Intro to Film 2025 • Professor Gregory Zinman • Emory University

Author: Alina Mukherjee

  • Ambiguity and Realism in Art Cinema

    Leos Carax is a French filmmaker who is known for Holy Motors. Carax’s film can be considered an “art cinema.” According to Bordwell, “art cinema” is a distinct type of film that is based on realism and authorial expressivity (which is defined as “recurrent violations of the classical norm”). Holy Motors is an art cinema due to its blend of realism and strangeness. The character of Mr. Oscar is realistic because he is psychologically complex, which is Bordwell’s definition of character realism. In the interview, Leos Carax commented on his movie and apologized for being vague in his response to a question from the interviewer. Carax explained that he created a science-fiction world where Mr. Oscar’s job is to show the “experience of living in the now.” He aimed to depict real life, which is already strange and complex, and, in his opinion, no “flashbacks or playing with the narrative” were needed. He preferred real-life ambiguity. Carax described the film as his “most unconscious” film, born as an image rather than a plot or a logical cause-and-effect reasoning. The events and motivations of the characters remained open-ended and not fully explained; they were intentionally left ambiguous (vague). The realism of the film does not rely on a well-defined plot, but rather on the movement of physical objects – human bodies, machines, and animals. Carax was also unconventional in his approach to shooting the movie: the film was made without reviewing daily footage, and Carax placed himself in front of the camera.

    I recently watched the film Ready or Not (2019), a horror-comedy film. In the film, the characters are constantly using violence in a game-like way for unclear reasons. The main character, Grace, just got married to Alex and is suddenly asked by her new family to draw a card to play a game on her wedding night. Grace, then, is being hunted down (to be killed) by her in-laws after pulling the card to play hide and seek. As viewers, we are stuck throughout the film, wondering why all of this had to happen.

    Later, we find out that this is a ritual that the family does every time someone marries into the family. The family believes that they have to kill Grace, or they will die because of a curse that runs in the family. Up until the end of the film, we do not know why the curse exists, and if it is even real or made up. This makes viewers question the sanity of the family as they do not seem to care enough if they shoot each other, and they are trying to kill Grace (a new member of the family who has done them no wrong) without remorse. Even at the end of the film, there is still not much clarity; it is very ambiguous as to why the family was cursed, how the curse works, and why Grace pulling the card to play hide and seek meant she had to die. There is no closure given to the viewers or to Grace.

    Question to consider:

    How does ambiguity change the way we interpret a film?

  • Paris Is Burning: A Documentary

    Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990) is a documentary that gives viewers a look into the lives of marginalized people struggling to find and express themselves and find a community to support them along the way. It depicts them as they experience the conflict between the grim reality of hardships and the beautiful fantasy they find in ball performances, the conflict that shows a range of experiences and emotions: courage, support, love, envy, freedom of expression, and acceptance. At the ball, no one is judged and everyone is welcome, able to show themselves as they are and proud of it. The soundtrack shifts from disco to pop to quieter interviews, echoing that acceptance of diversity. However, it is very different outside the ball, as it is dangerous for them to be themselves, which can be seen when one of them is killed unexpectedly. Paris Is Burning lets us see the pride, hope, and creativity in this community, while also depicting the real struggles they face.

    The style of the film (a documentary) makes it feel like we are a part of the times. It seems to us to be a completely accurate/objective representation of reality (although it isn’t because documentaries are subjective). The mise-en-scène feels real, with people outside on the bleachers, in small apartments, or walking through the streets. The setting and props, such as wigs, mirrors, sewing machines, and clothes, tell the stories of people. You feel you observe what is real because of the use of handheld shots and natural lighting. The performances feel authentic and honest because they do not look staged. The movie’s editing connects interviews and ballroom scenes, going back and forth between close shots of someone getting ready and wide shots of people dancing and posing. This juxtaposition shows how the community lives in the dual worlds of harsh reality and magical fantasy.

