Intro to Film 2025 • Professor Gregory Zinman • Emory University

Author: Andrew Wang

Unique Mise-En-Scéne and Cinematography in Chinese Film Golden Dear

To me, it is interesting how we almost never looked at Chinese films. Chinese cinema emerged in the 1950s, which was during the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949s. Due to centralized government, film production also became centralized and was a tool for promoting socialist ideologies, collective values, and constructing new models of citizenship.

Hence, most films focused on the people’s collective lives, either throughout wars, factories, schools, houses, or a public place of gathering. With that said, the setting of these old Chinese films are mostly fixed among all scenes. I want to use a famous film called Golden Deer (Ke Na Dong, 1982) to demonstrate Chinese’s unique cinematography and mise-en-scene back then.

https://youtu.be/qUz2-yi6JHs?si=giBuk1UL87uP4zq1

Above is the full movie available at YouTube, but unfortunately it does not contain English subtitles. I’ve searched on other Chinese native video platforms but they all lack English subtitles too.

The film follows Lu Jin, a young salesperson working in a state-run department store. At the beginning, Jin approaches her job with a somewhat indifferent attitude, reflecting remnants of pre-socialist individualism. Yet, as she encountered more customers from diverse backgrounds–workers, elders, mothers, disabled individuals–she confronts misunderstandings and confusions, and eventually reshaped her understanding in what it means to “serve the people,” which is the value that has been emphasized throughout China.

I want to talk about a specific, famous “candy-grabbing” scene from this movie (20:34-25:38 from the YouTube link pasted above). This excerpt is about Lu swiftly and tenderly scooping candy for a crowd of eager customers. 3 male customers wanted to test her abilities, so they ordered candies of each kind with different weights and asked them to be packaged separately (the context is that the line waiting to buy candies is long). To do this, Lu needs to grab candies onto the weights, package them, and charge. Yet, she is so fast that she is able to weight correctly in just one single grab.

As a Chinese, and after reviewing reviews of this scene, people all feel a certain way: that this movie carries such a unique, old-chinese vibe through its cinematography and mise-en-scene that it is almost impossible to replicate one today.

A major reason is the actresses’ accent. As the mandarin accent changes over time, what is considered a good accent today is quite different from the standard back then. Hence, just by hearing her words, the audience are able to feel a heavy, historical, nostalgic uniqueness that we were only able to hear in our elementary textbook’s passage recording. Apart from the sound (or say the actor), remember what I talked previously about the setting of the film taking primarily in one place. Older Chinese films loved to use a single setting filled with people (twenties or more, even almost to hundreds in extreme wide shots) walking around. This helps establish a socialist image.

If you observe closely from the film, you will also notice that most of the frames are medium or medium close ups, with each shot mainly stable and not moving. Instead of panning or tilting, zooms are actually used the most often to change the frame.

Another major difference from western concepts and movies is that the the film rarely uses low-key lighting. This is also related to culture as well. Films, as a propaganda tool, were aimed to tell people that the society they are living in is bright, hopeful, and optimistic. Hence, even where there were suspense, as long as it is a public space (where the people always are located), there would be a warm color scheme.

In sum, I just wanted to share that cultural values sometimes strongly influence media–the way it is produced, spread, and reviewed. It’s not that those filming techniques aren’t there, it’s just that with the cultural background, it would not make enough sense to use a certain camera angle, lighting, framing, and editing.

December 5, 2025
RRR: All about Shooting Naatu Naatu

In this interview (RRR: Behind & Beyond)with Ram Charan & NTR, they talked about the process of shooting Naatu Naatu (the famous dance part of the film).

Naatu Naatu is a 2021 Indian song that is composed by M. M. Keeravani, lyrics by Chandrabose, recorded by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava. The choreography was by Prem Rakshith, incorporating 110 moves for the sequence and featuring about 50 more dancers for the film.

