Hugo (2011)
Direction by Martin Scorsese
Writing by John Logan (screenplay) and Brian Selznick (book)
Editing by Thelma Schoonmaker
Cinematography by Robert Richardson
About the film:
Hugo (2011) is the story of a young orphaned adventurer whose determination to discover a secret, brings to light the forgotten contributions of a film pioneer.
The movie begins with various 1st person point of view panoramic shots of the Gare du Nord rail station from inside the numerous clocks found inside the rail station, while Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is shown moving around the maze of passages from clock to clock. Hugo, who fixes the clocks at Gare du Nord due to the death of his Uncle Claud, also spends his time trying to fix a broken
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Hugo inserts the key into the automation and the automation draws a picture. The picture is of the Moon with a telescope, from A Trip to the Moon (1902) one of the earliest films done by Georges Méliès. This clue tells Hugo that the toy merchant (Ben Kingsley) might actually be the great film pioneer Georges Méliès and is not dead as film historians assumed. Hugo’s father used to tell Hugo stories of the first films he went to, particularly the amazement with Georges Méliès films. As Hugo and Isabella do research on Georges Méliès, it is discovered that copies of Georges Méliès’ films exist even as it was assumed they had all been destroyed. With Hugo instrumental in exposing the forgotten films and talents of Méliès, Georges Méliès steps up and declares that Hugo is not an orphan, but is under Méliès charge. The movie ends with an event honoring Georges Méliès and the audience learning that almost 80 versions of Méliès’ films had been found and restored.
Personal impression:
I found Hugo (2011) to be a very entertaining watch for the story but more for being a very visually appealing film.
The movie was a cinematographer’s playground for very stylized and sometimes unobvious techniques, which provided as much substance to the film as the story, acting or score. A particularly useful technique used throughout the film was one to give the viewer a feeling that you were actually watching a grainy film
The creation and consumption of films are a common favorite pastime for many people and have been for hundreds of years, but while some films can seem deceptively simple, many elements go into creating a scene, much less an entire movie. Directors use these elements which include, but are not limited to style, mood, composition and special effects to create a product that we often don’t acknowledge without looking deeper into the film. These components together are called Mise en Scène (Ebert). Of course, film can be enjoyed leisurely but there are so many more aspects of film to be explored and analyzed such as the composition of camera movement, lighting, color, sounds and music. In this case, I chose to analyze the “Redrum” scene from the renowned film, The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick. In this scene, Danny Torrence, a five year old boy wanders around his mother’s room with a knife in hand, muttering the word “Redrum” over and over again before scrawling it across the door. I feel that a lot of this scene’s mood and style relies heavily on the camera work of the scene, the lighting and colors, and the music incorporated into the segment.
During the film Steve Spielberg uses music, a mysterious shark and camera techniques such as simultaneous track and zoom, long shot, close up shots and medium shots to build suspense, tension and scare the audience.
The image is brighter and sharper in the film. The contrast of the film really affects the mood. Since the contrast is so bright the viewer is bound to stay focused and aware because everything is so catchy and noticeable. Also, the exposure changes throughout the film. At the very beginning the film starts in black and white and changed to color as the story progressed. The filmmaker uses a lot of Long Takes, each shot of Dorothy meeting someone new is pretty lengthy.
The camerawork emphasizes the sense of detachment between the characters, and Billy’s inability with connecting with others. In addition, the film has a contrasty, bleak look to it, like a faded photograph. Gallo shot the movie on reversal film stock to capture that contrast and grain, in attempt to reproduce the same look of football games from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Throughout this course, you have been compiling a blog and writing essays that analyze various elements of film such as theme, cinematic techniques, and genre. It is now time to combine those elements into a comprehensive analysis of one movie.
In this movie, different filmic techniques are used, however, in my opinion, they are not very effective and thus it fails to improve or contribute to the success of the movie, which I believe it should. The filming techniques used in
The second way why cinematography made the film is because the camera shots during the film were very close to one other. It did become kind of confusing many times during the film. Now you would see medium shots more than any other one during the film. There were also long shots that were shot alongside the medium shots so long shots would
the first of its kind to be made with a small budget, unknown cast, and limited resources. This proves that this film is unique by showing how differently the director and actors
This paper will discuss various elements of mise-en-scene, specifically; character development, lighting, performance, costume, makeup in the film "Casablanca".(Michael Curtiz,1942) The setting of the story sets the tone for the entire film. Shots of tanks and planes show the violence of war that coincides with the cutthroat city that is Casablanca. From there, those sentiments are reinforced when a man is shot in the street while another man pick pockets someone whom is distracted. The mood of the movie stays on the dark side of things when we enter Rick's Café, where we meet our protagonist played by Humphrey Bogart. In this scene we are treated to the jaded portrayal of night club owner. We see his utter disregard for a French woman
In addition to camera movements, he uses camera distances and framing to create images that make the audience feel cheerful. When he frames a shot, if it takes place outside, there is ample amount of bountiful nature within the frame. The most prominent example of this is toward the end of the film when the narrator is describing the after effects of the massive storm. It is a medium close up but the narrator is only in a small portion of the frame, the rest if a
The directors chosen camera technique, a simple two composition that progresses the scene a steady pace, forces the audience to feel a part of the awkward exchange; obviously, a quality of film that could not be as profoundly achieved through the narrative in the novel.
The main element that made this film was the acting. It was necessary that all acting be overdramatic, it was the only way for the audience to truly grasp the emotions of the characters on screen. The best example is the scene where Freder wanders into the hall of machines and witness’ the
His cinematography “creates an exceptionally inviting, varied look for this nocturnal story, and special visual effects are smoothly integrated into the action. The makeup that adds pale eyes, ghostly pallor and tiny blue veins to the principals' faces manages to create a frisson of danger without marring the actors' attractiveness” (Maslin). Rousselot used dark-lensing, a way to attain low key shots and thus created a huge contrast to the sets and costumes (Maslin). This made the characters seem as though they were the only important things in the otherwise dark and gloomy shots.
Hugo, a film released in 2011, tells the story of a young boy who has had a rough life, who meets a girl that helps guide him on his journey. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Hugo is a historical film that is based on the life of Georges Melies, a French illusionist and film director who contributed heavily to the early developments of cinema. The film connects Melies life to the coming-of-age story of the main character Hugo, in a way that brings history to from textbooks and articles to a magical cinematic experience.
An example this beautiful cinematography the takes place near the beginning of the movie in a battle scene between the risk-taking “lightening” and a German battleship The shot setup of the Regular scenes also shows a genius in the subtle touch of drawing in the viewer. This is best exemplified by a long slow roll over the Italian countryside as “Lightening” drives to meet his love. Overall Mister Aronson and his crew do a fantastic job in the visual effects of this movie, making it enjoyable to watch.