Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski, was a private-eye film released in 1974. Private investigator J.J. Gittes investigates what looks to be a classic case of adultery, but he quickly uncovers much more than just broken wedding vows. Throughout the film, Gittes is captured by the camera such that only his face is in the scene, thus allowing the audience to observe details that may otherwise be overlooked. In Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski, the main character J.J. Gittes is frequently shot with close-up shots to portray his emotions, his heightened senses, and his reasoning process to demonstrate his investigative process and thus build up suspense in a scene.
A director will call for the use of a close-up shot if he wants the audience to focus on the
…show more content…
The audience is now feeling the same emotions that Gittes is feeling, further immersing them in the film. Upon hearing the shots, Gittes takes cover in a nearby water drain. The following shots is another close-up of Gittes as he hides in the drain. His look of immense concentration is replaced by fear and uncertainty. He is breathing very heavily, and his eyes are darting around in search of the gunman. These subtle details would normally go unnoticed by the audience, but because they are captured with a close-up shot, the audience is able to observe these details easily. The scene has now gone from calm, with Gittes being in control, to chaotic and full of mystery. The uncertainty only rises when Gittes is suddenly swept away by a wave of water that is rushing down the drain he is hiding in. After being thrown against a catch fence at the end of the drain, Gittes decides it is time to leave and begins to make a swift exit. The shot of Gittes walking towards his car is another close-up, starting at his soaked shoes and working its way up to his face. His emotions have changed again and based on his facial
An example of the close-up shot in the movie beastly is in the scenario when the protagonist who is named beast is at home and is watching television. He is depressed at the fact that he has been turned ugly by a witch who has cursed him. The camera then shows a close-up shot of him, the shot’s effect in the scenario is now highlighted as the close-up shot has portrayed that the beast is sad about him being ugly and is overthinking that because of his ugliness, he’s career may end. The shot portrays the seriousness of the scenario and shows that the character is in great conflict.
Much like in Double Indemnity the protagonist in Chinatown is a working man who is flawed and equally lured into a dangerous situation by a femme fatale. Gittes shares the job title that Walter Neff’s employer, Keyes, has creating an interesting comparison between two investigators within different genre’s of film noir. Gittes unlike Keyes seems to be more of a lone spirit who follows his own instinct. Where Gittes has coworkers who do various tasks to help him further his investigations, he goes on illegal crusades on his own in which he follow Hollis Mulwray into the night. In his ventures to pursue the truth Gittes encounters {who} who violently let him know that his life could easily put on the line if he attempted to uncover too much information. When the conspiracy begins to unfold for him, he seeks assistance from his long time college {name} who works with the police force. Evidently, Gittes seems to have an inability to work along side other government officials because {name} says “this isn’t Chinatown, calm your shit down” rather then listening to his concerns and following the leads. A minor similarity can be drawn between Gittes and Keyes in which they both
An example of a deep focus shot would be in Citizen Kane as we Kane outside playing in the snow while inside they are signing papers for the bank.
The viewer sees a private eye and beautiful client. First thought, "It’s definitely another Hollywood crime drama." On the surface, Chinatown has all the elements of a film noir: the presence of a beautiful but dangerous woman, otherwise known as the femme fatale, a gritty urban setting, compositional tension (highly contrasting light and dark colors or oblique camera angles), and themes of moral ambiguity and alienation. Chinatown, however, is different. Polanski shot Chinatown with color film, and though his colors do appear especially vivid, color film precludes the contrast intensity that black and white film offers. In addition, Evelyn is not the classic femme fatale. Though Jake mistakes her for her husband’s killer at first, Mrs.
In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, the stylistic elements utilized by the director create a unique availability the depth of information available to both the characters in the film and the audience watching. The entire film is from the perspective of the rear window of the injured photographer Jeff. Jeff, unable to move is stuck with nothing to do but look out his window. As the audience, we are given an objective view, looking over his shoulder as he stares at the lives of his fellow tenants. From the window, we watch as Jeff essentially invades people’s homes with his high-powered photographic lens. In the scope of the entire film this is an incredibly smart tactic because it gives the audience the same emotions that the characters feel. During
Camera angles and editing play an important role with regards to the success in the achievement of Nair's aim. Close-ups in particular are one of the most effective camera angles as they often emphasise parts of the storyline by focussing on a character's
Zooming In- Highlights a scene and triggers audience (especially when it is explicit). Makes it real for the viewers.
