Film Techniques

Herold and Maude 

In Herold and Maude we have a young boy and his mother standing together after his latest date flees from the room in a hurry. As they stand next to each other, the boy involves us in the movie by making eye contact with us and keeping us in the loop with his conspiracy. The mother on the other hand has no idea who he is looking at looks him up and down, confused. Herold then looks back at her directly in the eye, holding his head up almost knowing that we are now on his side. The mother however, meets his eyes almost immediately once again showing her confidence and control over the situation. Herold quickly looks away as he becomes intimidated once more.

In the second scene of the film Herold meets an older woman in a garden. The old woman talks about the wisdom of life and death and change. The camera follows them as she talks and focuses on the reflection of the water as they look over it. Interestingly enough, their reflection is upside down, almost like his thinking. He then says that if he were to be a flower he would be the white one because they all look the same. Then the camera follows them to the graveyard of veterans where once again all of the tomb stones are white, making them look identical. The old woman then says that they are in fact not identical when you take the time to look closely at them.  

Northfolk 

In the church scene of Northfolk the mountains seem to become a witness to the sermon and they have been around for so long. Instead of the normal crucifiction scene behind the alter you instead see God’s creation.

In the buffalo scene you see a young orphan boy running, carrying his suitcase. He almost seems similar to the buffalo, traveling from place to place, never having an exact home. The film continues and we later see a house that looks like Noah’s Ark. The two men immediately smell death as they enter the house but still some aspect of life remains as light shines in through the windows illuminating them. The split down the middle of the house also symbolizes life and death with a shower of snow being the curtain. The father jumps from one side to the next, falling and hitting his head as he sees the angles standing over him.

Once the orphan boy dies you see the car traveling down the road with a coffin on top instead of the normal luggage. Though this film is in color, it seems to be in black and white in this scene because of the constant greyness and gloominess. 

PARIS TEXAS

We see a bright and colorful desert with beautiful rock formations and a well dressed many aimlessly walking through. His bright red baseball cap makes for a weird picture and doesn’t seem to go with his suit. He later comes across powerlines, a symbol of communication and direction, something he is lacking. His brother later finds him wandering down the road and stops him. The mountains behind the brother were smooth and even symbolizing his life as a family man. The mountains behind Travis however are rigid, rock and rough, symbolic of his troublesome life.

There are many elements of communication in this movie as airplanes, shoes and powerlines are constantly depicted through the scenes. 

The camera then follows Travis for almost 3 mins as he crosses the bridge over the highway, getting closer and closer to the yelling voice. After Travis meets him and he stands there for a few seconds wondering why he is screaming at the cars when they can’t hear him. He then breaks the alienation and pats him on the back as he walks away. 

Travis arrives at the brothel then to meet his wife. He talks to her through a mirrored glass where only he can see her. This makes it seem as if the wife is looking back and reflecting on herself through out the talk. Travis also sees a beautiful room but all she sees is an unfinished wall, we learn that perspective is key here. After amny talks Travis leaves the phone on the line but turns his back to her. Here we see the phone again as a tool of mediation. Once she realizes it is him she presses herself to the glass and puts her arms up almost as if she is surrendering. The audience is then left seeing her body but his face over it as they each looker closer into the reflective glass.

 BUNNY

In the bunny light is symbolic as taking you to the other side. The moth chases the light constantly throughout the film causing the bunny to throw it in the oven. When the bunny dies in her sleep, the oven is used as a place of transformation as the moth takes her to heaven.
 

Pink Floyd 

The Wall takes place during WW2. The mood is constantly dark and gloomy as war is. Many religious symbols are used however, to argue the meaning of war and the destruction it causes. In one of the scenes we see the British Flag fall apart into a cross. In another we see planes turn into crosses and a white dove flyer over.

In one of the scenes we see a horrible teacher harass and bully students in the classroom. Education is supposed to be liberating but it instead berates and brings down any joy left in the students. From this we can see education as a way of brainwashing, only allowing you to think a certain way and keeping you from reaching your fullest potential.