In both films interesting how they employ the use of over saturation. It is very noticeable in both films how the filmmaker employs the use of over saturation. The element of saturation have different symbolic meanings in the films. First, in Do the Right Thing, the saturation helps show the tension and pressure building up in the characters and events. The filmmaker also uses a lot of red colors which indicates the warmth and anger. So you can almost feel the warmth off the screen. The red and saturated colors shows tension emulating. In contrast, in Amelie there is more of a simplistic palate of primary colors not dark, deep reds and oranges. This makes it not as evocative as much as visually consistent. In the end, both films employed saturated colors in different ways to make it visually more intriguing.

In the opening scene, it shows Amelie doing very typical activities that a child would do. This sets up the viewer to take into consideration Amelie’s youth and innocence. Amelie is shown putting raspberries on her fingers and I remembering doing that as a child, but I would always do that with my sister. The director purposely does this to show how Amelie lives a lonely life and is forced to always do things alone because no one pays attention to her. Another thing that the director makes very apparent is how strict Amelies parents are. Amelies dad shows no love towards his young daughter which is very strange. A father usually has a very special relationship with his first child. The mom is very strict as well, but it is portrayed that she is strict because she cares. Amelie is home-schooled and when Amelie got the answer wrong her mom smacks the ruler on the table. This shows that Amelies mother is strict about her education, but parents are strict about education because they want their children to do well. It seems as if this movie will have a common theme of Amelie struggling to get her dad’s attention and approval and her mom will struggle to balance wanting the best for her daughter and being strict.

In the opening scene of Amelie, all the props that were used served a similar purpose. They showed her innocence as a child and her imagination. As the movie progresses, it is shown that Amelie was very lonely being home schooled and had tuff parents. The only friends she really had were her fish and her imaginated friends. The props in the opening credits such as the paper cut outs, the coin spinning, and the sound coming from the top of the class showed that all of her fun came from her imagination. This plays into our class discussion of Mise en Scéne. During the opening scene, there wasn’t much dialogue between the characters. Instead, most of story was told by the actions of the characters and the props they used.

While watching the beginning of Amelie(Jeunet, 2001) I was quite intrigued by the cinematography of the film as it slightly reminded me of something by Wes Anderson. However, even though the overall saturation and warmth of the film seemed similar to something like Moonrise Kingdom, the style in which it was shot was much different than anything I have seen before. Probably the most distinct aspect of this “style” is how frequently cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel shot close ups. So, after gaining some interest in this I decided to do some research on the cameras used to shoot the film. So, I found that Delbonnel used both a  Kodak Vision 250D 5246 and Vision 320T 5277 when filming, and while the majority of the warmth and saturated look was added in digitally, an  81EF filter was occasionally used during day shots. What impressed me the most though was discovering that before shooting close ups of any character Delbonnel and Jeunet actually experimented with a variety of lenses to see which corresponded best with each character’s facial features. Jeunet also chose to film the majority of Amelie with a wide angle lens so as to allow for the majority of  the background to remain in focus, and thus give the viewer a better look at each one of his beautifully made sets. Overall, I thought these two aspects of the cinematography in the film, using different lenses for close ups and using a wide lens to keep the background in focus, provided Amelie with much more subtle charm than it would have had if Jeunet and Delbonnel had shot it differently.

After the class analysis of the different elements of the mise-en-scène that comprised the opening scene of directorJean-Pierre Jeunet’s film Amélie, I came to realize how truly important the opening scene of a film is. The opening scene sets the tone for the entire movie. It draws the audience in and makes them wonder what is yet to come. Also, what many don’t realize is that the opening scene provides the viewers with basic knowledge about the characters and the setting they are situated in.

For example, in Amélie, aside from the obvious accents of the characters, we know right away that the setting is in France due to the quick camera shots of the outside and even by the way the characters dress. We are also given insight to what the main characters personalities are by their actions. We know the parents are strict by the way they obsessively like to organize their toolboxes and purses and how they behave toward their daughter. We know the daughter is innocent and isolated from the outside world based on the props she plays with, being homeschooled, and having a fish as her only friend.

