Unique And Effective Techniques In Cinematography

Your name
Your Professor’s name
Your subject and section
17 February 2017
Film Review
1 Steven Spielberg is very well known for his unique and effective techniques in cinematography. One of the famous techniques that he employ in his films is what we call “Framing” (or framing shots). Basically, this technique places an object in the foreground, while the subject could be seen through that object. What makes this effective is “blocking” aspect of the object in the foreground which forces the viewers’ attention to look at the main subject. One example of this is a shot from the movie “Duel”, where the protagonist could be seen from an open, see-through cover of a washing machine. In this scene the protagonist is talking with another person while leaning by the wall, near the right side of the frame. Another scene where he used this technique is one from Jaws, where he used the foreground object (a shark’s jaw) in order to see the background picture (view of the docks). In my point of view, this is a very creative usage of the technique, since it emphasize the whole idea of the movie through the foreground object, despite of its intention of bringing the viewer’s attention to the background.
2 According to the video, the problem between Lisa and Jeff’s relationship is that only Lisa, makes the effort to make it work, while Jeff is a little distant about it. Aside from this, it could also implied from the video that the main problem lies with how Jeff views Lisa, as sophisticated, adventurous, etc., and his life which is not able to keep up with Lisa’s adventurous lifestyle. Nonetheless, the plot unites both Jeff and Lisa through the use of Jeff’s narrative with his nurse (where he was talking about Lisa) and the part where Lisa was first viewed by the audience. This “late appearance” of Lisa, captured the audience, since an “image of her” was already created through Jeff’s descriptions. Regarding the ending scene, I think that both of the characters were presented in a manner that emphasized their own personalities. For one, Jeff has both legs in a cast, while Lisa is still reading the “Bazaar magazine”, and both of them are “calm and relaxed”. This just shows how both character find their ‘peace’ by doing what they both want to do.
3 The three main elements of a Film Noir are; (1) darker lighting, (2) corrupt characters, and (3) fatalistic themes. These three elements have characterized Film Noir since these elements are not as frequently used in any other types of films. Being one of my most favorite film, Casa Blanca have successfully portrayed these three elements in the plot, context, and the setting of the whole film. For the first element, it is apparent from the whole movie that it utilized a darker lighting in order to build and maintain tension among the members and the characters. The second element – corrupt characters – could be seen from the number of “Nazi soldiers” who were looking for the resistance groups. Lastly, the fatalistic theme was shown through the setting itself, since it shows the events happening during t...