Choose a five-minute scene in Chungking Express and think about the themes that Wong Kar Wai embodies in this work (such as isolation) and analyze the scene through this theme and using 1-2 cinematic elements. Minimum 2 paragraphs.
The scene I chose to analyze is from the first part of the film in which He Qiwu is attempting to flirt with the drug lady, and he asks her “do you like pineapple”. This scene, while maybe not important to the entire film due to the two completely separate segments, it was extremely important to Cop 223. Isolation is well depicted in this scene, especially due to the fact that Cop 223 is alone for the majority of the scene, and even though he is supposed to be with the drug lady, most of the shots he seems small, young, afraid. The mise-en-scene in this scene is focused on color, with a warmer color hue, which would generally seem very comforting, inviting even, but in this scene it is downright cold. The oranges on Cop 223’s face show that he’s trying hard, but the redder tones on the drug woman’s face show her disinterest, and dishonesty. Later in the scene, the camera moves, and the background is shown to be green, which in this case represents disgust, due to the fact that Cop 223 takes up the same amount of space as the drug woman, but in the leftmost third where the woman is, the backdrop takes up an entire third of green, which is almost a mirror into her emotions. As the scene progresses, more of the green backdrop is revealed, showing not only her growing disgust, but also despair in her situation. At the beginning of this scene, the shots are mostly focused on Cop 223, but as the woman enters the bar, the shots gradually quicken, taking on an Eisenstein-like montage editing sequence. The difference between color between shots, length between shots, and characters between shots help to develop this sequence, until the woman appears in the background of a shot of Cop 223. The focus in this sequence of shots is interesting, because of the utilization of focusing on different subjects. The focus is on the woman, but the shot dollies out, and Cop 223 is on the background, looking at her, and the focus shifts. This represents the changing perspectives in the movie, and also continues the theme of isolation by showing that even though they are in the same room, they can’t both be in focus at the same time.
I chose the scene from the middle of the movie that is a montage of her cleaning the apartment to California Dreamin’ from ChungKing Express. I think this movie embodies the theme of freedom and the California Dream. Most of the cinematic elements aren’t there to emphasize the dialog. The dialog plays a background support role to the artisticness to the frame composition and mise en scene. In the montage each shot has a story to tell in its frame composition. Starting with the first shot of her and the fish tank. Her face is obscured first by the fish in the plastic bag and then through the fish tank, helping us understand that this isn’t about her personally, but about living the ideal. When she cleans the apartment she understands that she is doing something completely out of the box. The camera follows her and most of the shots are long shots that follow what she is doing contrary to ordinary montage editing that contains quick cuts of different angles. The kinesis in the shot parallels to the craziness of life and how this idea is something that is concrete and something that she can always go back to. It is a state of euphoria. This handheld moving camera gives us a documentary feel that you get in a lot of teen angst films. This tends to represent living in the moment and paying more attention to what is happening than the form of how you are recording it. It gives you a feeling of no care and no strings attached. Another element that plays a big role in this five minute scene is the mise en scene that is created throughout the apartment as she begins changing things inside of it. The dull colors that were there before her are replaced with the bright colors of her life. The colors represent this California Dreamin’ carefree message that she shares with the cop. The apartment has a dull feeling in most shots before an action happens then we look at the apartment in a new light. Whether it is literally the light coming in from the window. The placement of the apartment on a busy street with a window looking over the hustle and bustle of hong kong, is quite important because of the improvements hong kong was going through in this time. It was the california of america. They had their own new ideals and it even came with a new era for film.
The jogging scene in Chungking Express is one of the clearest scenes about isolation in Wong Kar Wai’s film but it is also a scene about moving on in life. First and foremost He Zhiwu is the only character that appears within the entirety of the scene clearly he is isolated as he hops the barrier of a nearly empty highway as he heads to the track. With that though Wai has chosen sad somewhat discordant saxophone music to accompany the scene while shooting the man through the chain link fence of the running track. If we look at all of this combined with the blue tint that is added to the footage we can assume that Zhiwu has constructed himself a metaphorical prison for himself out of his depression over his lost relationship. Furthermore the editing style implies a certain necessity in Zhiwu moving on through a series of short shots of him running. The short shots imply urgency but don't show Zhiwu moving at all so while the scene shows that he must move on quickly it also shows that he refuses to move on. He can’t accept that things are over he is like the puddles around him a remainder clinging to something that is already over.
