How To Read A Film 1:
04. The Development Of A Filmic Language
Starting Points:
The beginning: 1895
Louis and Auguste Lumière are two French brothers who developed a camera–projector called the Cinematographe.
Within a year, another French filmmaker, Georges Méliès, was already experimenting with what could be done with a camera.
Whilst we might say that the films of the Lumière Brothers looked at “reality”, Méliès' approach to staging a film was more entertainment than observational.
In the same year, Méliès took this trick photography one stage further by using it within a “story”
Méliès has introduced costumes and a stage setting – the castle.
Whilst the film is still only one shot, there is a sense of narrative, of a development in a character.
Telling Stories:
The idea of telling a story in a film was quickly taken up by other filmmakers.
By 1903 they were using not only studio sets but also a variety of locations.
Edwin S Porter's film, “The Great Train Robbery” is widely acknowledged to be the first narrative film to have achieved a continuity of action.
From the standpoint of today, I can say that while “The Great Train Robbery” tells a story, it was rather "boring" because I could anticipate "what coming next” ! But the "Maria" scene of Metropolis is somehow “fascinating” in its, I would say, visual depiction so that this scene manages somehow to ignite the curiosity of the viewer as to ask himself: "What would happen next ?" "who is the woman lying on the laboratory table ?" "What is the scientist is trying to ‘create’ – ‘a robot’ ?" "Is he trying to ‘steal’ or ‘transfer’ the woman's soul to the creature he tries to create ?"
And I agree with other commentators that the "look" of the "electrical circles" around the "robot" is fascinating. But I like most is the frame at the end of the scene when the robot–turned–into–woman open her eyes — she looked beautiful, not scary.
I might say that the whole scene is “aesthetically appealing” to the viewer. However, I, definitely, do not know exactly what I mean by “aesthetically appealing”. Otherwise, I would have been like The Master of Cinematography, Michelangelo Antonioni now !!
The Story World:
By the late 1900's sets were being built, more characters introduced and developed and of course, by the mid 1920's sound was also introduced.
Filmmakers were introducing more complex narratives, creating those worlds in which the narratives take place, and were using and developing the different elements and techniques that work together to:
- Tell a story.
- Evoke an atmosphere.
- Give the audience information.
- Provoke an audience response.
- Highlight key themes.
Filmmakers will tend to follow cultural codes – ideas which we all share, be it about the way we live now or how they think we will identify different periods in history. They will use these assumptions when it comes to creating the filmic world in which the film's story takes place. A key term which is used regarding the creation of this world is “mise–en–scène”
The French term “mise–en–scène” describes this “created” reality of a film – it translates as ‘what is placed in the frame’.
Everything that we see on screen – the furniture we see in a room or the costume that a character is wearing, or something more subtle such as the make up that an actor wears – has been “deliberately” put there to make the “meaning”.
Because the phrase “mise–en–scène” describes “putting” something in the picture, it reinforces the idea that films are constructed – nothing appears by chance in the filmic frame.