Already from the film we were able to see how Ram and Bheem danced very precisely alike. Now from the interview, they actually explained the reason to this. Rehearsing separately before they went to Ukraine, and practicing together for 7 days after they went to Ukraine, and ultimately taking 12 full days to film this part of the film, NTR questioned the reason why they were required to dance exactly the dance. Since they come from different backgrounds, it seems reasonable that their dance styles could differ by a bit.

Rajamouli, the director of the film, simply answered that “No, NTR and Charan can have different styles but not Ram and Bheem. These are my heroes. They are supposed to dance the way I want them to dance.”

Well, the more reasonable explanation that NTR explained from the interview was that, because Naatu Naatu is supposed to showcase how relationships look like when you’ve become true friends with one another. You know exactly how the other person thinks or move even without looking at them. You understand fully each other’s mind, heart, or spirit.

Within 24 hours of the song’s release in 2021, the song crossed over 17 million views in Telegu, which also made it the first Telegu song to cross 1 million likes. Charan and NTR often recreated the visual portions of the dance for the film’s marketing, and made the dance too very popular and trending.

December 2, 2025
Did Mookie “Do the Right Thing”?

Normally, after watching a movie, I would have some form of judgement towards it, whether by agreeing with the central arguments of the film, or at least have some understanding of which side of the moral dilemma I would stand on. However, “Do the Right Thing” is that one film that even after I understand what is happening, I could not really set my mind on a specific stance.

Spike Lee demonstrated the complexity of humanity around the topic of racism so thoroughly but also so objectively that I see flaws with almost every character in the film such that I really dare not debate firmly who’s right or who’s wrong.

The narrative form is also not conventional, as it does not follow a single protagonist, but rather focuses on the ongoing interactions throughout the Brooklyn community, so that the audience see the life and personalities of so many different individuals. It also reminded me of the Aristotelian unities of action and time that I learned in high school, where the main plot should take place within a single day within a constant location. This “tragedy” follows such unities of action, starting from the start of a day to the morning of the next day, within the Brooklyn community (mainly focusing on Sal’s Famous Pizzeria).

I guess one of the main questions I was reflecting on was whether Mookie did the right thing or not as he smacked the Pizzeria’s window panes with the trash can. What seemed absurd to me was how Mookie still asked for his $250 pay the next day, knowing it was him who started releasing fury onto Sal. Even though he said that the costs could be covered by insurances, I could not understand how that is a valid reason for him to destroy other’s property. But on the other hand, I also felt bad about the death of Radio Raheem.

Sal’s destruction of his radio really is a symbolic provocation that challenges Raheem’s identity as a black man, but practically, it also is just a radio (given that Raheem did disturb other people in the restaurant and was not paying any respect to Sal).

The movie also did not just illustrate the conflict between Italians and the Black community, but also incorporated perspectives from the Latino and Korean residents of the neighborhood. There is no heroes of this story, and I guess Spike intended to leave the decision to the audience of this film. What do we think? Did people “do the right thing”? Was the development of the plot inevitable?

November 18, 2025
“Life After Paris is Burning”

After watching Paris is Burning, I became really curious about what happened to the lives of these dancers, house mothers, gays, transexuals after the film was released in 1990. Now that more than 30 years has passed, a lot must have happened to the clubs and the ballroom culture too.

Fortunately, I did find a relevant YouTube video that followed up most people in the film and described their lives after (although most of them passed away by now). The link to the video is here: Life After Paris is Burning | TRIBE TV NTWRK. I will summarize what is being said down below.

1. Pepper Labeija

From when he became the mother for the House of Labeija, Labeija remained to be the mother for the following 20 years. On May 14, 2003, Labeija died of a heart attack only at the age of 54. Recall how he said in the documentary that he felt smart not to do the sex reassignment surgery, such that in the following 40 years he would live well, hearing his death at just 54 makes me feel sorry and unexpected.

