Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – Scene Analysis
This scene is one of the opening scenes in the film and introduces ‘Sundance’ to the audience. He is playing cards against Mr Macon, and keeps winning, causing Macon to accuse Sundance of cheating.
The scene is shot in a sepia tone, making use of close-ups throughout most of the scene. The focus always remains on Sundance throughout most of the scene, with the camera showing the back of Macon in the left third of the frame. The close-up shot shows the dead-pan expression of Sundance, this shows that Sundance does not fear the man and refuses to say that he was cheating. Furthermore, when Macon stands up revealing the gun in his holster, Sundance’s look does not change and his eyes do not move to focus on the gun all that much. He still stares forward, only glancing at his opponent and his weapon. The eye movement shows he is assessing his opponent and knows he cannot best him. The camera moves only briefly to show Macon’s gun from Sundance’s perspective before quickly switching back to the close-up once again.
It is at this point that Butch, Sundance’s partner, comes into frame. Note that the camera stays static and does not move or change shots to show him entering the room, this shows that the focus remains entirely on Sundance. Butch warns Sundance that the man may be faster than him and could kill both of them.
It is at this point that Butch moves past Sundance and tries to reason with the man, only for the man to push him away. Butch is disappointed at this and shows that he will have to tell the man that he is Sundance. Butch says ‘I can’t help you, Sundance’ causing Macon to become horrifyingly worried and look at Butch to see if he is being real or not. The man finally allows them to leave as he becomes increasingly worried.
At the end of the scene, Macon asks Sundance how good he is prompting Sundance to disarm him by shooting Macon’s gun and sweeping it across the floor by shooting bullets at it.
There is no music throughout the scene, this is because it would be superfluous to the tension between the two. Without music, it highlights the actor’s performances entirely, making the scene more urgent. Furthermore, there is minimal editing, the scene relies solely on the camera work and the actors. The use of the close-up throughout the scene keeps the audience focused mainly on Sundance, revealing he is very important and one of the protagonists. The sepia tone also helps give the scene a silence that colour could not have given. By using sepia, the director has made this scene feel much more lifeless in sense which is positive as it kills all distractions that colour could have otherwise produced. Furthermore, the sepia intensifies the lighting which is used on Sundance, making him the most visible and most important. The scene does not change pace to highlight the standoff and suspend whether Sundance will kill Macon or not, hence the suspense that the scene holds. All of this work is aided by a fantastic screenplay and performances from all of the actors.
Blade Runner – Voight-Kampff Test
At the beginning, the light of the sun coming into the room through the windows sets an eerie tone because it is designed to make us focus on the characters and the objects they interact with. As a result, the lighting, while natural, seems artificial and creates a dystopian feel. Furthermore, the music helps to reinforce the tension in the scene that is bolstered by the lighting and character interactions. The music is purposely ambient as so to make the seemingly artificial world seem much more real but also make it seem much darker and inhumane. The music is used to great effect as it is not noticeably music in the traditional sense, but rather natural, and is composed as so to contribute to the scene rather than take away from it.
The shots focus on the characters faces, especially Leon’s this is to highlight the mental instability and psychotic nature of Leon’s character. The camera shows him becoming ever more confused and angry at what he is being asked, the interviewer reacting with smiles and normality seem like taunts to Leon and heighten his confusion and inner animosity. This is extended with the thumping sound that becomes more intense and louder as the interview goes on, it sounds similar to a heartbeat and suggests imminent danger. The fact that the thumping stops after Leon seems to calm down only to then shoot the interviewer heightens the surprise of the attack.
The editing is used to show the conflictions between Leon and his interviewer, this is perhaps triggered when he has to look into the machine, making Leon feel as if he is being watched. The pause when Leon stares into the machine shows how unhealthy the situation is to him, the test feels like it is trying to read his thoughts. Furthermore, the sound echos during this moment to show how Leon is not completely understanding of the situation as he does not seem entirely conscious to what is happening. This is because he is focusing on the machine and feels like it is a danger to him
The colour is deliberately in a grey-ish tone so it highlights the dystopian feel of both the room and the world they are both in. It looks very bleak and gives a feel of utilitarianism. This is because the world is presented as being very corporate and the only thing that seems to matter is money, even so far as to eliminate beauty because it is not efficient enough and is not worth enough. It makes it all look very boring to be in, which is intended.
