Pick one of the scenes below and write a 3-paragraph DETAILED analysis. Include at least one quote from a review that you find on the Movie Review Query Engine. Remember also to come up with an overarching theme for your analysis, state why you chose your scene, and the scene's relationship to the film as a whole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP2eWHdZLDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9I-gsap0po
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERAGjXnXQwk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00iQjNtC0k
Truffaut takes viewers on a journey of misundertsanding alongside his slighty autobiographical character Doniel in his film "The 400 Blows". The scene I have chosen to analyze is the police van scene.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the film, Francois Truffaut utilizes shot composition and type in order to portray Doniel's struggles to gain the respect of others. When he boards the police van, and has all but lost his life and individuality, Truffaut takes us through the city that Doniel was such a part of, except this time he now puts the bars of the police vehicle in between his eyes and the city. The first shot looking out of the van sees the bars directly in front of the lens the camera, creating a disconnect between the area behind the camera and the bright lights of the exterior. It then cuts to looking at Doniel from a medium shot, seeing him pressed up against the bars. The connection is of course made, but the bright lights of the outside have the greatest effect on the shot when all three key components: Doniel, the bars, and the exterior of the van are in the shot at once. With all three at once, the viewers are placed with the rest of the van and see how intently Doniel wishes to get back; get back to the entirety of his life just recently taken away from him.
Lighting in this scene also says a lot about Doniel’s disconnect from the outside world and its inhabitants. The shots of the outside have bright, long lights casting shadows into the dark of the night. These lights represent how alive the exterior world is, and how at night Paris comes alive. When Doniel is shown sitting in the van, his face is low-lit, and this portrays his disconnect from the adults out and about, as well as the actions of Paris nightlife. He is now forced by the adults in his life to lay low in the shadows, and his mental state is also stuck in the darkness, with next to no hope left.
A third component which I felt Truffaut used extremely well in this scene was that of non diegetic sound. The score to this film is consistent and beautiful, but in this scene it changes along with Doniel’s feelings. At first, the score continues to be jovial and childlike, as doniel looks to the outside for entertainment. But as soon as Doniel truly realizes this may be the last he sees of this great city, the score takes a turn and becomes deep and melancholy, representing the despair that Doniel is currently experiencing. The high point of the scene is when the tears roll down his cheeks, and this is accented by violins powerful playing.
I meant to include this quote from Strictly Film School: "Truffaut's assured camerawork never wavers in this highly influential and relevant film of adolescence." I think it goes hand in hand with what I was saying about his shot composition during the van scene and how every shot has specific purpose.
DeleteFrancois Truffant takes the viewer on a slightly autobiographical journey through his [subjectively] most well known film, The 400 Blows. The scene I chose to analyze is the final sequence in this iconic movie. I chose to analyze this scene because of its acute ability to conclude the film without a concrete finish, and I really enjoyed the way it was left ambiguous as to what happened, I felt that it illustrated how the entire movie had followed through.
ReplyDeleteThe shot opens with the kids playing soccer, establishing the scene. The soccer field represents the fact the way that Doniel is trapped in these guidlines of the way society wants him to be, and the fact that he escapes is sort of him escaping from the societal expectations of the time. The montage editing in this opening clip is really interesting and connects to the way that Doniel is playing soccer with the other kids, but also feels pretty disconnected to what is going on because he has escape on his mind. All the boys are wearing black, which also contributes to the themes of being trapped, and being upheld to the societal expectations of the kids at the time, especially considering they were juvenile delinquents of sorts. Around this time too kids were starting to revolt from the establishment and become more interested in rebelling against the man. Doniel gets the ball, following the established rules, and then throws it back into the game after it went out of bounds, looking around, and then runs outside of the field, and dives under the fence. Before he goes completely under the fence, though, he looks around one more time to see if anyone will stop him, which seems like his end of the rope, and then he’s completely out of the fenced in field (just another reference to being trapped).
As more of the kids notice Doniel escaping, the shot pans to him running in the distance, from the right third of the screen to the left, showing that he is finally getting away. This shot gives off a sort of Orson Welles vibe as the kid trying to catch Doniel is in the foreground and the right side of the screen, while Doniel is in the background on the right, with a single tree in the complete center, and more trees as a landscape in the background. The solitary tree could represent Doniel, lonely and the only one seeking escape, while the landscape of trees represent everyone else. The montage editing continues, but with the sound of the whistle blowing to connect the shots for the viewer, a characteristic of French New Wave films. Doniel runs and ducks underneath signs to illustrate his desperate need to get away, until he finally reaches the ocean, which was alluded to earlier in the film while he and his friends spoke about what seas they had been to. The ocean in this case represents freedom to Doniel, the very extended shot of him running then cuts to a shot in front of him, with the nondiegetic music to show that he has finally reached his final destination. A quote from the New York Times at the time by Bosley Crowther illustrates this beautifully, saying “the feeling of intimate occurrence that is packed into all its candid scenes,” shows how the film was received at the time.