2. Venus Xtravaganza

Venus Xtravaganza is one of most memorable person to me from the film. She is just so pretty and talks so softly. I remember her talking repeatedly about her hopes of life and what she wants as an aspiring model. She also talked about how she escaped an attack from a man that tried to sleep with her. Another reason why her image sticks in my mind so much is probably because her death occurred during the filming of Paris is Burning. Her dead body was under the bed of a Duchess Hotel, perhaps due to a similar occasion of his attack.

As of 2019, the killer has not been found, but in 2013 a New York’s theatre group displayed a murder mystery play that referenced Venus’s death. In POSE, Venus was also paid homage through multiple hot lines.

3. Octavia Saint Laurent

Octavia was the girl who took modeling seriously and tried the best out of her self. I remember her because her dance is good, her makeup is done well, and her poses when she was being photographed as a model were all delicate. After Paris is Burning, in 1993, she played a role in the Saint of Fort Washington. In 2005 Octavia was a host of the TV award show, The Pill Awards. The next year she starred in Wolfgang Bush’s How Do I Look. In this film, she commented Paris is Burning as “a terrible movie.” She also discussed her drug use, sex work, and fight with AIDS. In 2008, she was diagnosed with cancer, and on May 17 the following year, she passed away.

4. Willi Ninja

Willi Ninja is the mother of the House of Ninja. My impression of him is that his vogue dance was so good and delicate. If I remembered correctly, he became the godfather of Vogueing and even in the film, he described himself as the one who could dance the best out there. Paris is Burning greatly helped Willi’s career. He starred in the music video for Malcom McLaren’s song Deep in vogue. He also danced in two of Janet Jackson’s music videos from the album Rhythm Nation 1814. He also appeared in the 2006 follow-up How Do I Look documentary. Unfortunately, Ninja died of a AIDS-related heart failure the same year How Do I Look was released.

5. Angie Xtravaganza

The mother of her house, Angie’s nice and tender personality is probably what made me like her so much when watching the documentary. She took such great care of her house members, saying how whenever there’s a ball she would have to help her members prepare. During a short passage describing how she got paid to get her breast, her members cheered her up and said that Angie “nourished them,” showing their love for Angie. She also won the mother of the year, as shown in the documentary!

Unfortunately, she passed 3 years after the filming from an AIDS related liver disease, only 28 years old. 3 weeks after her death, the NYT published an article on the ball scene and gave her a large photo on the front of the Styles section, with the title, “Paris Has Burned”. A year later, Junior Vasquez released a house single titled “Eggs”, dedicated to Angie.

November 4, 2025
The Fragmented Truth of Memory: Narrative Form in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I am writing this reader’s post after watching Citizen Kane, which gave me a lot of inspiration about how audiences and the movie interact. From Citizen Kane, we see narrative in forms of memory, in fact, in different aspects and versions of memory, such that they seem to piece together a story. Through such nonlinear narratives, why would the audience be able to understand what’s going on? Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith describe narrative as a chain of events linked by cause and effect occurred in time and space.

However, they also remind us that narration can control what we know and when we know it (which ties back to Citizen Kane, as the story literally is about information control). In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004), this manipulation of time and information becomes the emotional core of the film.

The story itself is simple: about two people (Joel and Clementine) meeting and falling in love on a train. Eventually, they experienced a painful breakup due to miscommunication. Both decided to undergo a medical procedure at a company called Lacuna, Inc. to have each other’s memories erased. However, the erasing process forces them to relive their experiences with each other in reverse–so they ended up experiencing their final fight, and moving backward to their first moments of love. As Joel revisits these memories, he realizes that he didn’t actually want his memories of Clementine to be erased.

Unfortunately, the erasing process was complete, and both of them forgot about each other. Although later by chance they met on a train and fell in love again, just like they first did, ending the movie merrily, what is more important is the narrative structure of this film.

The plot is nonlinear and disorienting by design. The film begins after Joel and Clementine’s relationship has already ended and been erased, but neither the audience nor Joel realizes this right away. By employing nonlinear storytelling and restricted narration, we learn Joel’s memories in reverse, mirroring the mind’s gradual erasure. The result is that the audience experiences forgetting alongside the character, and become trapped inside the narrative logic of memory rather than time.