The utilization of close-ups and zoom-ins allows the audience to get to know the characters. It shows the wear and tear on the characters faces. We can see the pain, the hurt; we’re able to feel how tired the characters are from their deep sighs and the dark circles under their eyes. Michael Mann wants the audience to become as close to the characters as possible. We are introduced to Al Pacino during a sex scene, that’s about as intimate as the character-to-audience relationship can get.
Chinatown is based on Roman Polanski’s lifeworks. Polanski’s goal is to emphasizes the meaning of how cinematography is made, and how it inspires by understanding the concept of setting, lighting, and how the image is captured. This film was released in 1974 by director of Roman Polanski to focus on private investigator J.J. Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson to investigate the elements behind the truth. Polanski’s goal is to emphasize the audience to give an ominous feeling of the main character, J.J. Gittes and his point of view by showing in color instead of black and white pictures. Due to these reasons, Polanski wanted to use Panavision to give a flawed vision about the past, which the story is set in the years of 1937. Polanski states, “a traditional detective story with a new, modern shape” for Paramount picture. (1) This paper focuses on the film Chinatown which is neo-noir, not only because of the setting, but the concept of cinematography that connects duplicates occurrences together that describe three categories: background of the cinematographer, point of view of the main character, and the interpretation of the ending scenes.
The film Locke ( Knight, 2014) is very compelling to its viewers even if it just an 85 minute movie a Tom Hardy driving and taking phone calls, and this is achieved through many cinematic techniques that grasps the viewers attention. One being a close up shot. This grasps the viewers attention because it makes us wonder why we are being shown these things. For example, in the beginning of this film we are shown a close up of Ivan taking off his boots. This is intruiging to the audience because there are many other things the camera could be showing while Locke takes off his boots, but why only show us the boots. This grasps the viewers attention because there is a want to know what the meaning of that scene was. Leading us to want to watch
Roman Polanski's 1974 film, 'Chinatown', revolutionized the film noir genre. Aside from the absense of voice-over, the film shares all the same characteristics with earlier noirs. That is, of course, except for the fact that ?Chinatown? is
scene and draw the viewer in to the plot of the film. The blurb fades
Roman Polanski's Hollywood film Chinatown, directed in 1974, tells the story of Jake Gittes, a private investigator. The film focuses in on the dark reality of corruption behind power hungry men, making this a true neo-noir film. Chinatown reveals a depth narrative allowing the viewer to follow Gittes and uncover the secrets around the water dispute in California. I chose to bring focus to the significance of the male gaze and how this form of power can change and affect our views. The prominent female character in the film, Evelyn Mulwray, is a wealthy white woman. With her character comes active male attention and desire. Laura Mulvey's Theory of "The Gaze" supports this argument by studying the power and influence of a patriarchal
In the vignette ‘Banks of the river’ the director successfully displayed the use of verbal and visual techniques to show the relevant idea of loss of innocence. For instance, the visual technique blue filter shows that the characters have become sorrowful because of the death of George; it also makes the setting dark grey-blue which reflects how the characters lost their innocence.
Camera angles are truly important to any film. They can emanate a mood or a characteristic of a character without said character saying a word. In the beginning scene of the Lost Ark, the camera focuses directly on the backs of the tomb raiders only then seeing the face of an unsavory character pulling out his gun on the leading man, Indiana Jones. Indiana, fast as lightning uses his whip to slash the gun away from the distasteful gunman. The camera immediately pans up to a close up to Indiana’s face, strong and determined. That is the first view of the movie’s hero, it leaves a lasting impression on the characters in the movie and the audience. A commonly used film technique is selective focusing. In movies selective focusing is used to direct the attention of a