Wong Kar-Wai's 1994 film "Chungking Express" solidified him as a prominent director and a carrier of the Hong Kong New Wave film movement. His films have always centered around isolation, confusion, and the struggles of living (many times of living in Hong Kong). The scene I will be talking about features the memory of Cop 663's time spent with the stewardess. Wong Kar-Wai paints a picture of the insecurity represented by 663, however mise-en-scene is particularly crafted well in this scene. A large part of Won Kar-Wai's mies-en-scene in this scene is the use of dull colors and neutral tones in order to portray a sense that life can never truly get that exciting for 663, and he is in a constant state of being lost in the busy city of Hong Kong. The walls and decoration of his apartment are various light gray colors and dull blues, and his clothes are a similar color. His unhappiness and uncertainty shine through with these colors present. On the other hand, the stewardess is dressed in all black, and looks extremely elegant against the dull backdrop. She represents a life that 663 wishes he could live, but struggles to achieve.
The 5-minute scene starting at about 7 minutes into the movie of the coke lady getting everything all prepared and then having the Indians ditch her is a great scene showing the theme of isolation throughout the whole movie. Wong Kar-Wai shows us she is in charge through the editing. We see her collected and calculating while everything around her is in chaos. The quick-paced editing really solidifies how frantic everything is around her, and shows her as a leader of sorts. We see her juxtaposed with the drug preparation and her “assistants” clearly isolating her, making her the responsible one here. At the airport, we finally see the editing slow down a bit, they’re ready for the final step and it’s all been prepared, but then, she turns and sees they’re all gone. The editing goes up to a fast pace again, until we see her in the foreigner’s bar. The editing shows all the stress she has from doing this and how it put her in her own world. The mise-en-scène also is used to isolate her in this scene. She is noticeably the palest person in every shot she’s in. The only one with brown hair, a trench coat, sunglasses, etc. Her costume really distinguishes her from everybody else in the movie, deepening the isolation we see her in. The shots are also filled with lots of stuff going on, so we see many different people, showing that even with all of these other people, she’s still isolated from everything around her.
Wong Kar-Wai is regarded as an auteur and often compared to other innovative directors, such as Jean Luc Godard, this being said high expectations were held and achieved for his 1994 masterpiece Chungking Express. Obviously my expectations were surpassed with the intricate attention to detail and devotion to character in this film. This film was made in Hong Kong at this time where the Cantonese culture was being heavily influenced by western civilizations. This influence is cinematically shown throughout this film And how each character partakes in the cultural revolution, whether actively or blindly. A scene that depicts this theme of cultural revolution is halfway through the second vignette of the film where Faye is furnishing cop 663’s apartment. The theme of western influence is depicted through the cinematic element of and sound design in this scene. Throughout this scene we see western influence flood Hong Kong, by characterizing Faye as a figurative symbol of change and more literally as the influx of western influence changing Hong Kong civilians lives with limited opposition/awareness of the Cantonese people. The sound is very important in this scene. The context of the song that starts the scene non diegetically is important to consider before analysis on the sound design is done, moreover, the song that is played throughout this scene is a Cantonese cover of an American band’s song “Dreams” by the Cranberries, this fact alone shows the influence western civilization had on Cantonese cultures as they are covering an American song. The song itself speaks entirely about change, which I believe represents the change in Cantonese culture during the 1990’s, the first line of the song being “All my life, is changing everyday, in every possible way”. From a cinematic standpoint, I believe the most important aspect of sound design in this scene is the extensive amount of non-diegetic music (the song “Dreams”) that overpowers the diegetic sounds made in this scene. The song is much louder than Faye's diegetic noises while rearranging the apartment which clearly puts less emphasis on the act of transformation as an explicit meaning and further emphasizes the central implied meaning of changing Cantonese culture. The fact that this music continually overpowers diegetic noises throughout the portion of the scene where Cop 663 is living in his changed apartment without any knowledge of the changes. The juxtaposition of the over powering nondiegetic music with Cop 663’s routine shows that Cop 663 represents Cantonese culture that is blindly being changed. As the scene progresses, there also becomes less of a detachment of noise when changing from shots of Faye to Cop 663. In the beginning of the scene there is purely diegetic noise before the song starts, then as we shift from Faye to Cop 663 to see his routine the music quickly fades out and in, then the third time these two are juxtaposed in this scene there is no change in the volume of the music. This showing the progressively changing Cantonese culture once again as the two characters that represent Cantonese and Western begin to have no disconnect among the sound design.