In this work that narrates time reversely, temporal order and causality are also mixed up. As memories collide into one another, spatial and continuity break down, forcing the audience to think hard piecing these scenes together. In one moment, Joel runs through his own memories to “save” Clementine, blending dream logic with narrative motivation. Bordwell would describe this as a manipulation of time and space that adheres to cause and effect–that the cause (Joel’s resistance to forgetting) to the effect (the reappearance of moments in the past).

But even when the film bends time, the emotional coherence is maintained, which is the unity of meaning. During the final scene, the directors decide to end the film with an open-ended narration: Joel and Clementine listens to tapes of their past relationship. This provides neither a full disclosure nor disunity, but an open-ended interpretation which we do not know what will happen in the future.

Revisiting this movie after reading through this chapter and watching Citizen Kane, I found a lot more fun in exploring the relationship between how the human mind absorbs information and how narration techniques could best serve the human mind in understanding what filmmakers are trying to tell. The emotional power of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind does not come from the story itself, but definitely from how it’s told, which is all the power of narrative form.

October 15, 2025
Singing’ in the Rain–A Satirical (?) Revisit of the Birth of Sound Film

As an all-time musical-lover, Singin’ in the Rain is perhaps the most entertaining and enjoyable film I watched so far through the semester. I remembered how in class today we discussed that one of the major approaches of musicals is pure entertainment. It is not only an escape from reality, but an exploration of what humanity could potentially look like.

However, as the film progresses, I started sensing something deep within the film, something that did not just make me laugh over–the narration over film’s development from silent to sound.

Screenshot from Singin’ in the Rain, beginning scene screening The Royal Rascal

Silent Films

We could take a peek at how silent movies were screened from an establishing shot in the film. This picture is from the beginning of Singin’ in the Rain, where audiences watch The Royal Rascal casted by Don and Lina. Beneath the cinema stage, we see an ensemble instrumenting for the silent film, which is displayed on a large screen. This was a classic characteristic when silent films were popular, where the cinema’s director would hire a playlist to be played during screening that does not necessarily has to be related to the film. I suppose that its primary purpose is to block the noises generated by the projector during screening.

As film develops, there comes a special playroom for projectors, which separates its loud noises from the audience, which was also when people started realizing how sound could be incorporated in film.

In Singin’ in the Rain, we see that starting to appear when the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, gains popularity, forcing The Duelling Cavalier to also be changed to a talking picture. Prior to that, the actors have been utilizing the privileges of a silent picture to make films.

In this scene when Don and Lina acts out The Duelling Cavalier as a silent picture, they were having an argument over Kathy Seldon, despite acting as romantic lovers. They both know that their conversation would not be in the final film version, exploiting that particular advantage. Later, we know that Don’s repeated “I love you”‘s and Lina’s odd voice pickup would make the movie to be commented as “the worst picture ever made.”

Of course, the film shows us a lot of other difficult issues encountered with talking picture productions in its beginning: voice synchronization, the balance of sound between volume of dialogue, props, and noises, as well as the training required for actors and the need for scriptwriters, etc. The birth of talking pictures allows a greater degree to approach realism, but raises the bar of work for almost every part of production.

The Satire

All this eventually makes me recall how Don and Cosmo were treated before they were discovered by Mr. Simpson, along with that Don’s repeated motto, “Dignity. Always dignity.”

Screenshot from the film, Don describes his road to fame.

Don and Cosmo had been practicing dancing, singing, and performance from a very young age. As the only true audience that are able to understand his true stories, we know that he has been ironic about his stories because of maintaining his dignity with the current trend in the film industry. He was not well-treated before being heard by Mr. Simpson. People cared less about his music performances, but more on Lina, who we know is the actual actress who doesn’t know how to sing or speak formally. Yet, when talking pictures become trending, which is also when Don has decided to turn The Dancing Cavalier into a musical, he starts to pick up what he used to do as a teen–singing and dancing to music.

