Vertigo Film Stills
Here a few film stills from Vertigo. We may have an opportunity to take a look at these stills during class discussion Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
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4 Comments:
Maybe its just me, but describing these film stills seems very subjective. For instance, in the still we saw in class from Vertigo with the woman and the painting, many said that the main focal point was the paining because it was centered. I think that it looks more like the space between the woman and the paining is the center point, therefor portraying both the woman and the painting as equally important. Would I be wrong to assume this? Is there really a correct answer with these things?
It really seems like every single shot in a movie is meant to have some hidden meaning. For instance, in the scene we saw in class from "Taxi Driver" with DeNero where he's pointing the gun out the window at an angle - it was described as empowering the character with power since he's looking down on the world. Who's to say that that's what the scene is supposed to represent. Is is possible that we're simply meant to look out the window?
I guess I'm just wondering how people come up with all these things, because I would never think of most of them and those things that are brought up in class I have a hard time agreeing with. Anyone else have this problem?
-John R.
We may have focused a little too much on mundane details with the "Vertigo" still with the painting. I'll try to pick stills that have a clearer interpretation, but most of the shot techniques (camera angle, framing) should have only a single answer...
I do think the high-angle shot of Travis Bickle looking out the window with the gun is meant to be disturbing. He's not simply looking out the window, especially given teh extent to which the gun dominates the mise-en-scene. What do other people think?
I think that would be a legitimate reading of that still. When I suggestes that Madeleine had "power" over Scottie, I simply meant that he had been drawn in by her (at this point in the film, we think it's unintentional, of course). But the size of the portrait and her rapt attention suggest "Carlotta's" power, even if that knowledge is later undermined.
Carlo, I think you're likely right. It would make sense that Hitchcock, in a shot set in a museum, might want to make the shot resemble an 18th or 19th century painting. Regardless of his intentions, I'd agree.
There's also a relatively strong tradition of directors and cinematographers modelling certain shots on famous paintings. The exterior shot of teh house in The Exorcist is modelled on a Rene Magritte painting, and Andrew Wyeth's paintings were used as models for some of the exterior shots in The Ring.
On my personal blog, I recently commented on a discussion of painter Edward Hopper's influence on filmmaking.
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