Le Corbeau, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, was released in 1943 during World War 2 in France. The film was produced by Continental, a French film production company bankrolled by the German government to produce lighthearted and joyful films that had no political plot, but rather played on and exploited the French culture. Clouzot got fired before Le Corbeau release due to it’s harsh look at provincial France, which was quite the opposite of what the Germans wanted. In the film, Clouzot tries to convey that not everything is “black and white”, one is not entirely “good or evil”. How did Clouzot use mise-en-scène and shot composition to support the theory that things are never “just white and black” and how does it help portray the characters
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(Corrigan, 2005, p. 48) Stylizing anything means heightening it to accentuate its impact beyond what we recognize as normal. This encourages the viewers to look beneath the surface of events. (Rabiger et al., 2013, p. 140) Clouzot uses certain aspects of the mise-en-scène and stylizes it to create an expressionistic film. Expressionism is a stylistic mode that through the highlighting of certain aspect in film express deeper psychological meaning and emotions in the characters. By using low key lightning characterized by shadows and contrast, Clouzot create a dark and somber film. Since the film is black and white, the use of grey and shadows can directly relate to the theory that not everything is black and white, but by using a lot of shadows, especially on the characters, Clouzot also creates dualistic lightning. By letting half of the character’s face be lit and leave the other half in shadows, it can express dualism in the character’s mind. Half of him/her is good, half of him/her is bad, it’s not one or the other. The lightning of faces therefore can change the way the character is portrayed and how the viewer perceives him/her. A well lit face can create a feeling of trust, or that the person is good, and we will be less likely to think that that person is the Raven. A darkly lit face on the other hand can create mistrust, that a …show more content…
Shot size refers to the size of the object in your frame, and Clouzot shot size range from extreme long shot to extreme close-up. By using different shot sizes Clouzot shows us that even thought things appear one way far away, our view might change when we get closer. In the extreme long shots, we are shown a normal looking French town, kids playing in the school yard, and people meeting in church, things seem normal. The closer we get though, the more we discover that the town is full of deceit and liars. The close-ups give us the revelations, and one of the biggest revelations is an extreme close-up of Denise asking Dr. Germain if her eyes are the eyes of a liar. We can say that the further away the shot is the narrower our viewpoint is and things look black and white, but the closer we get, the more we see that it is not. Clouzot also uses canted frames, especially when Marie is running down the streets. This expressionistic shot makes you think about the fact that a innocent woman is chased by a mob of religious people who made their decision without any real proof. Religious people who are supposed to be all good and follow God’s
(Corrigan, 2005, p. 48) Stylizing anything means heightening it to accentuate its impact beyond what we recognize as normal. This encourages the viewers to look beneath the surface of events. (Rabiger et al., 2013, p. 140) Clouzot uses certain aspects of the mise-en-scène and stylizes it to create an expressionistic film. Expressionism is a stylistic mode that through the highlighting of certain aspect in film express deeper psychological meaning and emotions in the characters. By using low key lightning characterized by shadows and contrast, Clouzot create a dark and somber film. Since the film is black and white, the use of grey and shadows can directly relate to the theory that not everything is black and white, but by using a lot of shadows, especially on the characters, Clouzot also creates dualistic lightning. By letting half of the character’s face be lit and leave the other half in shadows, it can express dualism in the character’s mind. Half of him/her is good, half of him/her is bad, it’s not one or the other. The lightning of faces therefore can change the way the character is portrayed and how the viewer perceives him/her. A well lit face can create a feeling of trust, or that the person is good, and we will be less likely to think that that person is the Raven. A darkly lit face on the other hand can create mistrust, that a …show more content…
Shot size refers to the size of the object in your frame, and Clouzot shot size range from extreme long shot to extreme close-up. By using different shot sizes Clouzot shows us that even thought things appear one way far away, our view might change when we get closer. In the extreme long shots, we are shown a normal looking French town, kids playing in the school yard, and people meeting in church, things seem normal. The closer we get though, the more we discover that the town is full of deceit and liars. The close-ups give us the revelations, and one of the biggest revelations is an extreme close-up of Denise asking Dr. Germain if her eyes are the eyes of a liar. We can say that the further away the shot is the narrower our viewpoint is and things look black and white, but the closer we get, the more we see that it is not. Clouzot also uses canted frames, especially when Marie is running down the streets. This expressionistic shot makes you think about the fact that a innocent woman is chased by a mob of religious people who made their decision without any real proof. Religious people who are supposed to be all good and follow God’s