[watermark]Shaoyi Wang Mid-term Part II MEDST144 Prof. Herzog Brief analysis on one scene from “M” A scene that perfectly conveys the ideas of the director doesn’t have to be spoken out through the plots, even though it may contains the seriously important information. A scene from “M” by Fritz Lang examines and proves it. It happened in almost the very beginning of the film. The mother was waiting for little Elsie to come back home from school. After inquiring all the people around, she finally started calling little Elsie’s name in anxiety. Hearing such a shouting, we were shown a series of static location. At the first time we heard the calling, the mother looked down to the stairs. Followed her point of view, we see the stairs coiled up together unusually and mystically. The light came from the top almost directly. It hit the stairs and left the vivid shadow, which appeared to be puzzled. After that, the mother closed the door, with a simple panning shot, she walked to the window and open it. The second time we heard she calling “Elsie”, we see the puzzled-shape stairs again, which was actually a repeat, but not from the her realistic view. Following the image of the puzzled stairs, we see a series of hints of little Elsie’s destiny. First, we see a yard which is major covered in shadow, except several pieces of hanging clothes. The camera was deep focused on a piece of girls’ dress, which is one of the symbolized images of little “Elsie” that appears in this scene. The calling was continued. We see the empty seat and Elsie’s tableware. The calling from the mother stopped here. The rest of the shots brought back couple of key images from the passed scenes: Elsie’s ball and the human shape balloon. On the quiet and silent grassland, we see Elsie’s ball rolling into the center of the screen from off-screen space. After that, the human shape balloon, which was a gift from the murder, was seen flying around and knocking on the telephone wire. This is like the final hit on the surmise of audiences. With such a scene, without speaking any extra words, Fritz Lang represents the death of little Elsie, and he speaks more than that. We see the view of the peace, but feels the fear from murder. A perfect arranged scene never speaks out. It just simply represents, and allows you to assimilate more than its representation. [/watermark]
Mid-term Part II
MEDST144
Prof. Herzog
Brief analysis on one scene from “M”
A scene that perfectly conveys the ideas of the director doesn’t have to be spoken out through the plots, even though it may contains the seriously important information. A scene from “M” by Fritz Lang examines and proves it.
It happened in almost the very beginning of the film. The mother was waiting for little Elsie to come back home from school. After inquiring all the people around, she finally started calling little Elsie’s name in anxiety. Hearing such a shouting, we were shown a series of static location. At the first time we heard the calling, the mother looked down to the stairs. Followed her point of view, we see the stairs coiled up together unusually and mystically. The light came from the top almost directly. It hit the stairs and left the vivid shadow, which appeared to be puzzled. After that, the mother closed the door, with a simple panning shot, she walked to the window and open it. The second time we heard she calling “Elsie”, we see the puzzled-shape stairs again, which was actually a repeat, but not from the her realistic view. Following the image of the puzzled stairs, we see a series of hints of little Elsie’s destiny. First, we see a yard which is major covered in shadow, except several pieces of hanging clothes. The camera was deep focused on a piece of girls’ dress, which is one of the symbolized images of little “Elsie” that appears in this scene. The calling was continued. We see the empty seat and Elsie’s tableware. The calling from the mother stopped here. The rest of the shots brought back couple of key images from the passed scenes: Elsie’s ball and the human shape balloon. On the quiet and silent grassland, we see Elsie’s ball rolling into the center of the screen from off-screen space. After that, the human shape balloon, which was a gift from the murder, was seen flying around and knocking on the telephone wire. This is like the final hit on the surmise of audiences.
With such a scene, without speaking any extra words, Fritz Lang represents the death of little Elsie, and he speaks more than that. We see the view of the peace, but feels the fear from murder. A perfect arranged scene never speaks out. It just simply represents, and allows you to assimilate more than its representation. [/watermark]