The sequence as a whole is designed to make the audience sympathise with Leon but also want to know what is going on inside his head and find out who he really is. The antagonistic nature of the interview makes Leon seem victimised and also foreshadows the eventual gunshot.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Plot: A young Spanish girl enters a mysterious labyrinth, inside the labyrinth she is told she is the long lost princess of a magical kingdom, she must also endure and accomplish three task to rediscover the truth.
Characters:
- Ofelia: Ofelia is the protagonist. She is very young and lives with her mother and stepfather. She runs away and finds a magical labyrinth hidden in her garden. In this labyrinth she discovers that she is the long-lost princess of a magical kingdom. TO find out the truth she must complete three dangerous tasks.
- Pan: Pan is a satyr who guards the labyrinth. He has the horns of a goat and is enigmatic. He represents both sides of nature with mood swings. He presides over the whole labyrinth and his main task is to push Ofelia to reveal her true spirit.
- Carmen: Carmen is the mother of Ofelia and has recently married Captain Vidal. She has brought her daughter with her to the military HQ to live with her new husband. She wants her daughter and her new husband to get along and is anxious to get them closer.
- Captain Vidal: Vidal is a captain in the Spanish army and lives in an old abandoned mill (his HQ) with his new wife Carmen and her daughter Ofelia. He has a cold demeanour and has no desire to be Ofelia’s father.
- Mercedes: She is the housekeeper of Captain Vidal. She sympathises with the tense environment that Ofelia now lives in and shows her the garden and its labyrinth for the first time.
- The Doctor: The doctor does not like the army’s presence but is called to attend to Carmen in the HQ.
Director: Guillermo del Toro.
To create the ambience of Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro drew on the works of the illustrator Arthur Rackham, whose vision was plagued by knotty, twisted objects with a perverse will to live.
34 sets were used to create the world of Pan’s Labyrinth. Each set is minutely detailed down to the smallest component. As a result, there is little natural scenery. To achieve this look, del Toro collaborated with production designer Eugenio Caballero.
Pan’s costume was made of mostly latex rubber foam and fibreglass for the horns.
Actor Doug Jones required five hours of makeup each day to get the look for Pan. To make Pan as realistic as possible, no digital effects were used.
The Pale Man was inspired by Spanish artist Goya’s ‘black paintings’, especially his painting of Saturn devouring his son.
It was essential for del Toro to draw visual and narrative parallels between the real world characters and sets with the imaginary ones.
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
The Spanish Civil War civil began on 17 July, 1936 and ended on 1 April, 1939. It is famous for being the prelude to the Second World War in which powers such as German and the Soviet Union used volunteers to test their new equipment and tactics in battle. The war had two sides, Nationalist Spain, led by Francisco Franco, and Republican Spain, controlled by the Popular Front and led by Manuel Azana. The war is often seen as a major conflict between the right and left, with the Nationalists under Franco being mostly fascist (with conservative and centrist elements) and the Republicans being mostly communist and anarchist (with liberal elements too). As a result, many atrocities occurred as both sides sought to destroy all opposition
The war occurred due to a military coup taking place shortly after the 1936 Spanish election which the Popular Front won. Tee coup was a result of years of instability and tensions between the right and left after the collapse of the monarchy in 1931.
The war was used as a staging ground for countries such as Nazi Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union to test their new equipment and tactics. For example, the first ever deliberate aerial bombing of a city occurred in Guernica on 27th April 1937 and was carried out by the Condor Legion of Germany. This proved that nations were using their volunteers and equipment to test new styles of warfare, most notably aerial and tank warfare. Furthermore, it created more support for using force against fascist nations in countries such as France and Britain, where a policy of appeasement was being used to stem the tide of fascism and quench its hunger. In fact, a British minister famously resigned after he became disillusioned with appeasement in the face of the civil war and the death and destruction wrought.
By 1939, the Republican forces had been decisively defeated and split in half. the Republican government fled in exile to France on March 5th. By April 1st 1939, all Republican forces surrendered and victory was achieved for Franco and the Nationalists.
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