The Road Home - Symbolism

In the film The Road Home we see quite a bit of red.  Director Zhang Yimou used this color symbolically throughout the movie.  Red reflected hope and love in the film.

Di wears her pink jacket and red scarf every time she goes to see the school teacher. She hopes for his attention and love.  She also weaves a red banner for the school.  This signifies hope as the school is a new beginning.  The school teacher would not even allow for the cieling of the school to be insulated because looking at the banner connected him to Di and was also a sign of good luck.

The road is also very symbolic in the film.  This is the road which breaks hearts and returns lost loves.  This road carried Di's true love away with no assurance of his return.  The road also reunited two lovers both in their youth and in the teachers death.

The loom represents  Di's love for the teacher, her husband.  She sits at this loom and slaves over the final cloth that will be draped over her husband's casket.  The shear tedious task of weaving symbolic of how much work and care must go into building a relationship.  Specifically when it comes to Di and the teacher.  They had a romance the defied the odds set against them.

The Road Home was a beautiful and inspiring love story.  It is the kind of story that defies time.  I was touched to the core of my heart by this film and it's rich symbolism.

Shawshank Redemption - Camera Movement

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, we see a wonderful use of panning.  In the beginning of the attached clip, the camera pans down to Andy Dufrense's shoes.  This shows us the importance of those shoes as they were bright and shiny and were actually telling us that Andy was going to make his escape from prison tonight.  Next, we see Andy sittinging in his cell and the camera pans up to show us the expression on Andy's face.  The use of panning allows us to feel the emotions that the director wants to invoke in us in a particular scene.  Here, the use of panning lets us know that something big is about to happen and shows us the determination in the character's face.

In this same scene we see the camera zoom into the picture of the model's face in the poster on the wall.  The purpose of this shot was not to show us the picture of a beautiful woman whom Andy was obsessed with, but rather to elude to the fact that Andy had made a hole in the wall and the poster was just a tool used to cover the hole.  Again, letting us know that this was the night that Andy would escape.

At the end of this clip we see Andy is finally free.  There is an interesting camera movement use here called a boom shot or crane shot.  The camera is on a crane above the scene being shot.  This gives the camera a nice shot looking down on the character and can also give us a sense of space in the scene.  In this instance, this boom shot shows us that Andy has finally attained his freedom and we rejoice with him.  

Without the use of these different camera movements, we may not feel the same excitement and emotions throughout the movie.  The characters would just lie stagnant on the screen and the same message would not be conveyed.

The 400 Blows - Literary Elements

The film The 400 Blows is packed full of literary elements.  There are two that I would like to focus on today.  Character and and tone.

Francois Truffaut based the characters in this film off of his own difficult childhood.
His biological father was unknown to him and his mother was not very "motherly".  She, in fact, left him to be raised by his grandmother until he was about eight years old. When he did live with his parents, he got into trouble at school and basically took care of himself.  He found his escape in films.

We see the characters of Truffaut's life played out by Antoine and his parents on screen.  Antoine is being raised by a man who is not his biological father.  His mother is also not very "motherly".  There is, in fact, no space for Antoine physically or emotionally in his parents lives. He literally sleeps in the entry way to their apartment.

The overall tone of this film also relates back to Truffaut's life.  It is a tone of realism.  There are no fancy special effects, no sugar-coating life.  There are no poor people living in big, fancy apartments.  We see Antoine's life for what it is.   A working-class family living in a tiny apartment trying to do life the best way that they know how.
If you are looking for a feel-good movie to escape the realities of your busy life, this is not the movie to see.  However, if you want to see life through someone else's eyes and get a sense of what life was really like for a young boy growing up in post World War II France, this is definitely a must see.
 
 

The 400 Blows - Here's a Question for You

The opening credits of The 400 Blows is absolutely stunning! The camera pans through the streets of Paris giving us, the viewer, an amazing tour of the city.  Throughout the this opening scene of the movie we are given glimpses of the Eiffel Tower on our amazing tour.  It is my understanding that directors have a purpose for angle and shot, there is meaning in everything.  With that in mind I have two questions for you to ponder and respond to:

 1. What is the purpose of Francois Truffaut basically making the Eiffel Tower the focal point of his opening credits?  

2.  From whose perspective are the opening credits being shot? 

I have my own opinions, but I am much more interested in what you think.

It's all About the Angle

The Shining, one of my all-time favorite movies!  There are so many camera shots, sound, and lighting techniques that create the intensity of this film.  Depicted above is a shot from one of my favorite scenes in the movies; the creepy, dead twins.  What we are seeing here is an example of an extreme long shot.  This angle is is and establishing shot used in films to set the scene and create, in this case, a thrilling atmosphere.  We are able to see the entire scene with minimal detail.  Just by looking at this frame, an ominous feeling is being set.  We are given the impression that something bad is going to happen here simply by the angle of the camera.  Just looking at the still image is sending shivers down my spine!

Hi, I am Sandy Bechtel and I am excited to share this journey into film with you all! Now, let's hit the theaters!