Thursday, February 21, 2013
On Track
The Last Laugh and The Rules of the Game come from different traditions and styles. One is a classic of German Expressionism, the other of Poetic Realism. The first is silent (with only ONE intertitle!), the other makes use of sound. Yet both utilize virtuoso camera movement. The Last Laugh, for example, follows the doorman on his walk of shame as he passes the laughing faces of his neighbors. The Rules of the Game uses a tracking shot in which the camera moves across the back of a room as we see various characters flirt, escape and wallow in despair and eventually search for a private room. Is there any common theme or purpose to the use of tracking shots in these films? Or is there meaning in part defined by the movie and style? What can we learn about the use and function of camera movement from these films?
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When producers and film makers want to create a shot with a moving camera, I think that they do so in order to create a link between the movie and the audience, to make the audience feel as if they were in the setting of the movie. In the Last laugh, there weren’t as many camera movements, but when there were, it made the scene more realistic. For example, the follow cam shot in one of the last scenes in the movie, when the large man (I forget his name) was walking (and stumbling) home past his neighbors, created a longer scene, as if we were following him through his embarrassment. Because the camera followed him backwards, we not only saw the neighbors pop out of their windows to laugh at him, but also saw them laughing at him after he passed. If the camera were still, it would be less dramatic because the scene would be shorter, and we would not follow him through his embarrassment. In The Rules of the Game, they are more camera shots where the camera is tracking with the people, but the effect is the same. The scene where the camera follows the different couples and their interactions is important because without the moving camera, the scene would lack flow, and the overall meaning of the scene would not be the same. Because the camera is moving from couple to couple, it shows how each person is interacting with the others. It also creates a longer scene and creates a flow between the couples and the party itself.
ReplyDeleteBoth The Last Laugh and The Rules of the Game offer critiques of the sociopolitical structures of their times, the former through German expressionism and the latter through Poetic Realism. Although the use of camera techniques (pan shots, tracking shots and strategic take length) is similar between the two and is used in both movies to underscore the intended stylistic pattern, the results are different simply because of the inherent difference in styles.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the camera in The Last Laugh is meant to exaggerate the characteristics and traits of the old man and his surroundings (his village community and the hotel)--almost to an extreme. This use of the camera matches the goals of German expressionism in that it is mainly used to convey messages relevant to the individual in relation to society. This happens by bending the sense of reality (in some cases) and distorting emotional reactions in order to more clearly explore the various dimensions of the individual citizen. We see this throughout the film as the old man (first as a door man) is portrayed by the camera at an angle where he looks to be smaller or inferior than the hotel in the background. This is clearly foreshadowing his future strife in the workforce. Furthermore, as the old man desperately roams the hotel hallways in almost a daze after his demotion, the camera seems to not only follow his circuitous path, but at times to jump ahead and give the audience a preview of what he sees in the distance. However, one of the most effective uses of camera technique is in the scene depicting the spreading rumor of the old man’s demotion throughout the village. Although this scene in itself is a classic exaggeration of the reaction by means of the camera, the old man’s drunken reaction to the whole affair has as much to do with camera angle as anything. The camera tracks the old man as he dances in a drunken stupor—clearly in denial of his own (perceived) failure. The Rules of the Game similarly uses camera angles as a means toward a stylistic goal; the goal, however, is different.
The use of the camera in The Rules of the Game is meant to find poetry in the realistic and gritty aspects of life—in this case the sometimes furtive, but mostly communal bourgeoisie social behavior. The long takes help, on the one hand, to convey this notion of realism. The audience ends up experiencing the majority of the film (with the exception of the hunt) with shots in which events take place in real time and are thus more believable--for example, the conversations that take place in the fields and also the mindless chases in the basement of the chateau. On the other hand, the long takes can be interpreted to bring out the poetic portion of the cinematic style. During the De Falla skeleton scene in the Chateau, the fluid camera follows a linear track along the wall catching some of the interrelationships between the characters and eventually highlighting Andre who seems to stick out like a sore thumb in this scene (indicating his “interloper/rabbit” status). The winding plot in this section of the film also sort of mimicks the camera’s fluid long-take motions. Depth of focus also plays a role in the poetic style of the film, particularly highlighting revealing facial expressions in the background of Christine’s praising speech in favor of Andre. In this sense, the camera is helping us read between the lines of what otherwise would seem like somewhat normal images if they were shot and cut traditionally. In this sense, the camera in The Rules of the Game serves the same role as the creative spirit in a poet because of its role in helping us as an audience to understand the critique of social interactions of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe differences between The Last Laugh and The Rules of the Game are countless. They are different in plot and intention. The Last Laugh a man who has lost everything while The Rules of the Game is about people who have everything. They are also completely different in their styles. The Last Laugh is German Expressionism, a style of film that is about emotion and distorting reality in order to find the truth in the situation. The Rules of the Game is of the style Poetic Realism that tries to look at society through a cynical lens and finds the gritty aspects in ordinary lives. They are from different decades in different technological standings and therefore The Last Laugh is silent while The Rules of the Game is not. While these differences can go on and on, there is a commonality between these two seemingly opposite movies. Despite the style of film, camera movement essentially achieves the same result. This is because the audience is in the same position and the effects of camera movement are unconscious. The most important camera movement in both of these films is the tracking shot. Despite being put to use in two near opposite films, it has the same effect. The tracking shot is able to use longer shots in order to make it feel like the audience is almost in the film. It makes the viewer feel like they are experiencing something in real time and like they are seeing a small slice of reality. This is true for the cameras use in both films.