Lift to the scaffold was made in 1958 by Louis Malle. I was part of the 'New French Wave' in which included the term 'Auteur' which means the director writes the script, chooses the characters and has a lot of input in their creation and put their own vision on their piece. Other famous directors of this period were Godard, Melville and Truffaut. Malle’s work included Ascenseur pour L’echafaud (1958), Atlantic City (1981), and Au revoir, les enfants (1987).
The first scene of the film, strangely has no establishing shot but instead presents us with an extreme close up of a woman's face which pans out and shows us that she is on the phone, her face is gradually revealed which opens questions to the audience like who she is and what she is planning to do. The protagonist is Jeanne Moveau which gives the film a USP (unique selling point) and the long shots of her makes the audience feel they are becoming to know her character. The close up makes the focus largely on her not her surroundings. The shot then cuts to the man on the other end of the phone. There is slow, tense music from saxophones playing in the background whilst credits and very slowly fading in and out of the screen in a soft, curved font reflecting the mysterious but soft mood at this point in the film. Then we finally see an establishing shot of the man's office building which pans back to give the effect of how huge the building is.
Furthermore, the man is then in the office on his own in which he picks up a clock, pleonastic sound is heard of the clock ticking at the point where he picks it up, giving a tense of time going quickly and the importance of time in the film, despite the long takes which would not be used in films nowadays as we have become familiar to fast editing. There are ordinary people in the background and the extras are doing normal everyday things so when the abnormal happens, it shocks the audience and the normal things can link and foreshadow the lives of the characters in trouble. He then opens a drawer in which has the content of a rope, a gun and a pair of gloves. He clicks the gun creating more suspense and opening more questions to the audience. The man gets in the lift, foreshadowing and reflecting the title. The long shot of his boss in his office, presenting his large office, gives a sense of his power and importance. There is dramatic irony included as the audience know there is a gun in his pocket but the victim doesn't. Then the music contrasts the mood - contrapuntal sound - as it is very slow and calm whereas the mood should be dramatic and thrilling.
This film made Paris seem the place to be of the time, making it seems glamorous where the protagonist is sitting casually outside a cafe and the man's nice car also reflects this. There is no artificial lighting, it is all natural and a lighter is even used for a source of light. When the woman is walking around the streets as she has realised something bad has happened, pathetic fallacy comes into play as it is raining and thunder is heard.
This French thriller has many concepts we could incorporate into ours such as long shots to get to know the characters and the natural lighting so the audience can relate to the everyday life of the cast. Looking at the opening of this thriller has helped as we can link it to ours and use it for inspiration.
The first scene of the film, strangely has no establishing shot but instead presents us with an extreme close up of a woman's face which pans out and shows us that she is on the phone, her face is gradually revealed which opens questions to the audience like who she is and what she is planning to do. The protagonist is Jeanne Moveau which gives the film a USP (unique selling point) and the long shots of her makes the audience feel they are becoming to know her character. The close up makes the focus largely on her not her surroundings. The shot then cuts to the man on the other end of the phone. There is slow, tense music from saxophones playing in the background whilst credits and very slowly fading in and out of the screen in a soft, curved font reflecting the mysterious but soft mood at this point in the film. Then we finally see an establishing shot of the man's office building which pans back to give the effect of how huge the building is.
Furthermore, the man is then in the office on his own in which he picks up a clock, pleonastic sound is heard of the clock ticking at the point where he picks it up, giving a tense of time going quickly and the importance of time in the film, despite the long takes which would not be used in films nowadays as we have become familiar to fast editing. There are ordinary people in the background and the extras are doing normal everyday things so when the abnormal happens, it shocks the audience and the normal things can link and foreshadow the lives of the characters in trouble. He then opens a drawer in which has the content of a rope, a gun and a pair of gloves. He clicks the gun creating more suspense and opening more questions to the audience. The man gets in the lift, foreshadowing and reflecting the title. The long shot of his boss in his office, presenting his large office, gives a sense of his power and importance. There is dramatic irony included as the audience know there is a gun in his pocket but the victim doesn't. Then the music contrasts the mood - contrapuntal sound - as it is very slow and calm whereas the mood should be dramatic and thrilling.
This film made Paris seem the place to be of the time, making it seems glamorous where the protagonist is sitting casually outside a cafe and the man's nice car also reflects this. There is no artificial lighting, it is all natural and a lighter is even used for a source of light. When the woman is walking around the streets as she has realised something bad has happened, pathetic fallacy comes into play as it is raining and thunder is heard.
This French thriller has many concepts we could incorporate into ours such as long shots to get to know the characters and the natural lighting so the audience can relate to the everyday life of the cast. Looking at the opening of this thriller has helped as we can link it to ours and use it for inspiration.
No comments:
Post a Comment