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The Use of Space in Terry Gilliam's Brazil

The film Brazil is a rather surreal, masterful work. Seemingly inspired by George Orwell’s 1984, the film takes place in a fantastical, dystopian world. The “Ministry of Information,” a very cruel and brutal organization rules over the society. They have no one goal or ideology, other than garnering unquestioning obedience from citizens and possessing all information, as the name would suggest. Many themes and symbolic meanings are layered in the film: as we follow Sam Lowry’s (Jonathan Pryce) journey from a clerk submissive to the system, transformed into a frustrated rebel, in both an internal dream world and later the external fight in his world. The overbearing system is all too formidable for all of Sam Lowry’s fights, ending happily as he becomes insane. The film Brazil with its surreal and masterful work is an ode to the insanely imaginative and unrealistic, achieving complete freedom by having a true retreat into one’s own mind. Ultimately, the use of space in the film pairs

Look Closer Into American Beauty (Film Space) By Clarke Paty At the beginning of American Beauty, the main character, Lester Burnham, is unsatisfied with his life. At home, him and his wife, Carol Burnham, hate each other while his adolescent teenage daughter despises them both. At his job, he is stuck doing meaningless work for a media magazine company. Director, Sam Mendez, and cinematographer, Conrad Hall, use flat space in many scenes of the film to better convey the emotions that the characters are feeling throughout the movie. Space is used in films to manipulate depth, proximity, size and proportions of the places and objects. These all determine different readings and viewpoints of the film, effectively determining mood or relationships between elements and characters in the diegetic world. American Beauty uses multiple instances of lat space, where the image is staged with very little depth. The first dinner scene in American Beauty, where the family i

Film Space in "American Beauty"

The film, “American Beauty” instantly thrusts the viewer into a mundane world of repetition, depression, and nothingness. In every single shot, we see an aging man going throughout his life with nothing inside a trap, a trap that he is so accustomed to that he expects nothing less. He is pushed against the wall, laying in a bed without rolling over to speak to the woman who lays beside him, and he goes about what seems to be the epitome of boredom. His family has some tensions, of course, but nothing in the world stands out at first. Part of how this environment is created is through the power of film space, an aspect that is critical to establishing the world and tone of the film. To create a powerful and successful visual story, a plethora of techniques are utilized to ensure that the story is as strong as possible. When listing these techniques a couple of things come to mind: shot design, camera movement, color, and performance. All of these elements are critical elements of

Surface Division in Citizen Kane

Surface Division in Citizen Kane “Throw that junk in.” This is the last line of Citizen Kane and a summary of his life. Citizen Kane depicts the life of Charles “Charlie” Foster Kane. His story is told through a series of flashbacks presented by his friends and ex-family members; whom are being interviewed by a reporter Jerry Thompson. Thompson is trying to figure out what Kane’s last word “Rosebud” means in hopes that it will be the key to unlocking what his life meant. The movie ends with Thompson giving up and supposing (quite accurately) that a single word can’t describe a man’s life. As the various characters describe Kane’s life surface division is used to show how they saw him as an isolated man. In the first third of the film as Thompson reads Kane’s diary, we see a flashback of Charlie Kane as a child just before he is sent away by his mother and father. The surface division used visualizes how Thomson regards him as a lonely child. The scene is shot in two oners both cont

Limited and Flat Space in Rear Window

Limited and Flat Space in Rear Window By: Cassie Galonsky The film Rear Window , directed by Alfred Hitchcock, uses different types of space to convey the story that he is telling. The film is shot with space in mind to create different feelings for the audience. Limited space and flat space are both used at different points, in order to portray different things. The majority of the film is told through the eyes of L.B. Jeffries, or Jeff, a freelance photographer who has been confined to his apartment as his broken leg heals. Alfred Hitchcock uses the opportunity to demonstrate to the audience his confinement with the different types of space. During the course of the story, Jeff observes the actions of his neighbors through his open window. One day, he sees a series of events that leads him to believe that one of his neighbors, Thorwald, has murdered his wife after her unexplained disappearance. He enlists in the help of his girlfriend, Lisa, who sneak

Ordinary People (flat space)

Gracie Marcellus October 2018 Ordinary People (flat space) In Robert Redford’s directorial debut, Ordinary People, we follow a family that is nearly falling apart after the death of their eldest son. Their youngest son, Conrad, who is portrayed by Timothy Hutton, attempts to “not feel” anything for anyone or anything. This film showed us a teenager that was stuck in a place where his only way out was to face his fear of the past. Conrad’s emotional journey was shown through flat space to convey that he was stuck and needed to find a way out (into deep space). One of the first steps Conrad takes on his emotional journey is calling the therapist, Dr. Berger, and making an appointment. We then see Conrad about to walk into Dr. Berger’s office. There is a close up on him, staring at the building. The building in front of him has rows and rows of flat windows with the air conditioning units hanging off of some of them. We cut back to see him sitting still on a bench, making the se