International Film Comparison Essay

International Film Comparison Essay

ABSTRACT

The world of film has seen progression in the quality of production over the years as well as an increase in audience. Different cultures have continued to surprise the world with new innovations and technologies to give a unique taste with the others as far as cinematography and thematic elements in movies is concerned. The internet and the availability of accessible internet services have led to vast audiences compared to the last centuries, where only a few target group or groups were singled out in film making. This has led to much incorporation of the different cultures in films to create a unique flavor for the diverse audience. This has resulted in remarkable pictures with clear resolutions, audio, or voices are more explicit and having more educative or entertaining thematic areas touching our various societies. Since the analysis of these two classic films is conducted following two cinematic and thematic elements, my focus will be on cinematography, camera movement, poverty, and conflict.

Key Words

Cinematography

Thematic

Film making

BODY

The essay will compare and contrast the cinematography and the thematic elements used in two films; the first film is La Roma, which is the category of drama. The film was released in the year 2018. The scriptwriter and also the director of the film is Alfonso Cuaron and has taken part in many other production processes of the film e.g., shooting and editing. The settings of the film reflect the years of the early 1970s, with the main character being a housekeeper who works in a middle-class family living in the Mexican city under a Colonia Roma neighborhood.

The other film is the City of God, which is a Brazilian drama with a crime theme which was produced in the year 2002 and directed by Fernando Meirellas and Katia Lund. The film was virtually adapted from a novel with the same name, but the plot characterizes real events that had happened. The plot of the film tries to depict the development and networking of organized crimes in the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. The settings of the movie are in the late 1960s and early 1980s with the main characters being the drug lord Lil Ze and a criminal known as Ned.

Section I

Cinematography is an art of filming or motion-picture photography using electronics. Cinematography pertains to the use of light and color. The cinematographer generates the images that the viewer perceives on the screen through the manipulation of the accessible elements to create a unified and memorable design (Prince, 2012). The applied compositions will help prompt the scenes essential to the emotional subtleties and themes of the film. The crew in the movie La Roma had to modify the looks of the general camera footage through manipulating the way digital cameras deduces what it focuses on in terms of the hue, the brightness, and the saturation of the images. Shooting in color allows some extent of contrast, and the color tends to be desaturated (Wardlow, 2009). The color was then converted to the black and white with an additional difference, which made the film more realistic to the era or period it represented. This is a representation of what is known as “melancholic naturalism.” The cinematography in the movie ‘City of God’ is a significant factor that made the film a masterpiece. The vibrancy of the film is exhibited through the visuals and editing. The visuals are colorful and gritty at the same time, while the editing is organic but sporadic and quick simultaneously. The plot backdrop is created by blending the struggle and beauty of living in the slums of Rio. Tension, character, and color in the scenes are depicted by the score. The color palette used in the film is essential as it not only aids us in identifying the time-skip as the characters evolve but are also visually striking.

According to the long shots involved in the film Roma, it is clear to suggest that the film was recorded using a single camera. An exemption of the mentioned norm in the field that does not follow the rest of the shots is the scene of Cleo accompanying Sofia and her kids for a vacation in Hacienda. Apart from cinematography includes or works closely together with the production designers, whereby the creation of sets, locations, costuming, and all visual environments that are depicted on screen (Prince, 2012). This can be clearly shown in the film, La Roma, whereby locations of lakeside picnics of the vacation can be clearly be seen while some adults were pictured doing shooting while the children are playing in the woods dressed as astronauts. This scene shows how the filmmaker tries as much as possible to represent the art of landscape photography to give some iconic and inspiring works. The positioning of cameras in such a scene;

This sequence of the children playing was one of the few scenes to be shot with two cameras– to ensure the sunlight would be in the perfect position for both shots and also guarantee “perfect continuity” when cutting between the two angles in the editing room, as Cuarón told American Cinematographer.

The holiday trip also features another tricky technical challenge in the form of a forest fire. While everybody is celebrating New Year’s Eve, Cleo steps outside and notices smoke in the distance. All the partygoers hurry to try to put out the flames.

As for the film City of God, the camera movement has been used extensively to make the film a classic. Antonio Meirelles uses the camera as a weapon of unmasking the challenges faced by the youth of Rio de Genero, especially those raised in the slums. Various portrayals of violence within a limited amount of time give more valor to the film as the audience is able to experience the chaotic slum environment. The camera work exhibited by Meirelles is aesthetic. Gangsters are shown running towards the audience using reverse dolly shots. Through these shots, the audience is able to have a better view of all the character’s engagement. Additionally, the use of aerial shots gives a rundown of the entire slum area from a broader perspective. Several revolving camera movements are also used to depict the life of the protagonist, as he is trapped in an environment with nowhere to run. To add spice to the scene, these revolving camera movements pave the way to a flashback, as Rocket reminisces a time in the past when he was trapped in a similar situation. Through these camera movements, the film industry in the industry is portrayed in another perspective, as is said by Jabor and Else:

‘The film raises cinema production to an unequaled standard and breaks with a certain naiveté and tradition in the Brazilian film industry. The scope of City of God creatively and uniquely intertwines the aesthetic and the artistic, the ideological and the economic, the cultural and the anthropological […] in a national and international cinematographic field.’

Section II

The thematic element of movies refers to the features that do not fit in the usual traditional themes. In this area, the themes are more of expressing the modern problems that were not considered or included in the traditional themes e.g., autism and teenage pregnancy.in the movie La Roma, the element of poverty are clearly depicted. Cleo is a poor working girl who is working for a middle-class family in the Mexican setting. The middle class here is considered a well up to rank in the society. To impound on the theme, Cleo is seen sitting on the floor watching the television before being sent to fetch tea. This is a clear indication of how poor Cleo is and considered poor not to sit or engage with the materials which thought for the rich e.g., Sofas. The plot of the film also surrounds the different backgrounds in terms of cities with poor cities found outside the capital. At the same time, the wealthy class owns extensive family lands where they visit during the holidays. The film City of God also relies on the thematic element of class to give a perfect setting of where the film was to be done. The favelas are one of the poor settlements in Brazilian society, and most people who live there are considered inferior.

The contrast in this element is that the La Roma film is set in a setting where the rich and poor class meet. Cleo is working as a poor domestic worker for the wealthy middle class in a more stable environment.in the City of God, the whole set is in the poor class. Poverty is like the center of everything in this movie and the cause of the war, drugs, violence, and corruption in the set society.

Conflict is another major element depicted in the two films.in the Movie City of God; it is the basis of the violence seen. There is a conflict between the police and gangs, different gangs killing each other, and their battle of honesty between the characters in the movie. Conflict can be seen in women who want their husbands to settle down and begin stable families. The conflicts in this film show the real life in the slums ; a life of violence. The film la Roma also depicts disputes; there is a disagreement between the rural villages and the city people in terms of politics and lifestyles.the resultant of the disagreement is violence. The government in the film releases soldiers to fight the insurgents in the villages and destroy any arms or legal campaigns.

Despite the negativities of disputes portrayed as violence and killing, it may result in more positive results. Peaceful co-existence is allowed after conflicts with a reminder of how difference and violence can lead to losses of lives.

References

Ciara, W(2019) Cinematography of Roma

Jabor, Arnaldo, ‘Preface’, in Vieira, Else, R.P. (ed.), ‘City of God’ In Several Voices: Brazilian Social Cinema as Action, Nottingham: Critical, Cultural and Communications Press, 2005, p. iii-iv.

Prince, S. R. (2012). Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film (6th ed.).

Rayan, M (2017). Cinematography in city of God,