David Rabil: Exploring Film Techniques

Harold and Maude:


In this film, two selected scenes highlight the overall intended meaning and demonstrate symbolism. First, we see Harold commit another act of deception as he tricks yet another date into believing that he has died. Harold appears in the room as his date flees in horror, while his mother stares at him inquisitively unaware of the fact that he faked setting himself on fire in the backyard. Harold is obsessed with death, constantly faking suicides such as the one mentioned and others previously. He attends funerals and drives a hearse, committed to the notion that he likes the thought of being dead. This scene invites the audience to participate, as he makes direct eye contact with the camera while his mother looks him up and down simultaneously. This tactic is a way of breaking the 4th wall, so to speak, where the audience members are no longer spectators. This close-up and point of view shot in which the camera makes direct eye contact with Harold communicates meaning in the sense that we are now Harold's moral support. As he turns towards his mother and looks at her, the audience is backing him up, almost protecting his individuality from his mother's control. When she stares directly into him, his eye contact breaks, showing symbolism in his inability to break from the aforementioned control which she holds over him.


Towards the end of the film, Harold is now in a romantic relationship with Maude, a 79 year old woman who represents life in contrast to his personification of death. The camera follows them through a conversation in which we can see their reflection in water, and their reflection is shown upside down, demonstrating Harold's thought process about life itself. The following shots of white flowers and white tombstones become ultimate symbols of the film's meaning. Harold explains to Maude that if he were to be a flower he would be a white one, because they all look the same. Maude relates this concept to the gravestones, explaining that while this might seem true when looking from a distance, each one has its own individual qualities that cannot be taken for granted. The camera starts its focus on a single flower, showing its unique characteristics in contrast to the flowers around it, before zooming out to show the vast patch of flowers which are impossible to distinguish when they are looked at as a whole. The same tactic is used with the gravestones, as you are unable to see the writing on each tomb from an aerial shot of the entire graveyard. This is how the film techniques align themselves with the dialogue. As Harold sees himself from society's viewpoint, Maude sees him from a close-up point of view, and appreciates his individual qualities that can be found in every flower and on every grave stone. The communication of meaning in this film through the use of symbolism demonstrates that an individual's understanding of their life is a directly affiliated with their understanding of a simple concept: perspective.


Northfork:


The use of contrast is paramount in this film in terms of the meaning it attempts to convey. Starting with the scene set in a church, the camera is focused on the preacher speaking, as the film audience views the scene from the same angle as the church audience. The first thing to notice is the visual construct of the church itself. Traditionally, behind the altar there would be a crucifix, sometimes beautified by stain glass or mural paintings, but almost certainly with an enclosed roof at least. This is not the case in this church, as where there would normally be an image of Jesus on the cross, there is an open plain with God's creations, as mountains and groups of buffalo occupy the background.


Buffalo become a vital symbol in this film, representing the nomadic qualities of the little boy, roaming and searching, but never settling. This is depicted clearly in a scene where the boy and the buffalo are separate entities, but shown simultaneously, the camera transitioning from dark to light in color. The intertwining of two scenes into one with shallow focus on both the boy and the buffalo is a significant message, as the buffalo go where they are able, so does the boy.

Another use of color contrast occurs in the house, where two men sense death. The house is almost completely dark except for one window shedding bright light in the corner. This house also represents the contrast between life and death, as snow drapes over and splits it right down the middle. In this film, the use of contrast refers to the actual technique of dark and light colors, as well as the difficulty in understanding the vague disparities between life and death. As demonstrated by the image of the house- it's a thin line.


Paris Texas:


The first scene to analyze begins with a plethora of colors, as a battered but well-dressed man in a red hat seems to be meandering through a beautiful desert without purpose. We see both deep and shallow focus, as the first image demonstrates the vastness and seemingly never-ending quality of the desert, while our first-close up of the man elicits a more personal feeling from the audience. The man, Travis, passes out and is found by a doctor, who assumes him to be mute but somehow reunites him with his brother, Walt. Walt finds Travis wandering again, and urges him to get in the car. The camera shows different mountains behind each man. The mountain behind Walt is plain, and smooth, symbolizing his life, while the mountain behind Travis is complex and rocky.


Later, the camera follows Travis as he walks on a bridge across the highway, and this shot does not break or change angles for the entirety of this walk. Travis moves towards a man yelling over the highway, at people in cars underneath him that obviously cannot hear what he is saying to them. Travis pauses for a second as he nears the man, but pats him on the shoulder as a way of communicating. Eventually, the search for his wife Jane takes Travis to an isolated room in which she cannot see him, and he can only speak with her by telephone. After multiple attempts to converse with her, Travis has still not revealed his identity. It is only when Jane turns the lights off in her side of the room that she is able to see Travis through the mirror. Jane puts her hands up on the mirror and the visual of her reflection is completed with Travis's face, demonstrating the act of them coming together as one. The mirror serves as a key symbol of perspective, as Travis and Jane see what they allow themselves to see.


Bunny:


An Academy Award winning animated short film, Bunny touches on the transformation into life after death. An old female bunny is aggravated by a moth that is attracted to different forms of light in the house. The moth disturbs a photo of the bunny with her late husband, causing her to look at it longingly. Eventually, the bunny hits the moth into her cake batter and shoves the cake into the oven. The bunny is struggling to stay awake as the cake bakes, before falling into a deep sleep that symbolizes her death. The bunny wakes to the sound of an alarm and is puzzled by the bright blue-ish white light radiating from the oven. She climbs into the oven, following the light as the moth leads her through the transformation from life to death. The bunny floats through space, and the film ends as the image of the bunny and her husband come to life as they reunite. Light is the ironic symbol of death in this film, as we are all drawn to it- like the moth. Death, like light, is able to transform our spirit.


Pink Floyd:


This film is quite trippy, for lack of a better word. Some of the scenes are shot in animation to highlight the contrast between one's mind and their reality. The concept of education is explored in the sense that it is supposed to empower individuals and enlighten them, but society has weaponized it to inspire conformity. A student is bullied by a mean teacher for his poetry, as the teacher tells him to stick to the necessary material, which hinders his individuality. The film intends to undermine the veracity of an education that takes away student's abilities to enjoy the process of learning. The scene where students destroy the classrooms and sing out boldly that they do not need education is proof of this notion- a clear indication of meaning in the film.


Animated scenes, such as the character surrounded by the virtual brick wall while authority figures keeping him within its confines, illustrate the mind of an isolated individual who feels alienated from society and bounded by its constraints. The film's use of bright colors in the animated visuals highlight the individual's capacity for vividness and imagination, while reality remains gloomy and dark. The  "wall" represents this contrast between imagination and reality, which is worsened by the practices of society, as evidenced by the education system.