I think this mirrors how the public commentaries on sound film were when it first came out. In class Professor Zinman talked about how critics challenged the integration of picture and sound, as if sound would destroy the “original” meaning of film as a newer medium at that time. However, when people started liking it, the films start to earn money, and the entire film industry would operate toward this more profitable goal, which many times contradict with our wish to really explore the bounds of film.

Before, I did only enjoy musical in a more entertaining way. But from now on, I guess I want to treat each musical film more seriously, as there would always be something in its sound that reminds me of Singin’ in the Rain, and the histories that it is trying to teach.

October 7, 2025
Animals, Mirrors, and Staircase Symbolisms: The Mise-En-Scène of a Melodrama

Picture from mubi.com

Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows is surely a classical demonstration of continuity editing, using lots of dissolves, fade-ins, and match-on-action, etc. The techniques of shooting/editing is also our main topic for this week.

However, when I was watching the film, I cannot help myself from thinking about the mise-en-scène, particularly the symbolisms of each prop/object. There were lots of occasions when we see one’s facial features clearly but not the other one (due to lighting), when the two of them were having a conversation. Why is that? There were also different animals that appeared, including pigeon and dears. Why these animals? Mirrors also seem to be symbolic. Why did the production team make these choices?

Hence, I searched up an analysis of the mise-en-scène in All That Heaven Allows and found a really interesting article: All That Mise En Scène Allows: Douglas Sirk’s Expressive Use of Gesture.

Screenshot from the film at time 00:21:31.

The Sirkian Staircase

The article talked about the scene when Cary visits Ron’s mill for the first time. As she tries to ascend the stairs, a pigeon flies out, causing her to lose balance and fall into Ron’s arms. The article claims the half-climbed steps as a common device used by Sirk. Although Cary has made the decision to walk on a path that would deviate her from her previous Bourgeois lifestyle, she is only capable of proceeding halfway into Ron’s Bohemian lifestyle. This foreshadows how she had to give up marrying Ron for consideration of her children and her community’s comments.

Ultimately though, she did fall back into Ron’s arms, in this mill which would later turn into a bedroom.

Animals

Speaking of pigeons, I was also confused of its possible symbolic meaning, as well as the deer that appeared multiple times. The article provides an insightful explanation.

On Ron’s car, there is a scene when Cary hesitates her marriage with Ron. When Ron speaks how a man has to make his own decisions, Cary responds that “And you want me to be a man”. The article claims that what might be truer to say is that Cary wants Ron to be a woman. The movie ended with a shot of Ron laying on the bed then pivoting to a deer outside the window(an animal that is associated with Ron). If the pigeon represents Ron’s challenging sexuality, then the deer implies that the male has become a “meekly submissive creature, signaling Cary’s transition from passive object to dominant subject.”

Mirror

Screenshot from the film at time 00:06:22.

In a review of All That Heaven Allows by criterion.com, All That Heaven Allows: An Articulate Screen, a specific occasion where mirror appears is discussed. This is when the audience first get introduced to the children. On the very right stands a vase containing the branches Ron cut for her earlier, where on the left we see Cary. However, between the branch and Cary intrudes the 2 children. This also acts as a foreshadow of how later in the film Kay and Ned would stand against the marriage between Cary and Ron.

Screenshot from the film at time 01:15:36.

Later when Cary and her children celebrates Christmas, Ned bought a television for Cary, with the deliveryman saying “Life’s parade at your fingertips,” but ultimately serves as the “last refuge for lonely women.”

Library of Congress Film Essay, An academic paper published by the University of Kent, commented this scene by how accurately the deliveryman’s last line captured Cary’s state of emotion as she gazes emptily at the screen. “Yet to be turned on, the machine simply mirrors her own image: a woman lost, lonely and bereft, and something beyond a technological fix.”

