Analyze a scene from Rome Open City. Be sure to read the handouts I've given you.
Choose a 5 minute scene and analyze it completely. Remember that you need to mention why you chose the scene and this scene's relation to the film as a whole. In addition, pay close attention to: mise-en-scene, lighting, camera angles, shot types, etc. Here is a list of items to pay attention to when you write your 750 words (minimum) (and when you do your oral presentation):
- How well do I understand how meaning is constructed through the use of film language in this extract?
- How well do I understand the extract's relationship to the film as a whole?
- How well do I understand the influences of the film's genre?
- How well can I place the film and this extract in a broader socio-cultural context?
- How insightful is my analysis of the director's intention?
- How coherent, incisive, insightful, and detailed is my evaluative interpretation of this extract?
Here is a list of "vocab" you should use:
- narrative
- direction
- cinematography
- mise-en-scene
- lighting (which is often, but not always, considered part of mise-en-scene)
- camera movement
- editing
- sound (diegetic and non-diegetic)
Be sure your paper is AT LEAST 750 words. Watch the clip a number of times. Let your ideas flow. Spend time with this. If you don't, your presentation next year will suffer. It will be difficult if you don't practice. If you do what I ask, that will be an easy assessment for you!
The movie Rome Open City directed by Roberto Rossellini is a powerful statement on the german occupation of Italy. It is also a staple example of the Neo Realist genre, using real occurrences and realistic people that one can relate to.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that I chose was the scene where Francesco gets taken away by the SS. This scene is not only important to the plot but is also filled with important film elements such as mise-en-scene, sound design, shot composition, camera angles and kinetic usage of the camera. This scene takes a sad, oppressed beginning and makes it somehow worse. The female lead dies and the main male character is plunged into a captured life that eventually leads to his torture as well as the priests death. With all of these aspects of the plot this scene is very important to the narrative of the entire film.
The first thing that I noticed about the scenes mise-en-scene was the fact that the priest and the Child are the only ones wearing white. Their stark white clothing contrasts everything else in the shot. While everything around them is evil (the SS) or depressed (The general populace) the child and the priest stand out from them. The child is different because he maintains a certain level of innocence and purity from being a child. While the priest does so by being a priest. Another thing that strikes me about the costume is the clean, put togetherness of the SS and the impoverished nature of the civilians clothing.
Another cinematic foci that is worth mentioning is the sound design. The sound throughout the scene stays true to the neo realist aspect of the work. Being that the sound seems untouched. There is no music playing and it seems as though the chatter of the crowd remained in the movie. This creates a natural environment that the audience can easily become absorbed in and almost let themselves believe that it is actually happening.
Shot composition is also a key element of the scene. One shot in particular stood out to me the most. In this shot Pina is running through a tunnel to catch up with the truck that is taking Francesco away. What is interesting to me about this shot is that she is running towards the light at the end of a tunnel, maybe insinuating that she is about to be killed. The shot is perfectly balanced also even to the point where the two SS soldiers standing at the end of the tunnel are silhouetted similarly. The balance of the frame makes the viewer oddly comfortable at this stressed moment in time.
In addition to those other elements i found camera angles in this scene interesting. For the majority of the scene, the camera is at an eye level, medium shot. Except for the end where Pina is running and actually gets killed. At this point, the camera switches to a high angle shot over Pina. It is much wider and now the audience can see most of her surroundings. This is significant because it shows the dominance that these soldiers have over Pina. She is the victim now, and this high angle helps portray that to the audience. Then, after she is already dead, the camera angle switches back to an eye level, medium shot. This is to show that Pina is no longer significant in society anymore. She holds no importance. She is just dead and helpless. I also noticed that the camera moves to follow the characters as they move about the frame. The camera pans to follow the characters where ever they go. I think this help creates a sense of chaos. If the camera was still, this would give the scene a sense of stability. But because the camera is going everywhere the characters go, it builds suspense and makes the audience realize how wild the scene truly is.
The kinetic movement of the camera is a good conclusion to the scene. The camera is tracking a flailing Pina. Keeping only her in focus and the rest of the world a blur. Also the editing in the last sequence is key because it allows the audience to see both points of view. Pina’s and Francesco’s. This attaches us to both characters and breaks our hearts even more when she dies.
The film Rome Open City or “Citta Aperta” was an Italian Neorealist film that I found very moving and surprisingly timeless. The film was made in order to attempt to depict the occupation of Italy as it actually happened. In a sense, they tried to create an experience. The film was directed by Roberto Rossellini and it came out in 1945. During the Nazi occupation of Rome, the resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi aka Luigi Ferraris is chased by the Gestapo. His friend Francesco, who is going to marry the widow Pina, together with the priest Don Pietro Pellegrini help him to get a new identity and leave Rome. However, Manfredi is betrayed by his lover Marina Mari and arrested by the Germans.
ReplyDeleteThe opening shot of the scene I chose is a close up shot of Don Pietro Pellegrini as he is on the left side of the frame, but also taking up most of the shot. This scene is about the Nazis showing nothing but sheer ruthlessness towards other human lives, as the Germans are torturing Giorgio Manfredi aka Luigi Ferraris, as they do so, they are trying to get him to talk and confess, but he never does. Giorgio Manfredi and Don Pietro are in two different rooms, but the way they play with sound in this scene, it makes it seem to the audience they are right next to each other. The Germans are in the other room torturing Giorgio, but they very rarely show the violence happening, except for a medium shot of a german officer shooting a flamethrower at Giorgio’ torso. The rest of this scene, thanks to the sound, shows they audience the gruesome pain that this man was going through, without actually showing to much of the violence itself. Most of this scene is shot in the room with Don Pietro as he listens to his friend get tortured. Even though the camera and the character are in a different room, the sound is as loud as if Don is in the same room as the tortured man. This strengthens the emotional power behind this scene. The scene as far as sound is concerned is a very important part of it.
The mise-en-scene in this scene is also very accurate in depicting real life Italy at the time. The costumes that the characters were wearing symbolized their social class. Obviously, the men in uniform held authority over everyone else. The priest is wearing his traditional attire that priests wear when they are giving sermons. Framing is another factor as it works with Mise-en-scene. The framing of this scene is for the most shot medium shot and a lot of long, drawn out close ups of Don Pietro as he listens to his friend get tortured by the Germans. The fact that for the most part, the audience only sees Don Pietro as he listens to the horrors that are occurring in the other room. The audience only sees little 3 to 5 second shots of this man being tortured, which is more powerful than showing them the entire violent action. The way they did it, it forces the audience to imagine what is going on in the other room for the most part and the human imagination is worse and more brutal than anything you can put on a movie screen. So in a way, the lack of some Mise-en-scene in this scene is what makes it so emotional.
When this film came out, it didn’t have great reviews in Italy, because everyone was poor and only noble citizens of Italy could actually go to a movie. In the states however, it had much better reviews. Bosley Crowther of the New York TImes said, in a 1945 review, that it contained an “overpowering realism and with a passionate sense of human fortitude”. This film is still known as one of the most influential and emotional movies of the neo-realist movement back in the 1940’s.