When one thinks of the different genres of cinema, “road movie” is not usually one that often comes up.  However, we see road movies all the time without even knowing it.  A common definition is: a film genre in which the film’s plot takes place during a journey.  Thus, films like Dumb and Dumber, The Lord of the Rings, Rat Race, and Stand by Me all fall under this category.  While we might think of these movies as comedies or actions or dramas, they are also road movies.  The genre finds its roots in the stories of Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid — both well known epic journeys.  The road movie typically involves one or more characters who are facing a challenge and emerge from their journey with some type of newfound knowledge.  In other cases they’ll grow and improve or have an epiphany, and in the most tragic cases, come face to face with death.  Many times the character has a desire for change — he or she is searching for something new, something better.

The Mise En Scene of Bonnie and Clyde

Dominant: Where is our eye attracted first? Why?

The eye is attracted to Bonnie and Clyde first because they are in your direct eye line according to the rule of thirds.

Lighting Key: High Key? Low Key? High Contrast? Some combination of these?

The scene is shot with high key light because it is filmed outside during the daytime using natural light.  The viewer can see the shadows of the people and the trees.

Shot and Camera Proxemics: What type of shot?  How far away is the camera from the action?

As the action increases in the clip, the camera gets closer.  In general it is a medium distance.

An establishment shot is used when you first see the road at the beginning of the clip, then it switches to a medium shot when Bonnie and Clyde appear in the car.  Then a lot of medium shots.  Then a lot of close ups in the row once the action in the scene picks up.  When they’re in the car the camera is extremely close.

Angle: Are we (and the camera) looking up or down on the subject? Or is the camera neutral (eye level)?

The camera is looking up, down, and at eye level.  They also experiment with the angle at some points.  The angles represent point of views of the people in the scene and lets us see the scenery and action.  There are low to high angles when Bonnie is getting shot, and then high to low angles on the car afterwards.

Color Values:  Color values: What is the dominant color? Are there contrasting foils? Is there color symbolism?

Green is the dominant color – we find green in the apple, the trees, and the grass.  Red is the contrasting foil, which becomes very apparent when they are being shot.  There is green, which symbolizes growth, all around the characters, but at the same time they are facing imminent danger, which is where the red comes in to symbolize danger and death.

Lens/Filter/Stock:  How do these distort or comment on the photographed materials?

There aren’t any lens filters because the director wanted the film to have a very natural feel.  There is a lens blur when the camera pans up to the birds flying towards the sun, which is exactly how the audience would see it if they were there.

Subsidiary contrasts: What are the main eye-stops after taking in the dominant?

After the dominant eye attraction, the main eye-stops are the green apple and the birds.  Also, the whole shooting scene is an eye-stop itself. The scene ends with a birds-eye view of them dead by the car, laying lifeless, which is the final eye-stop.

Density: How much visual information is packed into the image?  Is the texture stark, moderate, or highly detailed?

There is a great amount of visual information in the scene – the director was trying to make it seem like you were there and wanted to make it really close to life.  There is only a moderate amount of texture — te didn’t zoom in on the leaves or pan the camera to anywhere you wouldn’t have looked if you were they yourself.  The shot always took you where your eye would take you observing the scene in person (i.e.  the birds flying away, the emotions of the characters, and the shooting scene).

Composition: How is the two-dimensional space segmented and organized?  What is the underlying design?

According to the rule of thirds, the majority of the action takes place in the center of the screen.  The nature shots are spaced and wide open, whereas the actions shots are shot closer together to capture more detail.

Form: Open or closed? Does the image suggest a window that arbitrarily isolates a fragment of the scene?  Or a proscenium arch, in the visual elements are carefully arranged and held in balance?

In this scene, the shots suggests a window – the window that an observer of the scene would have.  In the car, the director uses the window of the car to frame the two actors; there are a variety of shots, but none of them were shot too up-close.

Framing: Tight or loose?  Do the characters have no room to move around, or can they move freely without impediments?

The framing is very tight at first — the characters don’t really have a whole lot of room to move around.  They are in the car for the first half and even though you are out in the nature, you get the sense that they are trapped, which is what the director wanted.  The framing on the other man is different than Bonnie and Clyde.  The loose framing on him suggests that he’s not in danger, as opposed to the danger that Bonnie and Clyde are about to face.

The Mise en Scene in Death Proof

Dominant: Where is our eye attracted first? Why?

Our eye is attracted to Jungle Julia’s foot first, which is hanging out of the car window, and thus out of the natural framing.

Lighting Key: High Key? Low Key? High Contrast? Some combination of these?

This scene uses mainly low key lighting because the shots remain very dark and they are filmed when at nighttime.

Shot and Camera Proxemics: What type of shot?  How far away is the camera from the action?

The scene consists of mostly medium shots until they get killed when the director opts for extreme close-ups to show their bodies getting torn apart and blown up.  The camera also occasionally zooms in on the girls talking in the car, ominous of their pending doom.