The police van scene depicts young Antoine at a pivotal bend in his life; he is being dragged out of childhood and deeper into criminality. He is the classic misunderstood youth: mistaken for a liar and a delinquent and thus incarcerated, ironically cementing his position as a criminal. Rober Egert describes his situation as him having very bad luck: "When a pinup calendar is being passed from hand to hand, his is the hand the teacher finds it in." Sure, he's not entirely innocent, but he's a child, and is seen as a scapegoat. He is a scapegoat for his teacher's depressing job and failure to maintain effective authority and a scapegoat for his parents' marital issues.
ReplyDeleteAs Antoine steps into the police car, he is dwarfed by the larger police officers and criminals, and this is highlighted by the fact that Antoine is light and the other figures aren’t. This asserts that Antoine really doesn’t belong in the van, he is just a kid. Since the film was inspired by director Francois Truffaut’s early life, the presentation obviously is trying to make the audience feel that Antoine has been wronged; maybe if he had been shown love and attention instead of harsh discipline, he wouldn’t be in this situation. We are then offered a point-of-view shot from Antoine’s perspective. We watch along with him as the streets familiar to him drift away beyond the bars. The closed framing of the bars, aside from of course reminding us that he’s in jail, add to the hopelessness of the situation and Antoine’s lack of control over his own fate. This shot, with different streets and memories drifting by, is revisited throughout the scene, intercut with shots of Antoine crying, clearly demonstrating the effect that losing these beloved places has on the boy.
To contrast the point-of-view shot, we get a medium shot of the back of the van. Antoine is framed by the bars similar to the previous shot, and behind him, a woman smokes a cigarette. She constantly and ceaselessly pumps out smoke throughout the whole scene, almost like a chain-smoking machine; this visual cue reminds the viewer of the moment earlier in the film in which Antoine started a fire in his home unintentionally and despite his good intent. The shot is made even more powerful by his crying. His tears, coupled with the smoke of his sins, demonstrate his guilt. This guilt is most likely connected to his mother - no doubt Antoine thinks that he has disappointed her once again. The final shot is a close-up version of this shot in which he turns out of the shadow into the light brought by a street lamp, illuminating his tear and causing it to shine. He is heartbroken. He has lost his childhood, his home, and any hope he had of his mother loving him.
For this response I have chosen the final sequence of the 400 blows in which we see Doniel escape from the institution that he is placed in towards the end of the film. I chose this sequence because it beautifully wraps up the film by showing the viewers a few things about Doniel’s future and about Doniel himself.
ReplyDeleteThe first important detail of the sequence is the lack of audio, save the sound of Doniel running and some non diegetic music as he reaches the beach. This choice on Truffaut’s part severs this sequence from the rest of the film because nearly every location that the audience has been presented with up until this point every location has been both crowded and noisey. By doing this we can assume that Doniel intends to leave everything that he was behind and get what he wanted from life.
What I also found to be amazing about the scene was the fact that it ended at the sea on a beach which calls back Doniel’s desire to sea the sea and his desire to be free which he could only do if he left his family and past behind.
For this response I have chosen the final sequence of the 400 blows in which we see Doniel escape from the institution that he is placed in towards the end of the film. I chose this sequence because it beautifully wraps up the film by showing the viewers a few things about Doniel’s future and about Doniel himself.
ReplyDeleteThe first important detail of the sequence is the lack of audio, save the sound of Doniel running and some non diegetic music as he reaches the beach. This choice on Truffaut’s part severs this sequence from the rest of the film because nearly every location that the audience has been presented with up until this point every location has been both crowded and noisey. By doing this we can assume that Doniel intends to leave everything that he was behind and get what he wanted from life.
What I also found to be amazing about the scene was the fact that it ended at the sea on a beach which calls back Doniel’s desire to sea the sea and his desire to be free which he could only do if he left his family and past behind.
During this scene where Antoine is sitting at the table and then suddenly his alter to Balzac sets on fire. This scene intricately shows the life that Antoine has at home. It is a breaking point for both the parents and Antoine. Antoine is trying to lead the life that his parents want him to, while his parents accuse him of plagiarizing. In the shot at the table there is significance in the way that it is framed because it is lopsided in a way. The father takes up more room at the end of the table than the mother and Antoine is more or less shunned to the backdrop. Not only that but the boy is shadowed by the material items on the table. We only see from the chest up of his body while we see about half of the bodies of the other people. Either way Antoine is centered because that is who we identify with in this case. Because we relate to the hurry to the altar to extinguish the fire. Then the shot gets interestingly composed because of the way that at first the boy is in the center of the frame and then his father pushes him over into the side of the frame.