Above are only just a few examples of the elements of mise-en-scène that help to create the opening scene, but before being exposed to these ideas I had never given a second thought to all the opening scene had to offer.

One thing that really stood out to me in “Do the Right Thing” was how the mise-en-scene was able to foreshadow this theme of fire/heat and water. The vibe of the beginning of the movie is a typical hot summer day were people are baring the heat but also enjoying their summer days. The mood seems to be pretty uplifting. A scene in which this is prominent is when one of the neighborhood boys opens a fire hydrant for all the kids to come play in and cool off in the water. This seems like a uplifting time in the movie. Very soon does this happiness take a turn though. A white man is splashed in his car by the fire hydrant and he makes a very rambunctious scene. This small incident foreshadows the ending of the movie when Sal’s pizza place is burnt to the ground. Again we see the theme of heat and water being portrayed. The neighborhood began an uprising to Sal’s after one of their own is killed by NYPD. The citizens of the neighborhood start a fire and begin to act violently towards Sal and the police officers. The NYPD then uses hoses not only to set out the fire but to break up the riot. This symbolism of fire and water is a prominent one in “Do the right thing” in that it foreshadows how the ending of the story is going to play out.

https://tesscetin.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/the-use-of-color-in-amelie-2001/

I found this article that speaks on the colors found in Amelie and I find most of it is very intriguing. The editor used a common video motif called “Digital Internediate” which allows the editor to manipulate colors and emphasize certain aspects of the film through color filters. This really emphasizes how important color was to the director. Color in itself is it’s own character just like the heat was in “Do The Right Thing.” It really tells us a lot about this movie and the characters in the film. The article goes on to talk about the meaning of each color. Green was one major color, which symbolizes hope and nature in some cultures. This can directly relate to Amelie’s character. Yellow would stand for warmth, happiness and comfort but also something surreal, which explains Amelie’s imaginative ways. Red is definitely a color that stood out. In this case, according to the article, red represents warmth, energy, passion, and love, which could represent Amelie’s life and mood. The article states, “Red cherries, raspberries and her red fish all symbolize her passion and vital young mind. Thus, this motif is continued throughout the film as she is always wearing something red to in a way, represent her childhood which is a key time of the development of the character.” This quote brings up a really great point about how much color impacts our knowledge on the character and plot in a movie. The director set these specific colors to tell the viewers something and to send us these messages, which I believe he did quiet effectively.

During Radio’s tragic death scene, I was struck by how closely Radio physically resembelled the classic image of Jesus on the cross. With his arms held outstretched by police, and his head upturned in a choke-hold, the visual style of the scene clearly depicts Radio as a Christ like character. Similarly the after effects from the other characters in their rightous rebellion against the authority that has killed Radio harkens to the bible and the uprising against Roman authority.

Here’s a video that places the death of Radio Raheem and Eric Garner Right next to each other. The Similarities are shocking but it highlights the power of film in ways we do not typically view them in.

In Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” the Heat plays a significant role. Spike is noted for his inspirations from real life events such as the Howard Beach Incident and the Tawana Brawley rape case.  The Idea of a hot summer day in New York city is derived from New York summer’s notorious crime rates. The setting of a hot Brooklyn summer foreshadows that something bad will happen.

In addition, the heat can also be a symbol of Racism. In the movie people constantly complain about the heat and try to find ways to escape it, whether it be through fans, fanning themselves, or ice water. However, it is impossible to get away from the omnipresent heat. The heat symbolizes racism because people may try to escape it or get over it but no matter what is done it still exist. When one may assume that the heat wave would only last one day,  Spike furthers the symbolism by keeping the crippling heat for another day. Assuring the audience that racism is still prevalent.