HW 3/26

-I like in the description of “focus” how Dziga Vertov’s movies were characterized as “communist decoding of reality”. What in the hell is this supposed to mean? Also, I noticed that the use of focus was more utilized in older movies compared to todays films.

-Mise en scene is when all characters are focussed into one scene, including the setting and costume to enhance the importance of the scene its self.

-It seems like lighting, as simple and as undeserving as it may seem, serves a very important role in the scene. Where to position the lighting, how much lighting, how bright the lighting should be all changes the feeling of a scene and/or entire movie.

-Frontality used in the Birth of a Nation was very creepy in some scenes. Like when the one girl with her children is staring into the camera. Or when the house maid is crying and staring directly into the camera. Just a creepy feeling… like they are watching us instead of us watching them. Clearly this can be used to show that they are staring at a specific thing that isn’t in the same scene as the character staring into the camera. But, in Birth of a Nation, this was not the case.

-Typage seems like a stereo type to specific characters. Like how a “pompous and greedy general” is viewed as fat, poor teeth structure and unshaven. Or how the “english capitalist” is viewed wearing a thick fur coat, nice hat and smoking a cigar.

-Iris seems to be featured in older movies. The way it is supposed to be used in movies sometimes gets taken advantage of. Honestly it becomes irritating when it gets used all the time like when each scene has different sized irises.

-Rhythm seems to make for a very dramatic scene sometimes. Just like in “The Good the Bad and the Ugly.” Dragging out a scene like this can really intensify the situation.