ReplyDeleteThen the shot moves in on the father son relationship. The boy is low in the shot because he is physically smaller than the father, but also the mom and the fire is taken out of the shot because that is not what is important. It is important that he is the cause of the fire. After the fire is out the mother lingers in the background. This represents how she is a passive parent. She doesn’t say anything, but constantly witnesses her husband threaten to send her child away to military school. Then everything turns to her trying to turn the situation around when he mentions military school. The next shot is a shot of the mother and father it seems like they are equal, but there is a lot more kinesis on his side of the screen. This shows his anger and when the son comes over to the mother it represents two sides of the family. A mother protecting her son and also herself from an angry father. It ends with the father in the center of the frame. This represents his importance in a way. Also because the transition fades on him into the city. The shot follows them as they leave the house. Antoine in the middle of his father and mother. In a way the frame is closed around Antoine. Not only that, but the camera follows him and his family is wearing black while almost everyone in the background is wearing white. This could be to represent the corrupt relationships in the family.
Antoine never leaves the center of his mother and father this represents the way that they are parenting. It shows that this is their way of punishing Antoine and when they get into the car. You can see how what Antoine says doesn’t matter and in all reality he is just along for the ride. Whenever he says something somehow the father doesn’t hear. The rain can symbolize a nostalgic moment. Because this is the way they wish their family would work, but it really isn’t how it works. In the next shot Antoine is completely blacked out and silhouetted and this shows how much he doesn’t matter and if he wasn’t there or his problems didn’t exist life would be simpler for the father. When walking up the stairs its all about the Father and the Mother not about Antoine. This scene shows why Antoine is rebelling because he isn’t seen as the child in the relationship. They don’t treat him like one anyway.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe final sequence of The 400 Blows is notably one of the greatest sequences in film history, and possibly the best scene of the French New Wave. It illustrates the human desire to deviate from society and running away from personal problems through the lens of a child ignored by his parents. Truffaut introduces this sequence with a wide angle shot of the juveniles playing a football game, displaying the mass amount of children in this “delinquent” system. This composition also draws attention away from the focus until later in the scene, where the protagonist, Antoine, flees the institution. Everyone the game is wearing black; it provides a sense of unity among the children through the use of uniformity, which fuels the overall meaning of the film.
ReplyDeleteKinesis plays a major role as it produces the climax and resolution of the entire film. The football match has the camera constantly panning and tilting with the crowd’s movement. This kinesis will revert it's attention from the mass to Antoine. An audience can understand what's happening the screen, and we understand the actions to follow due to the camera's attention on Antoine. The following long shot of Antoine running is continually movement, but fixing Antoine on the center-left of the screen. Due to the duration of the shot and the implied movement of the subject, the shot demonstrates the physical and mental journey that our protagonist has traveled to finally reach a state of independence.
Audio is a very crucial element to the work as the scene relies on natural audio for the early segment, transitioning to the closing score. The sheer silence throughout the beginning of the sequence is overcome by sounds nature, including rustling and birds, while Antonio running away. In contrast to the urban setting of the rest of the film, this setting in conjunction with audio provides a visual transition as was happening over the entire film. From city apartment to country detention center, he finally emancipates himself into the countryside, free of his former self. The end of the film provides an uplifting score in order to portray Antoine's success, but descends to a more somber tone as the film freeze-frames on his face, never revealing the outcome of his attention. Roger Ebert wonderfully expresses this as “caught between land and water, between past and future.” as the future is uncertain.
Les Quarte Cents Coups, or 400 Blows, directed by Francious Truffaut was the film that started the French New Wave. The French New Wave was one of the most influential movements in cinema started by directors Andre Bazin and Francious Truffaut. 400 Blows was an autobiographical film to Truffauts life where he had many problems in school, his father was not his biological father, and many of the adult figures in his life lacked life entirely, all characteristics coincide with the life that Atoine.
ReplyDeleteThe final sequence of this film is the most eye opening and heart wrenching. This sequence of Antoine running contains one long shot of him running in the same third of the frame when he is the same size in the frame. This shot takes place for a little over a minute which carries the implied meaning that although he is running for a very long distance and time he isn't going anywhere which is a central theme in the film as a whole. The background sound in this scene is very important because there is no music only some diegetic sound of him running that shows he is cutting all of his past off and there is no emotion, no happiness or sadness, just a blank slate. The many boys in the beginning of this seqhence show the way everyone looks at Antoine, in child's prison, in school, and at his own home, he is just another number and the costume design and shot composition of these many boys in the same outfit running on circles foreshadows the end of the film where Antoine has nowhere to run, and the number of boys enfasizes how little he matters to the people around him.
The central implied meaning of this film is that no matter how hard you cannot run away from your past and this final sequence is the most revealing of this theme. The freezeframe at the end of the film was not only extremely influential and groundbreaking, but it shows how stuck he is. Antoines mother talks of how he wanted to see the ocean and in the last scene when he finally makes it there were presented with a freezeframe close up of his face that shows a passage of time and the gutwrenching ending and realization that we can't ran away from our past.
Hello my name is Nico from London i know a renowned spell caster who helped me when i had problems in my marriage with my Husband. if you need a right place to solve your relationship problems contact DR.AGBAZARA TEMPLE on: ( agbazara@gmail.com ) OR WHATSAPP +2348104102662 he is the right choice. he is a great man that has been
ReplyDelete