Analysis of "Barton Funk"
"Barton Fink" is a work by the Coen brothers in 1991, which won three awards including the Palme d'Or and Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Nominations for Costume Design, apparently, the American Academy Awards don't take the Hollywood bashing lightly for praise.
long shoot:
A long shot refers to using a relatively long time (some as long as 10 minutes) to continuously shoot a scene or a scene to form a relatively complete sequence of shots. As the name suggests, it is a shot that is taken continuously over a sustained period of time. The content shot by the camera from the time it is turned on to the time it is turned off is one shot, and there is no clear and uniform regulation on its length. A long shot is the opposite of a "short shot". The time and space recorded by the long shot is a continuous and actual time and space, which does not interrupt the natural process of time, maintains the uninterrupted time process , and is consistent with the actual time and process. The continuous and uninterrupted shooting of a scene and a scene (a process) with a long lens reproduces the real process of the development of the event and the real atmosphere of the scene.
The film opens with the quintessence of a masterpiece: long takes. The camera moves downward from the rocker arm, and the picture goes from the rope behind the stage to the appearance of the rope-pulling man. Then the camera follows the rope-pulling man from the slide rail and moves back sideways, bringing out the old man reading the newspaper, and continuing to move, the male protagonist enters the painting, In the foreground, the old man reading the newspaper just appeared in the background, then an actor retreated to the backstage, and the old man reading the newspaper in the background put down the newspaper and came to the foreground, saying the lines in the play: fish! Fresh fish! Then the camera followed the actor in the backstage and moved to the stage. The people on the stage were calling the curtain, and this long shot ended. Through a long shot, it simply shows the working environment of part of the backstage of the stage and the working status of the protagonist as a drama creator, and through the audience's reaction when the actor's curtain call, it shows the great success of the protagonist's play, which will serve as the basis for the subsequent drama. Hollywood took a fancy to, and so on, some of the stories that happened made a great start. Orson Welles' "Beautiful Woman", Robert Altman's "Big Game", Johnnie To's "Big Event", etc., all used exquisite long shots at the beginning of the film.
Symbolism:
Symbolic technique is an artistic technique in which movie screenwriters embody abstract connotations such as concepts, thoughts and feelings that go beyond the figurative through the description of a certain play image. The image symbol of film is divided into two categories: realistic symbol and symbolic symbol. The objects generally depicted by symbolism are mostly visual images in film art design, followed by images of audio-visual integration. The symbol of mastery is subtle, and it is the styling characteristic of this design technique.
In the film, there are two scenes of the waves being smashed by the reef. The first time was when the agent (uncle) persuaded Patton to work in Hollywood, he cut to this scene directly from the dialogue scene between the two, and then superimposed that Patton had already The scene of arriving at a hotel in Los Angeles also foreshadowed what Patton would experience, symbolizing that after Patton went to Hollywood, the shattering of his dreams would be like a broken ocean wave; the second time this scene appeared, it was After Patton experienced a series of unbelievable, terrifying, and collapsed things, he was inspired to write what he thought was beautiful, but after being scolded by the studio boss, this symbolized and announced that Patton This trip to Hollywood was a complete failure, and the arrogance and fantasy of the literati were completely defeated. This was also close to the end of the film. After that, Barton walked lonely by the sea. The scene in the painting on the hotel wall appeared, beautiful. The sea and the flawless back, Barton asked: Are you in pictures? The woman answered: Don't be silly. It left us an open ending, which is fascinating.
Sound and Space Design:
In terms of sound, it leans towards realism, and the processing of the sound in the details makes us feel like we are in that depressed space like Button. There is no large music sound effect as the background, but more real detailed sounds in some scenes. Such as the sound of the small fan in the corner, the sound of mosquitoes, the sound of bells, etc. are all portrayed in great detail. The director pays so much attention to the realistic sound effects, he should be trying to present the environment in which Button is in a more realistic way in front of us.
In terms of space design, the hotel is the materialization of his inner world. Then everything in this hotel, including everything that happened and the people who appeared here, is his heart. Therefore, all the designs in the hotel: gloomy, silent, depressing, peeling walls, the voices of neighbors, and the love of men and women next door, including the later house fire, which corresponds to Barton's getting hotter and hotter, these are all representations of Barton's inner world. change.
The role of setting:
Charlie's vulgar language is the other side of him, the side of the average person he's trying so hard to claim to be, but he keeps interrupting Charlie's words, Charlie tries to tell him his story three times in vain, and talks to Charlie. The Jedi talked about some of Wen Zou Zou's feelings. At this time, Patton was shooting up, showing the writer's deep sense of superiority. In Charlie's room, Barton was never allowed to enter, and no one ever entered, indicating that he was a subconscious protection and barrier for his ordinary and vulgar aspects in his heart. Some other characters appeared in the middle, but Audrey came to his room, a woman he liked, which can be understood as his desire, which would inspire him and paralyze him, so Charlie killed him. killed the woman, but cut off her head and gave it to Patton.
Hitchcock McGuffin:
In terms of content, there are so many things that are confusing and thought provoking, and I am particularly impressed with that box. This box can be understood as the MacGuffin said by the famous director Hitchcock. MacGuffin (English: MacGuffin) is a film term that refers to an object, character, or goal in a movie that can advance the plot, such as something contested by a number of characters, and the detailed description of this object, character, or goal is not necessarily It's important, some works will have explanations, and some works won't. As long as it is very important to the characters in the movie, it can be regarded as a MacGuffin by allowing the plot to develop.
One of the details in the film is that after Patton roughly guessed that the box was Audrey's head, he put the box on the table, and he began to swarm and scolded Fang Qiu, so I think that was his inspiration. In the end, Charlie also said to Barton that the box is not mine, the implication is that the box belongs to Barton, which also proves that it is Barton's inspiration. Towards the end of the film, Patton was scolded by the studio owner for walking alone on the beach, including when he left the hotel, instead of taking his typewriter with him, he took this box with him, because typewriters are only for writers. Tool, and inspiration is the soul of the writer. This should also be the optimism that the director wants to express in such a depressing atmosphere, including the design that did not open the box until the end, which also preserves that hope and Be optimistic.
The whole film tells the story of Barton, a young writer who is very satisfied in the New York theater industry. After he went to Hollywood, his dreams and fantasies were broken one after another. Is Hollywood a filmmaker's dream factory or a dream breaker? What should the writer do? How to express one's heart and how to really write a work belonging to the common people, this is a series of questions left by the director, or it is left to time.
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