly to a close up of a new character before cutting to another long take of them getting in the car. so used to advance the plot rather than have an effect on how the audience view the events. the framing fits the size of the joke, mostly wide shots to show all the action happening, closest shot is the medium shot towards the end majority of, if not all Keaton's emotions and expressions are expressed through exaggerated body language and movement  size contrast is as a comedic effect - Keatons small stature is used to an advantage vs tall fatty man Keaton uses several silent comedy conventions - stuns, falls, special effects, chase sequences, set design, using mis en scene for jokes breaks 4th...

- food on the table was tempting to Ofelia, she disobeys the rules and eats two of the grapes because she is desperately hungry, after the civil war their is a lack in food supply, could have a biblical connotations of Adam and eve, when eve ate the apple - symbolic of both the catholic church during that era in Spain, of fascists and greedy rich white men I'm general  - position of pale man at the head of the table is the same as Captain Vidal's position in a previous scene, likens the two. Vidal is portrayed to be a heartless, mean and disrespectful man. His main worry was his unborn son carrying his last name. he would kill anyone in the way without hesitation he shed's blood of innocent people and has no compassion. The pale man dines off the blood of children to survive. Vidal's love for tobacco alcohol and food can be seen as parallel to the pale man's feast - his eyes being stuck in his hands means that he is constricted in his movements, as scary as he is he...

The font in the opening titles could be associated with the font you could find in an old fairy-tale book, reinforcing the theme of fairytales which is present throughout the film. The opening shot begins with the ending. The colour palette which is dark blue and black, produces a dark, sinister and cold atmosphere. The movement of this shot together with the next one takes us from the underground then into the light. When the camera lies on its side next to Ofelia then zooms in to her eye, entering her head, it foreshadows where the entire plot takes place; in her head. The warm oranges, green and yellow tones of the following scene creates a significant contrast in the tone. During the car journey, we see Ofelia absorbed in a fairytale book, this is the first impression we get of her. her mother tells her that she's too old to be fine her head with that kind of information, but later tells her she is too young to understand why she has to live with the Captain and refer to him as...

I n the title sequence we see a picture of Rocket through bars, this not only foreshadows the ending but it also hints that the camera will be a key symbol in the film.  Aside from the beginning background noise which first  helps to establish the Brazilian culture, the first sound we hear is the repeated harsh sound of the sharpening of a knife. This foreshadows the future violence that is present throughout the film. The images get more violent and the increasing speed of the cuts make the opening scene gain some sort of direction as if this scene is building up to something.  The short, jump cut clips including the use of shot reverse shot are able to enhance the opening and create a fast paced rhythm that portrayed the feeling of panic, urgency and fear for the chicken who was awaiting to be slaughtered- almost as if the pacing and rhythm of the montage was an accurate representation of the chicken’s heart rate.  This symbolises the threat posed on...

the film starts in the middle of a conversation with shaun’s vacant non blinking expression start to camera which is ironically like a zombie - the audience is jumped into the action ; links the zombie theme to him ; zoom out shot establishes his character with his actions (smoking n drinking)  its then cut abruptly with liz’s voice ‘are u listening?’ - pulls himn us out of the trance and this fourth wall break is … broken. establishes her character : grounding, in the moment / film ; his girlfriend (the genre of rom com is introduced) the music is this qind instrumental thats a mix of both zom creepy n slightly cheerry? jumps from each character to express the conversation going from each person like a tennis match ; why is liz upset? < their barrier to their relationship is the Ed, who the camera then pans to: this slob of a man  playing the pin ball machine : do you have a life? his clothes his disregard for the state of them and his actions (playing the pinball game) su...