After class I was thinking about a lot of the things that everyone said and it occurred to me that we could have talked for hours about themes, cinematography, sound and all those other aspects of the film. Once one thing was said, five other people would realize or remember something else in the movie that meant or expressed the same idea. For example, Camille realized that when Betty and Joe were discussing one of Joe's pieces, Betty told Joe she liked the part about the teacher because it was real and heartfelt. She added on to take out the part about the psycho. The comment ended there but I kept thinking about that scene: After Betty tells Joe to take out that part about the psycho, he claims that everybody loves a psycho! Well, everybody loves Norma Desmond. At least to the point of humoring her insanity. So I just have to ask, is everything that we pointed out, whether out loud or just personally, intentional?
It will take lots and lots of practice for me to be able to watch a film and take notice of things like lighting without prompting. That's ok, I don't mind watching lots and lots of movies if it means a more comprehensive film experience.
I guess it's time now to venture on to a short film of my own. I can't promise that every little cohesive detail will be intentional, but I can promise that it will be at least 2 minutes long.
I understand what you mean. It seems like there were so many elements of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony in the dialogue that it's hard to believe that it could all be intentional by the writers. During discussion, each thing that a person said about the irony or symbolism revealed a new detail I had not yet thought of. But I think it makes the movie that much more creative and deep.
ReplyDelete"It will take lots and lots of practice for me to be able to watch a film and take notice of things like lighting without prompting."
ReplyDeleteI am with you here Jenny. It is tough for me to get past watching everything that is going on and trying to take everything in to get to the point where I can pay attention to what is being done behind the camera. It is very difficult to remove myself from the movie and try to think what was the point of this camera angle? How did that transition affect the next scene? What role is this music playing? Those are all difficult to pay attention to. I am more used to just watching things blow up and wondering if the hero survives.
I'm not sure if it matters whether the allusion, foreshadow, or tone setting was intentional or not. What matters if that you notice how it effects you and your perception of the film and why it does in that way. That is an important part of being an artist is being open to and understanding this inflection of ideas and emotions.
ReplyDeleteFebruary 1, 2010 10:05 AM
Yeah, but if those things are not intentional, then can we really include those factors in our analysis of meaning?
ReplyDeleteThe class could have definitely gone on for a long while and talked about the themes and other parts of the movie. Have you ever considered the possibility that some, if not even most, of the details we found were not placed as a matter of purpose but the individuals working of the film became {(and become) in not only "Sunset Blvd., but other films that have been made and are being made} so embedded in the personality of the movie that they began creating evidence of the theme unconsciously...?
ReplyDeleteGreat question about intentionality. It's unresolvable, but if you know something about the process by which films are written and then made, you'll conclude that 99% of what we all see and read into the film is placed there on purpose. The psycho dialogue is a great example; I never connected it to Norma before, but now that it's been pointed out to me, I have no doubt that it's a subtle comment on the other storyline.
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