la la land

La la land is an emotional worlwin fabricated by its strong cinematography used throughout the duration of the film. La la land produces spectators to be active this is a result color palette being vibrant for many reasons, but primarily because the film’s director Damien Chazelle elected to shoot using film.

The end scene of la la land creates meaning and emotion with its cinematography. The start scene is of Mia there is a white plain color pallet emphasizing that se has come as herself and shows her raw emotion as she gazes off camera. The pan shot sees the camera approaching Mia slowly and is very essential for the following shot, it sees the camera dolly’s and zooms out taking away the verisimilitude of the sece as the spectators see that this is an altered flash backs ridden with emotions changing the scene concluding value. The grey white color pallet has been replaced with a vibrant yellow red and orange one creating emotion as spectators see the accompany of the diegetic music partnered up with the character Seb showing his music is affecting others and is the bridge between Seb and Mia. At this point an active viewer would have established the relationship between Sebs passion and Mia’s love for his passion.

An over the solder shot reviles the mesmerizing lit up atmosphere heightening and establishing the connection between the two lovers. At this stage in the film audience members including myself relate to this part as it is an outburst of emotion and also diminishes verisimilitude as the scene is progressing. The non-diagenetic music amplifies the burst of emotion. Also to comment the blue color  palette is heavily featured within the montage of the two lovers going on a journey this concludes the film as it portrays the individual characters establishing their connection with one another as an audience member this has engaged me through spectatorship as it is easy to relate to the characters and easy to relate to the situation.

The audience switches from active to passive viewing as we are able to explore the film in its true form during the ending montage. This montage gives the audience the ended that they desired and  the full clarit of closure in the style of conventions of the world Mia and Seb live in this means we are fully emerged into the style and alignment of the films conventions.

mood board

Synopsis

Film one

A private investigator by David Doyle has been approached by a woman, whom we never see, to solve a case shrugged off by the police, this case, although seems plain, is an enigma to those who look deeply into it. Is is a "suicide" and Doyle is apprehensive to assist the woman, exposed through his narration, but the woman persists and so he plans to solve it. This is all prior to filming 
 Doyle has an informant known as Bogart Bates, he is asked by Doyle to come with him as he sees it as an opportunity to crack the case, however Bates takes him to an undisclosed location. 
 Bates is then seen leading Doyle on a trail that eventually leads the duo to the train station, upon entering the lift the two speak briefly before Doyle is knocked out unconscious and dragged away.
He is then next seen waking up in an art studio where Bates photographs him as a prisoner. The film ends without resolving the dispute, it is unclear what Bates has in store for Doyle.

Film Two

·        Bates is shown murdering the kid. His motive is unclear but supposedly he is insane and looses his temper. There is a scene of gratuitous torture and violence.

·        Doyle gets called regarding the "suicide" and from Bates’ perspective he sees his chance to cover it up by requesting to assist Doyle. He leads him to an undisclosed location and we see him attack Doyle in the train station lift and drag the body away.

·        Bates finally gets to torture Doyle, he gags him, beats him and eventually murders him.

·      Finishes with a similar scene to the beginning and therefore has an almost circular narrative.

·      Film ends with a blackout after looking at Doyle's dead body on the floor of the art studio Bates used to frame his masterpiece artwork in, the murders. As he is not captured the ending is ambiguous on whether he will continue on this path or he has finished with his murderous ways.

Storyboard

November 06, 2019

With close reference to one scene from pans labyrinth explore how cinematography and mise en scene creates meaning?

“You are going to a very dangerous place. So be careful.” This dialogue foreshadows the horror of the scene that is about to follow. Upon Ofelia’s entering the place where the Pale man lives, the camera is moving away from her, so that a part of the room she is about to enter could be viewed. The pale man is a clear representation of the fascist like leader Vidal. He is a symbol of the brutal oppression in Ofelia's world as he is an obstacle preventing Ofelia from completing her task, which juxtaposes with Vidal oppressing the people in Spain. Ultimately Vidal is a mirror of Franco’s rule over Spain in (1936-1939) the cause of having 2 parallel worlds allows del turo to criticize society by representing the cruel nature of each character. Fortunately we are able to make a clear connotation to Vidal and the pail man witch makes analyzing this scene more elaborative. the shot of the close up to the hour glass emphasizes her leaving safety building tension and anticipation to if ofelia will make it back to the real world On first sight the pail man is sitting at the end of the table echoing the banquet with Vidal on the end with fire emerging from being symbolizing anger and danger. In the first instance a tracking shot is used to move the camera away from Ophelia as she enters the pail mans lair this conveys how ofelia is insignificant and is swallowed by the overwhelming surroundings which signifies Ophelia’s charter under Vidal’s rule insignificant and small. Del Toro uses this tracking technique to emphasize a dolly out tequneque to capture Ophelia’s wonder and curiosity is on a wider level and allows us to see the world that is hidden resembling that it is hidden because it’s dangerous. Furthermore a cross dissolve is used to further dolly out to emphases that there is more that meets the eye the meaning behind this is to deeply create illusion, this is hand in hand with the low key lighting that adds an eerie atmosphere with is setting up the scene for horror as suggested by the over head lighting witch has connotations to horror movies.The non-diegetic eerie music playing in the background signifies the anticipation of the feeling of horror that Ofelia is to encounter. 

A tracking from left to right follows ofelia as she passes over the table full of a banquet the contextual reference is that the table symbolizes how the Spanish leaders kept everything even when they already have enough. The fact the pail man doesn’t even eat the food reflects of the greed of Vidal. The fact the pail man doesn’t even eat the food reflects of the greed of Vidal. The first encounter of the pail man with Ophelia the scene has an over the shoulder shot sowing oflias inferior nature compared to the pail man. The mise en scène has been constructed so that the geometry of the room mirrors captain vidals  banquet table which we saw earlier on in the film this draws a much stronger link between Vidal and the pale man. Deltoro criticises the Franco regime and the total totalitarianism the rich people have a full banquet and the poor people are on rations with ration cards. As the scene progresses we can also see the pile of children shoes coexisting with the horrific paintings on the wall making the audience aware the monster feeds on children this is a clear link to the Holocaust.

The film represents children as being innocent vulnerable in despair clinging for help in need. it is a metaphor of how the young are consumed by fascism which ties into the overall theme of the film. the sound design mirrors it  with the sound of distant screaming children being heard I personally believe this is a non-diagenetic Foley sound due to the nature of the sense. The  is a great use of the Mise en scène,sounds and perfectly creates tension evil and fear through make up and costume and the use of digests exams creating and intimidating tone The tracking shot during the chasing scene  makes the audience feel uneasy as the audience see the fantasy world being spin around through the extreme close-up shots of the running with a constant reference of vidals reign.The close-up of the chair shows the unsteadiness of the contrast between the real world and the Fantasy world. It divides the easy escape of the chair between both worlds. The chair was brought from the real world symbolising that because it is not of the fantasy world cannot remain in the fantasy world without obstructing Ophelia‘s escape.  The Pale Man serves as a very intriguing allegory and monster which represents the fetishism of innocence, material pleasures, and gluttony. 

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