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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Analysis for 'Big Fish'

I did an analysis for a film called 'Big Fish', Directed by Tim Burton.



In this, I've analysed from - Time: (04:06)

The father (Edward Bloom-the main character of the film) stays in bed while his daughter-in-law (Josephine) goes to get her camera to take his picture. When Josephine asks about the wedding photograph of her father-in-law, he starts his story about how he met his wife (Sandra).

[Shot 1]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 1 Establishing Shot
Cinematography: MCU shot of one character being focused then pan to the Left with WLS still focused on the first character but shows the second character entering the room. MCU shot of the first character again then slight pan towards the right, MS of the two characters.
Sound: Dialogue from the two characters (Father and Daughter-in-law)
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, the corridor and from the window.

Analysis:

[Shot 2]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 2 Continuity editing.
Cinematography: CU shot of Josephine.
Sound: Dialogue from the two characters.
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window- light from the left. Josephine with her camera.

Analysis:

[Shot 1]
Shot Description-
Editing: same as shot 1
Cinematography: MS of the two characters.
Sound: dialogue of the two characters
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window- light from the front. Josephine with her camera.

Analysis:
Edward (old) is in bed, when he wakes up he finds his daughter-in-law, Josephine. Edward starts to talk about his weird dream in the past about knowing people’s death. Talking about death in this scene shows how Edward knows about how his death is coming. When Josephine asks about the wedding photo of Edward, he starts to talk about his life. The tone of this scene is very calm especially because we only hear the voices from Edward and Josephine talking. The lights in the room is also helping to create this atmosphere.

[Shot 2]
Shot Description-
Editing: same as shot 2
Cinematography: CU shot of Josephine.
Sound: Dialogue
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table and from the window- light from the front. Josephine with her camera.

Analysis:
Edward and Josephine continuously talks about how Edward and his wife never had a wedding. Throughout this film, we see that Edward as a great storyteller talks about his fantasy-like life story, which he has been telling them to his family over and over. In this scene, we see that Josephine as a part of the family gets to listen to Edward’s story as well.

[Shot 3]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 5 Continuity editing.
Cinematography: CU shot of the camera.
Sound: Dialogue
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window- light from the front, shadow on the left.

Analysis:
While listening to the story, Josephine is looking down onto the camera. Dim Lights from the outside hitting a little parts onto her face, creates again the quiet ‘night’ atmosphere.

[Shot2]
Shot Description-
Editing: same as shot 2
Cinematography: CU shot of Josephine
Sound: Dialogue
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window- light from the left. Josephine with her camera.

Analysis:
Still listens and talks to Edward. Focused on Josephine’s face. In these scenes in the bed room, we only hear the voices of Edward and Josephine.

[Shot 1]
Shot Description-
Editing: same as shot 1
Cinematography: MS of the two characters.
Sound: Dialogue
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window. Josephine with her camera.

Analysis:
Again, Josephine looks down onto her camera. Edward continuously talking. The warm light from the light on the side table casting shadows on the back the characters again creates the peaceful night time atmosphere.

[Shot 2]
Shot Description-
Editing: same as shot 2
Cinematography: CU shot of Josephine
Sound: Dialogue
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window. Josephine with her camera.

Analysis:
Josephine looks at Edward and down on to the camera. Camera is focused onto her face, blurred on the background, perhaps concentrating on characters’ emotion.

[Shot 4]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 4 Continuity editing
Cinematography: MCU shot of Edward.
Sound: Dialogue
Mise-en-scene: At night, Bed room, characters in PJ, Lights from the side table, and from the window- light from the right.

Analysis:
Now the MCU shot of Edward this gives focus onto this character, showing how he is going to start telling his story.

[Shot5]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 5 Wipe from top to bottom
Cinematography: LWS of the circus. Wide pan moving up.
Sound: Sound of music, people talking, screaming, dialogue from Edward.
Mise-en-scene: At night, at the circus, lots of lights and colours from the circus, lights from the sky, crowded with people.

Analysis:
Wipe is always shown right before Edward starts his story, so it establishes a sign for starting the story. The movement of wipe creates a really good effect as it shows as if the screen is flicked through like the pages on a book. It also clearly establishes when and where Edward’s story is being told. We get an over view of the circus. The LWS of the circus gives us an understanding of the size of the circus and the atmosphere from looking at the crowed people. A good introduction to a new shot.


[Shot6]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 6 Continuity editing
Cinematography: LS of the circus, camera is set towards the right, people coming in from the corner of the screen, in fixed position.
Sound: Sound of music, people talking, dialogue from Edward.
Mise-en-scene: At night, at the circus, lots of lights and colours from the circus, crowded with people, crowns.

Analysis:
Camera placed on the eye level gives us an understanding of the feeling and atmosphere of the place.

[Shot 7]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 12 Continuity editing
Cinematography: LS of the circus, camera placed higher than eye level. In fixed position.
Sound: Dialogue of Edward, people talking, sound of music.
Mise-en-scene: At night, at the circus, lots of lights and colours from the circus, lights from the sky, crowded with people.

Analysis:
LS of the entrance of the circus create an enjoyable mood. The name of the circus is shown clearly.

[Shot 8]
Shot Description-
Editing: shot 8 Continuity editing
Cinematography: WS of the people then pan diagonally from right to left while zooming into CU shot of Edward.
Sound: Music, dialogue of Edward,
Mise-en-scene: Inside of the circus, Lights from above and side. A lot of colours from the clothes, crowded with people looking at the show.

Analysis:
The zooming in to Edward (young) creates a focus onto the character. The WS of the people sitting in the circus creates the excitement mood of people waiting to watch the show. Then a CU shot of Edward establishes where he is to us.

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