Film From Shot example essay topic

Above Suspicion (1943, MGM) In the sequence you have chosen, discuss how classical Hollywood cinema brings the aspects of cinematography, editing, sound and narrative together, in order to create meaning in that sequence, and what is that meaning? Above Suspicion is not remembered particularly fondly, if it is remembered at all. In an internet 'Favourite Joan Crawford Movie Poll' it has polled two votes from seven hundred and thirteen. It was her last film with MGM, which she remembers in the book 'Conversations with Joan Crawford' as "No prize this one" (Quoted by Joan Crawford Online). However, it is classical Hollywood cinema, made in 1943 by MGM, and arguments over its merits not-withstanding, brings together aspects of cinematography, editing, sound and narrative, in order to make meaning in the classical Hollywood way. I shall discuss how it does this, and what that meaning is, in the first four minutes and eleven seconds following the opening credits.

Once the opening credits have finished, the first two shots serve the purpose of establishing the location and time. A still reading "Oxford 1939", over a backdrop picture of the town opens the sequence. The music is cheerful, but as the shot dissolves to a newspaper hoarding reading "Danzig Hitler Speaks" it changes to a dark tune, then quickly to a jolly up tempo university theme. The music here anticipates the forthcoming shot of the exterior of the university, giving us a precise setting.

The foreboding music and the name Hitler provide the compositional motivation that Germany and the Second World War will be a part of the story. The next sequence introduces us to the two protagonists; Frances and Richard Myles, played by Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray respectively; provides exposition and introduces two motifs. The third shot is of the exterior of the university, we understand this thanks to the earlier musical cue, otherwise it might not have been so obvious. We can also draw the conclusion that the large amount of youthful people milling around are students.

A cry "Make way for the bride and groom!" introduces a musical change to the wedding march, which is still non-dietetic, although it would be appropriate in the dieresis. As they walk, the most obvious feature of the mise-en-scene is an extravagant bouquet of flowers held by Crawford. She then proceeds to adjust the heel of her shoe, as she explains to her new husband, slipping the heel off her foot to alleviate her "funny ankle". Flowers will play an important role in the development of the film, as they are used to identify Crawford and MacMurray as 'friends' in espionage situations. The repeated shoe adjustments will eventually give Crawford away to the Nazis. Before they can leave for their honeymoon, a rather comic event occurs, and the editing and musical score in this scene wring every last drop of comic value out of it.

Before the car carrying Crawford and MacMurray can depart, a small group of students attach a chain to its back, which causes it to abruptly stop no sooner than it has moved off. We then see the couple in the back of the car, sharing a kiss, before suddenly being jerked forwards, with an accompanying pluck of strings on the soundtrack emphasising the event. The music again emphasises the comedy when the chauffeur gets out to see what happens; as the students release the chain, the car moves off without him. Here despairing low notes underscore his woeful situation. The editing in this scene, jumping from outside the car to the back seat, demonstrates Pudovkin's description of editing as taking the spectator to what they want to see (Pudovkin, 12). As the car jolts to a stop, we want to see the reactions of our heroes inside the car.

In fact, this desire is so strong, it's easy not to notice that in order to show the full extent of the prank's effect, the scene jumps back in time by a couple of seconds to before the car had been stopped. We first see in the exterior view the incident, and then the couple kissing until the car stops, again! That such a jump in time in otherwise chronological editing could still be seen as 'invisible' is considered by Bazin, when he explains the spectator's acceptance of sudden changes of viewpoint, where they are "Justified by the geography of the action or the shifting emphasis of dramatic interest". (Bazin, 44). So because the spectator wants to see the reaction, and because it is the obvious event to be shown once we have seen the exterior view, we do not notice the bend in time that has to be incorporated in the scene to allow for this.

The sound of the students laughing not only acts to further smooth the cuts in the previous action, but provides crucial spatial information when the action goes from the university exterior to a small office. We see a man looking out of a window, and students outside, but this could be anywhere. However, the continuation of the laughing makes it clear that the window of this office looks out on the action we have just witnessed. The angle of the man even allows the spectator to place his office in the film's geography.

He goes on to make a telephone call, telling someone that he has "just missed them". We then see a man in another office, speaking on the telephone. Although these men may well be hundreds of miles apart in the context of the film, we are still made aware that they are speaking to each other in part by the framing of the two shots, one man faces to the right, the other slightly to the left. The shot of the second man is a close-up, which serves to "emphasize character as a source of narrative causality". (Thompson 1985,197). He wants to speak to the couple, and this is the film's first suggestion of conflict or complication, we cannot tell which yet.

This shot is particularly long, at twenty-nine seconds, which causes us to believe this character will serve a large role in the development of the plot. His identity, Peter Galt from the Foreign Office, is revealed in the course of a second phone-call that he makes, asking the police to find them for him, but this is after some wait, bringing mystery to his role, and the role he will continue to play in the narrative. The next scenes, outside and inside Crawford and MacMurray's hotel, give us several clues that they will be caught here by the man from the Foreign Office. We already realise that they will be found; realistically because they are being tracked by the police and government, while apparently unaware of it, and inter textually because when someone tries to find someone else in a film, they do.