Angle: Are we (and the camera) looking up or down on the subject? Or is the camera neutral (eye level)?

We view the scene neutrally through eye-level.  When the cars crash, we are provided with a bird’s eye view to get the full effect of seeing them crash head on.  It is filmed from low to high when we see the body being blown into the air.

Color Values:  Color values: What is the dominant color? Are there contrasting foils? Is there color symbolism?

The dominant color is black – not only are they are surrounded in it, but it is the color of the car.  The black is ominous of their soon to come doom.  The contrasting foil is red, which is seen sporadically flashing in the background throughout the scene, symbolizing danger.

Lens/Filter/Stock:  How do these distort or comment on the photographed materials?

The filters that the director uses give the feel as if it was shot on film, even though it was shot digitally; it is meant to be a little grainy.

Subsidiary contrasts: What are the main eye-stops after taking in the dominant?

The main eye-stops are the images in which each individual person dies.  The scene was edited to rewind and replay each death; each death was filmed in its own way.

Density: How much visual information is packed into the image?  Is the texture stark, moderate, or highly detailed?

The scene is highly detailed; there is a lot of visual information packed into the image.  The highly textured detail can be seen in the rain drops on the car window, the wind going trough their hair, the glass shattering during the crashes, and the blood going everywhere when they die.

Composition: How is the two-dimensional space segmented and organized?  What is the underlying design?

The camera is focused mainly on the car, which is in the middle of the screen and surrounded by blackness on each side.  The space varies throughout the individual camera shots.

Form: Open or closed? Does the image suggest a window that arbitrarily isolates a fragment of the scene?  Or a proscenium arch, in the visual elements are carefully arranged and held in balance?

The window of the car creates a closed form in most of the shots; the window also fragments the scene.

Framing: Tight or loose?  Do the characters have no room to move around, or can they move freely without impediments?

The framing is very tight through the whole scene in order to capture as much action as possible and to provide the sense that they are doomed – there no way out of their current situation.  In the last death, when the car tires run over the woman’s face, the framing is extremely tight, showing that she obviously can go nowhere.

On an assignment for Newsweek, he covered the Iran hostage crisis in which 53 Americans were taken hostage for almost a year and a half.  He went on to photograph the Iran/Iraq war, the uprisings in the provinces of Azerbaijan and Balouchistan, and a Hezbollah military training camp in Lebanon.  After his move to France, Manoocher covered the conflicts in Ireland and photographed the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles.  He captured the besiege of Sarajevo, saw three civil wars in South Africa, watched the U.S. invade Iraq in the Gulf War, and shot photographs of the daily life of Israel and Palestine.  Pick any event, any place, in the last three decades, and chances are, Manoocher was there, capturing it all.

Manoocher’s Photographs

Mullahs in Iran

Shown here is a group of mullahs that were sent to the Iranian side of the Iran-Iraq border.  They are observing an oil port of Faw in Iraq burning on the horizon.  This image is visually appearing to the viewer mainly due to its contrast.  The sky takes on a dusty yellow color, although the huge, dark, bleak smoke cloud overshadows most of it.  Also, the extremely dark robes of the mullahs as well as their strikingly white turbans contrast against the blue-gray desert floor.  The viewer is drawn into the photograph; he wonders what they’re talking about and why the one man is staring off into space.

A soldier from the Sudan People's Liberation Army carries his son in the streets of Yei, Juba, Southern Sudan

This photograph is immediately striking to the viewer.  It portrays a Sudanese soldier carrying his son in the streets of southern Sudan.  Our initial startled reaction is most likely due to the fact that this is a scene we would never see in our own culture.  Part of why the viewer finds this image so compelling is the clarity with which it depicts the subjects of the photo contrasted against the blurred background.  The blue, collared-shirts of the  African children on the right create balance with older man riding a bicycle on the left, who is wearing a darker blue jacket.  In the center, separating the two, are the subjects of the photograph — the soldier and his son.  The bright blue of the childrens’ shirts contrast against the duller background of green, brown and gray.  Overall, Manoocher creates a very visually appealing photograph using color and balance to add to the overall composition.

The Noolays relief camp in Bardera, Somalia, 1993

What is the first thing the eyes see when placed upon this picture?  The, at least what appears to be, extremely large head of the Somalian child.  In fact, his head is no larger than that of any other child, it just looks as such compared to his miniscule arms.  His cheekbones are showing, his hands are small and scrawny, and his ribcage is more than evident.  In 2002, an estimated 350,000 Somalis die of disease, starvation, or civil war.  In this photograph, Manoosher used proportion to create a jarring effect.  Except, unlike most artists, he didn’t skew the proportions of anything — which is exactly the point.  This was a real depiction of what was going on in Somalia.  Again, all in a very realistic sense, he uses emphasis and unity to shock the viewer — to show the world what was happening in Africa.  His tiny arms contrast against his “large” head.  All the people are moving in the same direction and there seems to be a sense of connection between them, whether it be familial or cultural, or both.  In this piece, the unity exists in the concept.  In this photograph, Manoosher brings to life all the tribulations that the Somalians endured in the early 1990s before United Nations came to their aid.