    The cuts are often elliptical, skipping time and details, but keeping the message close to the film’s main themes. The voices we hear sometimes do not match the images. For example, an interview is played over a ball scene, which is a nondiegetic sound or a sound bridge. It blends. The voices carry across time and space, showing that the ball is both fantasy and real life. The diegetic sound of cheering, sewing machines, and laughter mixes with nondiegetic music and creates a natural flow, making us feel a part of the moment.

    The section titles appear on a black screen in big white dramatic letters — “Children,” “Legendary Children,” “Realness.” These are graphic inserts, like announcements on stage. They set the tone for what comes next, functioning as acts in a play. The camera framing with close-ups of faces, hands, or eyes adds intimacy, but the distance in some scenes shows respect and is not intrusive (no feeling of voyeurism). Life unfolds before our eyes in all its aspects, ordinary and beautiful. Livingston doesn’t show an interviewer and does not narrate the story; people speak for themselves. The film feels genuine and full of respect, love, and pride for the chosen family that celebrates differences.

    One thing that I noticed was that, at first, people dressed up to fit in as middle-class or “successful” types, such as dressing up as business executives. However, over time, they started to dress up to look more like celebrities or models instead. Stars like Marilyn Monroe were seen as the epitimy of beauty (the “ideal” woman of the time). This shows how much of an impact pop culture has on how we dress, act, and perceive others. The film shows how people at the ball scene tried to copy the styles and attitudes they saw in the community, blending their dreams with the world around them, showing that they could become whatever they wanted to be.

    Questions:

    What was a themes did you notice while watching the film?

    Do you think that the message is always the most essential aspect in documentary films?

  • Citizen Kane: Techniques That Changed Hollywood Film

    An article by Gottlieb called “Welles’s Citizen Kane Breaks with Traditional Filmmaking” states that the film Citizen Kane, while groundbreaking and highly influential at the time, was also very controversial. Before the film was released, it faced many problems, and many attempts were made to stop its release. The “Hearst syndicate” tried its best to stop the spread of the film because the main character of the film, Kane, was modeled after William Randolph Hearst (Gottlieb, 2023).

    Welles starts the film with the death of the main character and incorporates flashbacks and interviews with those who knew him. It is a story we must piece together and make meaning of on our own as different characters share their own versions of Charles Foster Kane’s life, and we are trying to figure out his true nature. Welles called this technique “prismatic” (Cheshire, 2002). The story is told out of order to provide mystery and intrigue. 

    Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941) changed Hollywood filmmaking. As an outsider to the Hollywood film industry, Welles brought new, unconventional ideas and techniques to make this film. He expanded the type of stories that could be told in Hollywood films, showing corrupt, powerful people (a more controversial topic than typically depicted in Hollywood) (Gottlieb, 2023). Also, he used some new cinematography techniques. For example, he used low-angle shots that revealed the ceiling and depth of field, which “appeared powerful, modern, hyperarticulate” (Cheshire, 2002).

    An essay from the Library of Congress (Cheshire, 2002) called “Citizen Kane” explains the new techniques used in the film that helped change the film industry forever. 

    The film used wipes (a shot transition in which one image gradually takes the place of another through a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal movement across the screen, while both images remain partially visible), which was innovative at the time.

    One other technique that cinematographer Gregg Toland used was deep focus. This is where everything in the frame is in focus (clearly visible and sharp): the foreground, middleground, and background. In other words, there is a large depth of field. Deep focus and long takes were used to make the scenes feel more realistic and true to nature, which is something that Andre Bazin would appreciate (as he has a deep desire for realism in film).

    Overall, this source is important because it describes how new techniques used in the film changed Hollywood filmmaking – which stories were told and how they were told.

  • Realism and Conflict in Toy Story

    In the movie Toy Story, the dialectic principle of dynamism is illustrated through the conflict between Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Andy’s old favorite toy, Woody, is being challenged by the new toy, Buzz Lightyear. This shows the conflict between the thesis (old authority) and the antithesis (newcomer).