In conclusion, I think that the mirrors function as a reflection of the bourgeois culture. For the first mirror that got us to know Kay and Ned, the fact that Ron’s branches stood outside of the mirror’s frame tells that he is not part of the clubbing, partying culture. Having Cary emptily staring into the television screen, the film might also try to criticize the loneliness and solidarity beneath the bourgeoisie’s fancy socialization.

September 23, 2025
How Does Technology Play Into Mise-En-Scène? Does it Limit or Expand?

Nowadays when we watch a film in a theater, or on Netflix or any other media published for public access, they are likely a finalized, polished version that could not have existed without the efforts of a team of talented filmmakers. We are fully immersed in some actors’ emotional expressions, certainly aware of some of its music, and are constantly being driven by our own expectations towards what will happen next. However, we might not have fully appreciated how the actors’ clothing and makeup aided their expressions, how computer technology adjusted the color scheme of the film, or the dozens of lighting that might have been used for the effects of a single shot. What is all that happened behind the scenes that eventually enabled us such wonderful, enjoyable viewing experience?

The answer to this question lies in mise-en-scène, which, originated in French, means “putting into the scene.” This includes all the elements that work towards the harmonized end result that aligns with the director’s vision and is powerful enough to resonate the audience. 4 main pillars describe mise-en-scène: setting, costumes & makeup, lighting, and staging.

La La Land Photo: Dale Robinette

Do digital technologies in film production encourage bolder mise-en-scène? Or does it risk contradicting with the physical principles of reality? In each fundamental element of mise-en-scène, we seem to find evidence of technology, such as simulated lighting, CGI’s (computer-generated imagery) motion capture, and color grading, etc. Indeed, their usage greatly improved film qualities, but would it happen to be that more and more productions treat raw footages less importantly because “we’ll fix it later on computer”? It potentially could be the case, but for filmmakers treating their works seriously and dedicated to perfection, technologies should not at all be harmful.

A major part of technology use in mise-en-scène is accounted by lighting, which is also a major aspect of film that a lot of people would under-appreciate, probably because it is so intricate and natural that it becomes a neglected part of an image. However, the truth is that lighting is crucial to every scene we see in a film, contributing to character features, emotional delivery, and contrasts with surrounding objects.

The most basic arrangement of lighting could be the traditional three-point lighting, which includes at least a key light, a fill light, and a backlight. Key lights are usually placed directly in front of the actor, functioning as the primary light source that enables us to see their features. A fill light, which is an assisting light source that weakens the shadows created by the key light while softening the actor’s features would possibly be placed at a position near the camera, directed diagonally against the actor. Lastly a backlight would come from behind and above the actor, to lighten up the setting and surrounding features.

Visual by visual education.com

Warner Bros.

For example, in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023), we see the use of three-point lighting in the fictional, idealized Barbie Land. The “sun” functions as the backlight, as evidenced by the glowing edges of Barbie’s hair. Yet, we still see Barbie’s face softly because of the fill light, and eventually bounces off her bedroom and other vibrant set pieces. Such lighting creates an overall bright, cheerful, and shadowless environment, which demonstrates the concept of high-key lighting. High-key lighting uses fill light and back light to create relatively low contrast between brighter and darker areas.

Apart from lighting, setting, costumes & makeup, and staging are also involved with technology in today’s film production. Softwares are able to add features to characters’ faces. For instance, in Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen (2009), a digital simulation of ink that flows through the superhero Rorschach’s face was imposed during postproduction.

Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen (2009)

The existence of such technology expands the possibility of film, and somehow changes the goal from appealing to realism into allowing for fantasy and fictional elements. When the technology strengthens lighting, rehearses blocking, and emphasizes coherent prop motifs, it expands what a filmmaker can stage. However, if it tempts a “we’ll fix it later” mentality, it’s probably getting in the way, despite it is true that a lot of productions were limited on budget and time such that technology becomes a convenient method to reach towards the ideal effects.

September 7, 2025