The first great science fiction film created an image of scientific progress and human despair.
Two worlds are featured. One above ground, Metropolis, has skyscrapers, stadiums and moving motorways in the sky.
The other , is underground where the workers work - where long hours become long days and extra work is crammed into every minute.
Underground and hidden beneath the earth's surface the set is machinery based, a functional, factory like enviroment filled with steam and working machines. Flashing light bulbs gave the viewer the impression that it was a busy place to work.
The trickery that Rotwang uses to capture Maria and transfer her face to a robot is probably one of the most significant experiments in science fiction history. "The electrical arcs, bubbling beakers, glowing rings of light and mad scientist props in the transformation sequence have influenced a thousand films."
Conversely, above ground the city is a modern, and futuristic. It portrays business, typical of city life. The majority of city views are from the sky providing a helicopter view and perspective.
Arthur Lennig film critic said:
"To enjoy the film, the viewer must observe but never think."
At various times during the film it is hard to believe what the viewer is seeing as the set looks 'unreal'. This may be due to the fact that the scene was physically made rather than created using CGI.
Research explains that the special effects team used mirrors and a camera to create the effect of size, perspective and space.
Short and sweet Jen!
ReplyDeleteOk, you have a couple of quotes in there this time... make sure that they are referenced and the details put into a bibliography... see here -
http://www.uca.ac.uk/library/academic-support/harvard-referencing/
you need to really make the quote work for you - so when you quote Lennig as saying "To enjoy the film, the viewer must observe but never think", what does that actually mean? Why is that relevant?
Make sure that your images are labelled, either just with Figure 1 etc or with the figure number and a short caption - 'Figure 2, The set being constructed'. You can then refer to the images within your text, 'Research explains that the special effects team used mirrors and a camera to create the effect of size, perspective and space, as seen in figure 2'