    This tension is shown through constant shot-reverse shots between Woody and Buzz Lightyear. When Buzz Lightyear first appears, the viewers get a close shot of Woody, and then the camera shifts to an upward tilting shot to show his towering figure, ending with a close shot of Buzz. This camera movement and angle help depict Buzz as a big and powerful figure. Buzz’s body is vertically positioned, which is in conflict with Woody’s smaller horizontal posture. Eisenstein refers to this as the conflict of planes and volumes. This clash between Woody and Buzz gives rise to the meaning of film art, according to Eisenstein, who views cinema as conflict.

    While Toy Story lacks realism because it is an animated film, the toys act very realistically, having thoughts and emotions (like humans would). This goes against Bazin’s beliefs about total realism – “a recreation of the world in its own image, an image unburdened by the freedom of interpretation of the artist” (Bazin 236).

    I wonder what kind of technological advancements in cinematography would come about in the next decade (beyond the 3D cinema experience we currently have) and whether they will move the film form closer to realism. Would it resemble the “myth of total cinema” that Bazin imagines?

  • All That Heaven Allows – Colors and Windows

    As a viewer, I noticed that Cary’s emotions would often be expressed through the colors on screen. When things were romantically well and hopeful between her and Ron, the world seemed warmer and brighter (almost glowing). But when they had conflict and Cary herself had inner conflict, the color scheme would turn cold and shadowy.

    The window is continually used to express Cary’s trapped feelings; she is always separated from what she really wants by glass. It is like she is watching her own life from the outside; she is so caught up in worrying about how her neighbors and her family will see and think about her (trying to keep everyone else happy), that she can not fully live in the moment. She is not able to express how she really feels because her life is being framed like a window. The windows are often depicted as frosted, suggesting her struggle to break free from the life she has always known.

    The scene with the rainbow of colors shining through the window is very interesting. In that scene, Cary is listening to her daughter, trying to take in someone else’s view of her relationship with Ron. The rainbow lighting is symbolic; it is showing just how many conflicting feelings and perspectives Cary is experiencing all at once.

    When Cary looks at the empty landscape outside the window, it seems to reflect her isolation and longing for connection. When the film changes to winter, the snow also seems to reflect her loneliness after she loses Ron. However, in the last scene, even though Ron is hurt, the color scheme became brighter (and maybe even more dream-like), and a deer appeared, which seems to symbolize hope.

    Questions to consider: 

    Did you notice any other recurring objects or symbols besides windows and snow that seemed important?

    How did you interpret the use of color changes throughout the film? Did any moment stand out to you visually?

  • Wes Anderson’s Vision Behind The Grand Budapest Hotel

    While looking into how Wes Anderson made The Grand Budapest Hotel, I came across a 2014 YouTube interview with him (ScreenSlam). The interview provides important insights into Anderson’s cinematic approach and the artistic decisions used in the film. This new perspective will help us form new opinions on the film and gain more insight into the planning process that goes on behind every film.

    Anderson starts the interview explaining that the movie is “partly inspired by Hollywood movies, maybe from the 30s that were set in places like Warsaw and Prague, and Budapest” (Anderson). This connection helps the audience feel a strong sense of nostalgia throughout the film through the use of vibrant colors and detailed set designs.

    Hollywood films from the 1930s that were set in Central and Eastern European cities often reflected some political tension and a playful kind of storytelling. Directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Borzage created works that influenced Anderson (TIME). In the film Rear Window, Hitchcock had an elaborate setting that greatly influenced the story. Similarly, Anderson describes the hotel as a “character” that is essential to the film.

    Anderson’s use of camera angles, color palettes, and framing makes the atmosphere of The Grand Budapest Hotel unique and magical. Additionally, Anderson notes the importance of collaboration with his actors, as they brought the film’s unique characters to life.

    Although the interview provides an overview of Anderson’s artistic style and filmmaking process, it does not deeply explore the film’s themes (such as nostalgia) or broader cultural implications. Nonetheless, it helps us understand the hard work behind the film’s unique aesthetic.