But there are additional cues in the mise-en-scene that remind us he told the police they would be "between here and Dover", and infer that this is the location where they will be found. Classical Hollywood cinema utilises everything in shot in the narrative, these cues are compositional motivation for them to be found here. The scene opens on a shot of a sign on the side of a bridge, featuring the information 'DOVER 6 M', the first compositional cue. We then here engine noise, anticipating and relaying our attention to a car (Bordwell and Thompson, 292), and the camera moves down to see that very car driving underneath the bridge, with Crawford and MacMurray inside. They discuss the fact that they are staying in a different hotel to the one that they had planned, MacMurray has changed it, which he puts down to his fear of "The Oxford sense of humour".

The prank when they left the university backs up this statement, evidently he expects more of the same. This nicely maintains our doubts as to whether the couple, specifically MacMurray are 'good guys' or 'bad guys', casting doubt as to why the Foreign Office is after them, is he running away from them, or genuinely unaware and innocent? This is delaying the pleasure we find in unravelling the details of the film. As they enter the hotel, Crawford stumbles, which reminds us of her heel trouble as they left the chapel, and continues her heel / foot motif. They are in a different car to the one we saw them leave the university in, MacMurray drives and the chauffeur is gone, and they have changed out of their wedding clothes. We make sense of this ellipse in time thanks to two comments heard earlier in the film, a student's cry of "Happy honeymoon Mr Myles!" and Peter Galt's identification during his second phone call that they are "Heading for a continental honeymoon".

This not only identifies that they are going on a honeymoon, but that they are going immediately from the chapel. So we assume that the events we now see are later that day, nothing eventful having occurred in the meantime. In the reception of the hotel the couple face their greatest challenge so far, a stern receptionist. A slow dissolve from the last shot outside to the first inside marks a brief passage of time, they are already signing the register in this shot. After signing the register, they make their way to their room, but are stopped on the landing when the receptionist tells them to "Draw the blinds". MacMurray clearly doesn't understand why she wants them to, and the inference is that she thinks they are going to have sex, and wants to make sure no one sees, her suspicions already aroused by them signing in as 'Mr and Mrs Smith'.

In this conversation rhythmic editing enhances the humour greatly, as it quickly cuts between the receptionist's stern warning, and MacMurray's nervous and confused reactions. The scene demonstrates the Kuleshov Effect, that we assume the characters are in the same space, although we have only seen portions of it (Bordwell and Thompson, 281). There is no establishing shot of the two parties, so spatial clues are particularly vital here to maintain the smooth flow of the editing. Their eyeline correspond, the receptionist's up and right, MacMurray's down and left, "If a single eyeline provides a strong spatial cue, then a second eyeline on the other side of the cut should create an even stronger spatial anchor for the spectator" (Thompson 1985,208).

The receptionist starts the conversation, while the camera is already on her, and the next shot of MacMurray is from her level, looking up, not a point-of-view shot, but a shot clearly marked as what she was looking at. This view also gives the couple a certain privilege to the receptionist, they are the young couple in love, about to get up to who knows what, while the old straight-laced receptionist can only suspect and disapprove. This notion is quickly, and somewhat comically reversed, as they disappear, and the receptionist goes straight to her phone, we suspect to alert someone of their presence. Our expectations are confounded, as she the more in control after all.

The final shot is very long, at one minute and two seconds. The reason for this is that it is our first extended exposure to our protagonists and heroes of the story, and it performs several crucial narrative functions. A slow dissolve from the previous shot of the receptionist acts to mask a passage of time, the couple are ready for bed now. The shot opens with a view out of a window, and provides the second glaring reminder that they are "Between here and Dover", a view of the famous white cliffs of Dover.

At this point music finally comes back, a curious sounding tune, echoing the spectator's question at this point, that they are in that position not quite at Dover, ready to be caught, what is going to happen? Also, we are still not totally sure as to the nature of MacMurray's character yet. This music reminds us of the questions that are still unanswered in the plot. The camera then tracks right to revealing Crawford lying on the bed, telling us this is the bedroom we previously saw them going to. The music now breaks into a love theme. The basis for the remainder of the film is then laid bare by MacMurray.

"In virtually all cases, the main character in a classical Hollywood film desires something, and that desire provides the forward impetus for the narrative". (Thompson 1999, 14) MacMurray presents the desire in the case of Above Suspicion as he takes Crawford's diary and reads the passage she has just written: We always have to pay for all we have, and what we hope to have. I hate to think of what the peace and serenity of our honeymoon grabbed from a crazy world will cost us. The forward impetus is Crawford's desire for a peaceful honeymoon.

And not only does she provide the desire the narrative requires, but she also predicts the consequences of her desire, although she might think that the cost will follow the peace, while in fact the cost comes first. This blatant piece of narrative information, drawn from the unwieldy device of a useful diary Crawford happens to write, is smoothed over by a playful MacMurray going on to find her entry for the day they met. This gives the diary more significance as a part of Crawford's character, although it never appears again, reassuring us that the diary did belong in the scene, and was not just a flimsy excuse to put information across. Having discussed the meaning of the components of the sequence, there is a deeper meaning to be found when looking at it as a whole. An interesting feature of the film's mise-en-scene is the recurrence of the arch. The exterior of the university is shot looking directly at a large archway, through which the couple walk.