Wong Kar-Wai is one of the most influential Hong Kong filmmakers of the turn of the century, and is widely seen as an auteur. His film Chungking Express is an experimental film that follows multiple storylines and characters through their lives in Hong Kong. This is an important movie, as it also shows Kar-Wai's experiences in his home city.
The scene that I chose is the murder scene, near the end of the first storyline. A woman wearing a wig shoots an unnamed man outside of a bar that she had just hooked up with the man in. It is a very interesting scene, because the editing and camerawork are shaky and full of discontinuity. It is edited to have very short shots, the the camera is hand held and shaky. Every shot is from a different angle as well, creating a very chaotic feeling.
In the scene in which Cop 663 first sees Faye at the snack bar, Wong Kar-Wai employs sound design and editing to parallel Faye's youthful obliviousness with Cop 663's denial of the end of his relationship with the flight attendant. The blaring rock track "California Dreamin'" implies the recurring motif of California and theme of escaping, and forces the two to shout over it, creating an air of confusion and isolation despite their close proximity. Similarly to how they struggle to be heard despite being right next to each other, Kar-Wai works to convey the idea that in the crowded city of Hong Kong, people still struggle to connect to each other, which is the central plight of all the characters in the film. By surrounding herself with this sound, Faye is willfully cutting off communication with others and making herself hard to understand - a theme that will resurface later when she stands Cop 663 up, despite having feelings for him. This mirrors the cop's refusal to move on from the attendant. The editing employs quick back and forth cuts and emphasizes the counter by presenting the cop as peering over it from a medium close up shot. The counter acts as a barrier that prevents the two from coming together, representing their subconscious inhibitions and fears. The cop's looking over is indicative of his desire to find genuine romantic feeling, as opposed to a casual relationship.
The scene I chose to analyze is from the first part of the film in which He Qiwu is attempting to flirt with the drug lady, and he asks her “do you like pineapple”. This scene, while maybe not important to the entire film due to the two completely separate segments, it was extremely important to Cop 223. Isolation is well depicted in this scene, especially due to the fact that Cop 223 is alone for the majority of the scene, and even though he is supposed to be with the drug lady, most of the shots he seems small, young, afraid. The mise-en-scene in this scene is focused on color, with a warmer color hue, which would generally seem very comforting, inviting even, but in this scene it is downright cold. The oranges on Cop 223’s face show that he’s trying hard, but the redder tones on the drug woman’s face show her disinterest, and dishonesty. Later in the scene, the camera moves, and the background is shown to be green, which in this case represents disgust, due to the fact that Cop 223 takes up the same amount of space as the drug woman, but in the leftmost third where the woman is, the backdrop takes up an entire third of green, which is almost a mirror into her emotions. As the scene progresses, more of the green backdrop is revealed, showing not only her growing disgust, but also despair in her situation.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of this scene, the shots are mostly focused on Cop 223, but as the woman enters the bar, the shots gradually quicken, taking on an Eisenstein-like montage editing sequence. The difference between color between shots, length between shots, and characters between shots help to develop this sequence, until the woman appears in the background of a shot of Cop 223. The focus in this sequence of shots is interesting, because of the utilization of focusing on different subjects. The focus is on the woman, but the shot dollies out, and Cop 223 is on the background, looking at her, and the focus shifts. This represents the changing perspectives in the movie, and also continues the theme of isolation by showing that even though they are in the same room, they can’t both be in focus at the same time.
