Here are a couple of scenes that really drive the point home. The first is the final gunfight from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, an Italian western from the 1960s. Srgio Leone was the director and, like many Italian directors from the 60s and 70s, was interested in pushing the limits of what film could do, how it could work. The result is, quite frankly, legendary. Check it out.
In the 70s, Clint Eastwood also worked with a director named Don Siegel, who directed Eastwood in several films including Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz. Siegel was famous for his almost mechanical approach to filmmaking. If Leone was an artist, Siegel was a craftsman. Eastwood later took more away from his time with Siegel than Leone. The result can be seen here in the final gunfight from Unforgiven.
Here's the question: In what ways is the Leone scene an example of the formalist approach, and in what ways is Unforgiven an example of a more realistic approach. Consider pacing, camera angles, acting, editing, lighting, etc. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
The leone scene has a formalist approach in a few ways, one, very clear way, is that it's all a staredown, theres almost zero fighting for awhile, they just stand there and look at eachother and cut to closeups of moving eyes. another way i feel like its formalist is that the camera composition in the beginning is VERY random and experimental, like many of the shots seem off center, making the subject fill up a side of the screen and blurry land fill the other side.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Unforgiven, one of the first things that sticks out to me is the dramatic lighting, it makes it feel very real, and very dark and evil. i also noticed how the camera is zooming in in many of the tense moments, creating suspence, which gives a realism to it. within the actual fight, it's very quick and to the point, people shoot and react, not sit around and stare. the conversations throughout are pleading, like real life conversations, the gunman is very dark and confident, but the bystanders have trembles to their voices, showing fear. all of these elements make for a more realistic western.
Leone's movie takes more of a formalist approach because it takes much longer to get to the actual "shootout" than it would have in real life. If this movie was trying to be realistic, one guy would have shot the other two right away, instead of taking six minutes. The point of the scene is to build tension for the viewer. Also, it takes a more formalist approach because of the close up shots they used, such as the hands on the gun.
ReplyDeleteThe Unforgiven is an example of a realistic movie because the character starts to kill who he needed to kill right away. He got right to the point, without any long pauses or close up views. Also, most of the scene was shot at eye level, which is the most realistic view. There were not many angles or views that would seem to make it a movie with a formalist approach.
The scene from 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' definitely had a formalist feel to it due to several reasons. There were a number of quick cut scenes that varied between long shots to close ups. The lack of dialogue placed more emphasis on the landscape and the atmosphere. Leone also used a lot of steady, positioned shots to film the scene as if the characters originally belonged in the scene rather than using a camera following the action. The use of a lot of light created an almost artistic and heroic atmosphere to an event which would normally be grave and frightening.
ReplyDeleteThe scene from Unforgiven was on the opposite scale of formalism. This scene was realistic because rather than portraying a heroic figure, the scene became rather gruesome when the character started to shoot everyone on sight. The dark lighting conjured up a somber and dark mood to the scene. Unlike the formalist scene, there was no music to accompany this scene. There was a lot of moving eye level shots almost as if the camera was in the moment, following the action. The characters were more realistic in their actions in that they hid and were terrified of dying. The pacing is quick, making it all the more realistic.
Andrew - good call on the lighting. Eastwood lights his shots very realistically. In this shot, for instance, the only light in the shot is the light you might actually have with oil lamps and a fire.
ReplyDeleteJulie - Yep. The pacing is not realistic in the slightest, yet it creates a tremendous effect on the audience (especially when you see it in context upon viewing the entire film.)
ReplyDeleteJin - Good call regarding the music. It hadn't occured to me before. The first scene, however, is incredibly famous - even legendary - BECAUSE of the music. (The tune is parodied in dozens of other films and cartoons and television stuff.)
ReplyDeleteNice call.