Their arrival at the hotel is also through an arch, this time the arch of a bridge. The obvious explanation for this is that these scenes must have been shot in a studio. The arches both block out any sky that might have appeared in the frame. This allows for smaller, economical sets, even when using a very long shot.

However, the recurring arches fit into an interesting interpretation of this opening sequence, with other "visual rhymes" (Elsaesser, 48) acting in collusion to the idea. What happens, in effect, are two marriages. First we see the couple exiting a chapel, they have just married. Crawford slips the shoe of her heel, they walk out through the archway, and they leave in a car. Then we see a reversal of these events.

They arrive at their hotel in a car, driving through another arch. As they walk into the hotel, Crawford stumbles, echoing her previous foot trouble. They then sign a register before going upstairs, but before they go on, the registrar makes it clear that she disapproves of the idea of them having sex. This relates to the romance plotline of the film. Typically in classical Hollywood cinema, there are at least two plotline, and one is romance (Thompson 1999, 12). But Above Suspicion starts with a marriage, and not only that, the couple seem incredibly happy.

In fact, the romance plotline here lies not in the beginning or salvaging of a relationship, as in many others, but in deepening the relationship. Discovering more about each other, and learning to work as a team. Specifically, it isn't about finding a great relationship, it's how to build a great marriage. A line as they exit the chapel also implies this, when MacMurray says jokingly to Crawford "Then you didn't tell me everything!" upon discovering her "Funny ankle". At the start of the film they think they are married, but their reverse marriage at the hotel, and receptionist's reminder that you aren't supposed to have sex before marriage, sends them on a journey to strengthen their relationship, until they truly embody the ideals of married life. Cinematography, editing, sound and narrative in this sequence combine to make meaning, not only a basic meaning that holds the scenes together, and allows the spectator to easily comprehend the film (Thompson 1985,202), but also deeper and more abstract levels of meaning.

In this short sequence, they have simply helped the spectator to follow the film, from shot to shot, made a basic visual joke funnier, and provided a key to the underlying theme of the remaining hour and a half of the film.

Bibliography

Bazin, Andre. "What Is Cinema, The Evolution Of The Language Of Cinema" in Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen eds. Film Theory and Criticism. 5th Edition. Oxford: Oxford U P, 1998.
43-56. Bennett, Babas A. "Above Suspicion". Joan Crawford Online. web 8th November 2002 Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson.
The Shot: Mise-en-scene" in David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 6th Edition. London: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
156-192. Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. "The Shot: Cinematography" in David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. 6th Edition. London: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
193-248. "Sound in the Cinema" in David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction 6th Edition. London: McGraw Hill, 2001.
291-326. Chandler, Daniel. "Sherlock Junior: Shot By Shot Breakdown Of Dream Sequence". The Media And Communication Studies Site. web 4th November 2002 Donnelly, K.
J.", Introduction: The Hidden Heritage of Film Music: History and Scholarship" in K.J. Donnelly, ed., Film Music: Critical Approaches (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press). 1-15. Elsaesser, Thomas and Warren Buckland. "Film theory, methods, analysis" in Studying Contemporary American Film: A Guide to Movie Analysis. London: Arnold, 2002.
1-25. "Classical / post -classical narrative (Die Hard) " in Studying Contemporary American Film: A Guide to Movie Analysis. London: Arnold, 2002.
26-79. "Mise-en-scene criticism and statistical style analysis (The English Patient) " in Studying Contemporary American Film: A Guide To Movie Analysis. London: Arnold, 2002.
80-116 Eisenstein, Sergei. "The Dramaturgy of Film Form" in Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen eds. 5th Edition. Oxford: Oxford U P, 1998.
25-42. Pudovkin, Vsevolod. "On Editing" in Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen eds. 5th Edition. Oxford: Oxford U P, 1998.
9-14. Thompson, Kristin. "The Continuity System" in David Bordwell, Janet Stagger and Kristen Thompson. The Classical Hollywood Cinema London: Routledge, 1985.
194-213. Thompson, Kristen. "Modern Classicism" in Storytelling in the New Hollywood: Understanding Classical Narrative Technique. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard U P, 1999.
1-49 Thompson, Kristen. "Back To The Future" in Storytelling in the New Hollywood: Understanding Classical Narrative Technique. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard U P, 1999.
77-102 Valmy. "Favourite Joan Crawford Movie Poll". web 8th November 2002 Appendix Above Suspicion (1943, MGM, Dir.
Richard Thorpe) Shot-by-Shot Analysis of Four Minutes Eleven Seconds Following Opening Credits Time # Description Music 00.00 1 1 a INSERT TITLE: 'Oxford 1939' Over backdrop picture of Oxford 1 b Title fades DISSOLVE TO: Upbeat, jolly 00.