I chose the scene from the middle of the movie that is a montage of her cleaning the apartment to California Dreamin’ from ChungKing Express. I think this movie embodies the theme of freedom and the California Dream. Most of the cinematic elements aren’t there to emphasize the dialog. The dialog plays a background support role to the artisticness to the frame composition and mise en scene. In the montage each shot has a story to tell in its frame composition. Starting with the first shot of her and the fish tank. Her face is obscured first by the fish in the plastic bag and then through the fish tank, helping us understand that this isn’t about her personally, but about living the ideal. When she cleans the apartment she understands that she is doing something completely out of the box. The camera follows her and most of the shots are long shots that follow what she is doing contrary to ordinary montage editing that contains quick cuts of different angles. The kinesis in the shot parallels to the craziness of life and how this idea is something that is concrete and something that she can always go back to. It is a state of euphoria. This handheld moving camera gives us a documentary feel that you get in a lot of teen angst films. This tends to represent living in the moment and paying more attention to what is happening than the form of how you are recording it. It gives you a feeling of no care and no strings attached.
ReplyDeleteAnother element that plays a big role in this five minute scene is the mise en scene that is created throughout the apartment as she begins changing things inside of it. The dull colors that were there before her are replaced with the bright colors of her life. The colors represent this California Dreamin’ carefree message that she shares with the cop. The apartment has a dull feeling in most shots before an action happens then we look at the apartment in a new light. Whether it is literally the light coming in from the window. The placement of the apartment on a busy street with a window looking over the hustle and bustle of hong kong, is quite important because of the improvements hong kong was going through in this time. It was the california of america. They had their own new ideals and it even came with a new era for film.
The jogging scene in Chungking Express is one of the clearest scenes about isolation in Wong Kar Wai’s film but it is also a scene about moving on in life. First and foremost He Zhiwu is the only character that appears within the entirety of the scene clearly he is isolated as he hops the barrier of a nearly empty highway as he heads to the track. With that though Wai has chosen sad somewhat discordant saxophone music to accompany the scene while shooting the man through the chain link fence of the running track. If we look at all of this combined with the blue tint that is added to the footage we can assume that Zhiwu has constructed himself a metaphorical prison for himself out of his depression over his lost relationship.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore the editing style implies a certain necessity in Zhiwu moving on through a series of short shots of him running. The short shots imply urgency but don't show Zhiwu moving at all so while the scene shows that he must move on quickly it also shows that he refuses to move on. He can’t accept that things are over he is like the puddles around him a remainder clinging to something that is already over.
Wong Kar-Wai's 1994 film "Chungking Express" solidified him as a prominent director and a carrier of the Hong Kong New Wave film movement. His films have always centered around isolation, confusion, and the struggles of living (many times of living in Hong Kong). The scene I will be talking about features the memory of Cop 663's time spent with the stewardess. Wong Kar-Wai paints a picture of the insecurity represented by 663, however mise-en-scene is particularly crafted well in this scene.
ReplyDeleteA large part of Won Kar-Wai's mies-en-scene in this scene is the use of dull colors and neutral tones in order to portray a sense that life can never truly get that exciting for 663, and he is in a constant state of being lost in the busy city of Hong Kong. The walls and decoration of his apartment are various light gray colors and dull blues, and his clothes are a similar color. His unhappiness and uncertainty shine through with these colors present. On the other hand, the stewardess is dressed in all black, and looks extremely elegant against the dull backdrop. She represents a life that 663 wishes he could live, but struggles to achieve.
The 5-minute scene starting at about 7 minutes into the movie of the coke lady getting everything all prepared and then having the Indians ditch her is a great scene showing the theme of isolation throughout the whole movie. Wong Kar-Wai shows us she is in charge through the editing. We see her collected and calculating while everything around her is in chaos. The quick-paced editing really solidifies how frantic everything is around her, and shows her as a leader of sorts. We see her juxtaposed with the drug preparation and her “assistants” clearly isolating her, making her the responsible one here. At the airport, we finally see the editing slow down a bit, they’re ready for the final step and it’s all been prepared, but then, she turns and sees they’re all gone. The editing goes up to a fast pace again, until we see her in the foreigner’s bar. The editing shows all the stress she has from doing this and how it put her in her own world.
