Dr Calligari, a hypnotist, comes to town with his coffin sized cabinet containing the corpse like figure Cesare. Panic and terror is caused as a series of murders appear to coincide with his visit.
Using crooked and uneven shapes and a range of different minimal, small sets the director creates a spooky, and eerie setting.
Within Jane's environment the shapes of furniture and soft furnishings are rounded and curved and appeared even feminine. Elsewhere the sets were angular and stark which added to the horror and madness of the movie.
The use of shadow and light extends the set. The light at times appears harsh and creates tension. On other occasions it is softer, creating shadows on the wall.
The scenes were often empty, with large expanses of floor space and even then a single chair placed strategically.
The wooden floors and the angular, slanted, tilted shapes suggested the film was set in an attic environment. Due to the angle, furniture often appeared deformed.
Throughout the film different scenes would emerge as if the viewer was looking through a lens building the sense of curiosity and drawing the viewer into the environment. Although the film jumped to various, different locations this kept the viewers attention but you could also argue that this made the film difficult to follow.
Each room had its own style and mood, which seemed to be expressing each of the characters personality. For example: Dr. Caligari's room was small and concealed, completely
contained. This could have been a portrayal of his devious and secretive character.
The Asylum stood out because it was more refined and real looking. This created a juxtaposition for the audience because it could be argued that the Asylum should have looked the least ordinary. The Asylum consisted of a more familiar structure, with simple arch shapes and perfect rectangular walls. This reinforced the message that in fact the world outside of the Asylum was the more complicated one!
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ReplyDeleteHi Jen,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the world of film reviews! - Good start :)
A couple of pointers for your next review -
You need to back your discussion up with evidence from other sources (books, other film reviews etc) These need to be recognised and reputable, so no Wikipedia... So when you are discussing a particular topic, say the rooms having their own moods, you could say something like,
'Each room had its own style and mood, which seemed to be expressing each of the characters personality. As John Smith says in his article, 'Blah blah blah....' (Smith, 2016)' The quotes need to be in italics, and referenced using the Harvard method, details of which can be found here
http://www.uca.ac.uk/library/academic-support/harvard-referencing/
You should also use this method for referencing the images you choose.
When you have finished your review, you need to compose a bibliography and an image listing - again, details are on the referencing guide.
Just make sure that your reader is introduced to all the characters that you are mentioning - you have done a good job of that with Caligari and Cesare, but the mention of 'Jane' comes a bit out of the blue... who is she, and what is her role in the film?
Looking forward to reading your next review!
Thank you Jackie, this is really helpful!
ReplyDelete