The Lady from Shanghai Character Analysis: Michael

The Lady from Shanghai
Character Analysis
"Michael"

Michaels' a seemingly charming young gentleman. In his opening dialogue he's calling himself a fool, which implies that he's not the most proud man. The character Michael is meant to seem innocent by the way he narrates a flashback of how he met a woman, the classic femme fatale of film noir. He tells a story about how he met the woman in a carriage, passing him by in Central Park, late at night. He described how beautiful she was by saying "once I had seen her I was not in my right mind for quite sometime". He also pointed out in his narration that "some people can smell danger, not me" which once again implies that he perceives himself as a fool. As the gentleman he was he offered the lady a cigarette, which typically appear in film noir, to show her his romantic interest. To his surprise the Lady says she doesn't smoke, but takes the cigarette anyway to flatter him. Whilst this exchange is happening we see a close up of Michaels face, and we can see his uncertainty and vulnerability whilst he awaits a response. This is a classic technique to make us feel compassion with the protagonist. The lady sits in a dark carriage at night but the lights are strategically placed to make her appear bright and so that the audience can adore her beauty. The next scene after she departs Michael finds her purse and hears her call for help as she is being kidnapped. The classic damsel in distress scenario occurs and Michael saves her with the power of his fists as the femme fatale observes him. The lighting strategically flutters when she's in frame to make her appear mysterious. As he escorts her to her car he seems to want to appear like a tough man after saving her, as he unveils why he doesn't like the police and that he'd once killed a man. His character was seemingly innocent in the beginning but now we know it was just a front. At the end of the scene she unveils that she's married which upsets him, since he probably felt he deserved her after saving her life. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Narrative Analysis: Curfew (2012)

Narrative Analysis "Curfew" (2012) I will be applying Roland Barthes's narrative theory to the 2012 short film "Curfew" directed by Shawn Christensen. Roland Barthes believe a text is either open (which is that it's open for interpretation) or clones (which means there is just one obvious meaning in the text. If a text is open, Barthes suggests these 5 following codes can be used to unlock the meaning of a text: Enigma Code Action Code Semantic Code Symbolic Code Referential Code Most texts will follow at least a few of these codes, if not all and they're all used to drive the narrative forward in different ways.  The enigma code is an unanswered question, a mystery. Clues will be given throughout the text for the mystery to be resolved and the effect of the enigma makes the audience want to know more. Unresolved enigmas tend to frustrate an audience but also makes a text open for interpretation.  The action code is there to crea
Read more

The Lady from Shanghai scene analysis

Image
The Lady from Shanghai scene analysis The Aquarium scene: Mise-én-scéne: Lights flickering through the movement of the water in the aquariums in the background creates an uncertainty in the scene and makes it feel a bit eerie. There are also visible silhouettes of the fish, sharks and octopuses. Performance:  Michael and Elsa step closer to each other as they profess their undying love for each other. As the tension starts to build when they read Michaels confession they move further apart and walk around to create a more dramatic dynamic. Their facial expressions are quite bleak and neutral even though it is a very dramatic scene. 
Read more

Editing Techniques

Editing! Q1: The cut is the most basic editing techniques and is essentially cutting from one shot to another. Q2: The purpose of the cut is to change the perspective and to advance the story. Q3: Cutting in action is cutting a scene whilst the subject still is in motion. Q4: Cutting in action is often used on punches and kicks but can be as simple as a character turning or someone walking through a door. Q5: Cut away is when you cut to an insert shot and then back. Q6: The purpose of a cut away is to show that something is a part of the same diegesis or e.g showing what's going o in a character's head. Q7: Cross cutting is when the editor intercuts between locations. Most phone conversations in films are usually cross cut. Q8: When cross cutting is used effectively it can amp up the tension and suspense in a sequence. It's also used to show what's going on in a character's head. Q9: Jump cuts is when the editor cuts between the same shot and is usually us
Read more