ReplyDeleteThe mise-en-scène also is used to isolate her in this scene. She is noticeably the palest person in every shot she’s in. The only one with brown hair, a trench coat, sunglasses, etc. Her costume really distinguishes her from everybody else in the movie, deepening the isolation we see her in. The shots are also filled with lots of stuff going on, so we see many different people, showing that even with all of these other people, she’s still isolated from everything around her.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWong Kar-Wai is regarded as an auteur and often compared to other innovative directors, such as Jean Luc Godard, this being said high expectations were held and achieved for his 1994 masterpiece Chungking Express. Obviously my expectations were surpassed with the intricate attention to detail and devotion to character in this film. This film was made in Hong Kong at this time where the Cantonese culture was being heavily influenced by western civilizations. This influence is cinematically shown throughout this film And how each character partakes in the cultural revolution, whether actively or blindly. A scene that depicts this theme of cultural revolution is halfway through the second vignette of the film where Faye is furnishing cop 663’s apartment. The theme of western influence is depicted through the cinematic element of and sound design in this scene.
Throughout this scene we see western influence flood Hong Kong, by characterizing Faye as a figurative symbol of change and more literally as the influx of western influence changing Hong Kong civilians lives with limited opposition/awareness of the Cantonese people. The sound is very important in this scene. The context of the song that starts the scene non diegetically is important to consider before analysis on the sound design is done, moreover, the song that is played throughout this scene is a Cantonese cover of an American band’s song “Dreams” by the Cranberries, this fact alone shows the influence western civilization had on Cantonese cultures as they are covering an American song. The song itself speaks entirely about change, which I believe represents the change in Cantonese culture during the 1990’s, the first line of the song being “All my life, is changing everyday, in every possible way”. From a cinematic standpoint, I believe the most important aspect of sound design in this scene is the extensive amount of non-diegetic music (the song “Dreams”) that overpowers the diegetic sounds made in this scene. The song is much louder than Faye's diegetic noises while rearranging the apartment which clearly puts less emphasis on the act of transformation as an explicit meaning and further emphasizes the central implied meaning of changing Cantonese culture. The fact that this music continually overpowers diegetic noises throughout the portion of the scene where Cop 663 is living in his changed apartment without any knowledge of the changes. The juxtaposition of the over powering nondiegetic music with Cop 663’s routine shows that Cop 663 represents Cantonese culture that is blindly being changed. As the scene progresses, there also becomes less of a detachment of noise when changing from shots of Faye to Cop 663. In the beginning of the scene there is purely diegetic noise before the song starts, then as we shift from Faye to Cop 663 to see his routine the music quickly fades out and in, then the third time these two are juxtaposed in this scene there is no change in the volume of the music. This showing the progressively changing Cantonese culture once again as the two characters that represent Cantonese and Western begin to have no disconnect among the sound design.
Wong Kar-Wai is one of the most influential Hong Kong filmmakers of the turn of the century, and is widely seen as an auteur. His film Chungking Express is an experimental film that follows multiple storylines and characters through their lives in Hong Kong. This is an important movie, as it also shows Kar-Wai's experiences in his home city.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that I chose is the murder scene, near the end of the first storyline. A woman wearing a wig shoots an unnamed man outside of a bar that she had just hooked up with the man in. It is a very interesting scene, because the editing and camerawork are shaky and full of discontinuity. It is edited to have very short shots, the the camera is hand held and shaky. Every shot is from a different angle as well, creating a very chaotic feeling.
In the scene in which Cop 663 first sees Faye at the snack bar, Wong Kar-Wai employs sound design and editing to parallel Faye's youthful obliviousness with Cop 663's denial of the end of his relationship with the flight attendant. The blaring rock track "California Dreamin'" implies the recurring motif of California and theme of escaping, and forces the two to shout over it, creating an air of confusion and isolation despite their close proximity. Similarly to how they struggle to be heard despite being right next to each other, Kar-Wai works to convey the idea that in the crowded city of Hong Kong, people still struggle to connect to each other, which is the central plight of all the characters in the film. By surrounding herself with this sound, Faye is willfully cutting off communication with others and making herself hard to understand - a theme that will resurface later when she stands Cop 663 up, despite having feelings for him. This mirrors the cop's refusal to move on from the attendant.
ReplyDeleteThe editing employs quick back and forth cuts and emphasizes the counter by presenting the cop as peering over it from a medium close up shot. The counter acts as a barrier that prevents the two from coming together, representing their subconscious inhibitions and fears. The cop's looking over is indicative of his desire to find genuine romantic feeling, as opposed to a casual relationship.