Due to the nature of Manoocher’s work, it was difficult to find a scene that accurately represented one of his photographs.  However, I feel that this photograph does a good job at depicting a lonely girl in a foreign world.  In this photograph, Girl and Bird Cages, Libby Cullen takes in and absorbs a whole culture, much like Manoocher did.

Sources:


http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812u/somalia-timeline

http://shahidul.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/manoocher-kuwait.jpg&imgrefurl=http://shahidul.wordpress.com/2007/07/&h=367&w=550&sz=213&tbnid=p4D7IHuRZHlCSM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3DManoocher%2Bphotos&hl=en&usg=__DsoJj6A0BTUZDdTgiNfQC1WSenI=&ei=x4bBSsi4EY_dlAfFyP3wBA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&ved=0CAsQ9QEwA

http://www.ngoabroad.com/irin–manoocher%20deghati–fleeing%20sudan–ss3_onpage.jpg

Native American Teepee

This Native American teepee displays balance expertly.  Although we may not think of a teepee being a form of art, many tribes would decorate them, such as the one above.  No matter the teepee, they all achieve balance in by placing equal “weight” on equal sides of a centrally placed fulcrum, which is in this instance, the very top of the teepee.  The central purpose in creating a balanced teepee was to give the native americans a place to sleep.  Many tribes were nomadic and constantly on the move, and thus the teepee, which would be nothing without balance, became a very helpful, portable tool for the Native Americans.

Navajo Blanket

This Native American blanket is a display of the geometric patterns that were consistently found throughout their artwork.  Besides the blanket’s natural purpose, that of comfort and warmth, the geometric patterns had a purpose: they represented the forces of nature and the objects of everyday life.  The underlying structure of the brown diamonds with a black center give organization to this piece of art.

Native American Breastplate

Texture, unity, and pattern are the three central elements that combine to form this breastplate.  All the pieces are working together to form a whole — the breastplate itself.  The straight bone hairpipe (what looks like small, wooden sticks) are both slanted towards the middle on both sides, creating a sense of unity.  The central purpose of the breastplate used to be armor, but in contemporary times they are only used ceremoniously.

Colorful Native American Mask

Native Americans would often skew the proportions in masks and paint them vibrant colors to represent the spirits, whose souls the wearers were said to inhabit.  And thus the individual would share the creature’s powers, be it strength, purpose, wisdom, etc.  We are used to using the human body as a standard of measurement to base proportion off of, so naturally, a change to the proportions of the human face would have a noticeable effect, and can enhance the piece, as long as it has a purpose, such as the one of these masks.

Medallion Necklaces

These Native American medallion necklaces display a geometric pattern, but there is in both of them, something that catches the eye preluding the pattern, and that is the center, which there is a strong emphasis on.  Our eye is drawn to the star on the left and the sun on the right because they both disrupt the flow of pattern, achieving this through a contrast in color.  The bright blue and yellow draws the viewer in, but they also add unity to the piece.  These necklaces display the Native American’s strong relationship to nature.

Native American Influence in Our Culture Today

The Arrow

When we think of the arrow, some of us will think about the arrow in terms of its use as a weapon, others will think of it in a directional sense, but very few of us have probably thought that the two are interrelated.  The arrow that we so today in so many aspects of our life originated from the Native American arrow, first used centuries and centuries ago.  Depiction of arrows can vary widely: “So many different depiction’s of arrows are used. They usually symbolize direction, force, movement, power and direction of travel, also the pathway of the breath, the life force of the animal spirit, called the ‘heart line’.”

Navajo Rug

These rugs were “originally woven as garments and body coverings (Jirousek)”, and today are the most well known of Native American arts.  People buy these rugs without even realizing that their origins are Native American.  ”At the turn of the century, the trading posts of the Navaho reservations developed a substantial business in Navajo rugs (Jirousek).”  They often featured geometric patterns like in the one shown above, rarely displaying curved lines or physical life.

Children's Teepee

Today, teepee kits are sold, targeting children who may want to hand paint and personalize their own teepee.  Their origins, however, come from the Native Americans thousands of years ago who used teepees as a place to sleep.  They were especially useful for the hunter-gathers who led a nomadic lifestyle and were constantly on the move.

Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatchers were used by Native Americans to keep evil spirits and dreams away while they sleep.  Personal and symbolic items such as feathers and beads were used to personalize each dreamcatcher and make them unique.  Today, dreamcatchers are sold at thrift shops across the world and used by kids of all ages to protect them from unwanted dreams.

Sources:

http://www.anthonygonzalez.com/id15.html

http://www.navajorugsblankets.com/

http://www.neokistomi.com/breastplates.html

http://www.snowwowl.com/images/legacy1.jpg

http://www.ancientwayswest.com/Necklaces01.html

http://buckagram.com/buck/symbols/

http://char.txa.cornell.edu/

http://www.bellamytech.com/teepee.html