Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Lady in the Lake
In Montgomery's film adaptation of "The Lady in the Lake", the filming approach was rather unique and risky. The use of "subjective camera" angles was put in place to allow the audience to put themselves in the shoes of Marlowe. As we spoke about in class, often times the director will attempt to figure out a way to make it easier for the viewers to feel sympathy towards the characters on the screen. However, this "subjective filming" style is not very successful in creating those feelings towards Marlowe. What films that you have personally viewed have allowed you to feel emotional towards the characters on the screen? What factors allowed this sympathetic view?e.g:dialogue, filming style, scenery, etc..
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There have been many films that I have watched that I had felt sympathy towards a character. Those movies were not in a "subjective camera" style. With the style of this movie, as you said, we cannot get a grip of emotions of what Marlowe is feeling because we are "techinically" him. My favorite movie that I love to watch, and still get emotional about is "The Notebook". I get emotional of the dialogue and how the movie plays out. The parents telling her who is suitable for her is very upsetting to hear when a girl loves a certain guy. Also the scenary in "The Notebook" is very emotional because of the music being played in the background. The movie gives us more of emotions than "The Lady in the Lake" did, because of the mere fact of how we were put into a position and could only stick with that character only.
ReplyDeleteI feel a subjective cmaera view for a film is very hard to feel any emotional connection with because we are not viewing the characters body languages and facial expressions. I felt emapathetic towards the characters in the film "The Notebook" because it was an emotional love story. The dialouge and chemistry between the two characters "Noah" and "Allie" was so intense that it made me feel as if I were involved in their relationshiop. When they died in eachother's arms I was very emotional while viewing the film because I felt as if I had known the couple personally even though I did not. The camera view was objective and the scenary was excellent for the purpose of the film; for example, when the two were having an argument it rained, emphasizing the two's emotions they had bottled up inside until it poured out of their mouths, just like the rain did. Peraonsally, I feel more of an emotional connection with an objective camera view.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch movies that have a subjective camera angles, I usually do not feel any more sympathy for the character. I think the reason why I do not is because the audience is "technically" the character on the screen. And like Colleen said, there is no emotional connection because you cannot see the characters facial expressions and body language. Like Colleen and Mary, I too have seen "The Notebook" and felt sympathy for its characters. There have been many movies where I have felt compassion for a character because of the dialogue or because sad music is playing in the background. All of these movies are not viewed in subjective camera angles. For example, "The Phantom of the Opera" is an example of a movie where I feel bad for a character. I feel bad for the "phantom" because the facial expressions he shows when he realizes that the main character (Christine Daae) does not love him and the words of the sad song he sings in one scene make the audience feel some compassion for him even though he kills many people. I feel that showing things like facial expressions of a character are crucial to see if a director wants the audience to feel an emotional connection with the character.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch movies that have subjective camera angles, it is very hard to feel a emotional connection towards the characters. In order for me to feel for a character, I have to see their facial expressions and body language. One movie were I feel sympathy for the characters is the movie "The Pursuit of Happiness", which stars Will Smith. This movie is a rags to riches true story, of how the main character goes from being homeless with his son to become a successful buisness man. I felt emotion for the main character because he always had sad facial expressions through the hard times in his life. He put up a good front for his son, and tried to put a smile on his face for him. The film is a flashback of how life was for this man, and the dialogue helps us capture the essence of the emotions this man was feeling. One of the settings of the movie that made me feel sympathy for the characters, was the homeless shelters where he and his son lived. Being able to see a movie from a objective view, gives us more of a perspective on the character's emotions in a movie. Sympathy is something I felt for these characters, and those factors influenced my emotions about the movie.
ReplyDeleteI feel like when watching the film "Lady in the Lake" the subjective camera style limits our perspective on the film. While experiencing the film through Marlowe's perspective we are limited to his visual view. Instead of feeling a connection to the character Marlowe we feel distant from his environment and what he is experiencing. Films that offer multiple views give the audience an advantage because more information and point of views are available.
ReplyDeleteColleen's Post:
ReplyDeleteI think that an important part of feeling sympathy for a character, or another person in general, is seeing them and their visible emotional responses. In the case of Lady in the Lake, we are supposed to be Marlowe, so in order to feel sympathy for him we would have to feel sympathy for ourselves, which doesn’t make sense. We feel sympathy for characters in the same way we feel sympathy for people we meet in our own lives, by how we perceive them. We are cut off from crucial aspects of Marlowe’s character. To an extent, however, we could feel sympathy if he saw something sad or disturbing, like the scene from the novel where they actually find the Lady in the Lake. While this scene is left out of the film, it may have been an effective attempt at evoking sympathy for Marlowe’s character by the audience for having experienced such a terrible scene first-hand. Still, the sympathy, if any, would be limited. While we might be able to share feelings that Marlowe has, like sympathizing with him for another character, we are ironically too distanced from his character, as his character.
The subjective filming angle used in "Lady In The Lake" does not remove the idea of feeling sympathy for any of the other characters, aside from Marlowe. This happens because we cannot see his reaction to things. Facial expressions and body language are important in both films and reality to better understand what a person is thinking or feeling. Though we can hear his voice, it is much more difficult for us to perceive this with Marlowe. Actions speak louder than words. Even if he says something in a certain tone, seeing his reaction would help us to understand his emotions and to feel a stronger connection to the character. One movie I saw recently where I felt emotionally connected to the character was "I Am Legend". In this film, the main character is by himself, with the exception of his dog. Though I could not judge him based on his interactions with others, the way he responded to situations physically and emotionally allowed me to be able to place myself in his shoes, or to relate to what he was feeling.
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