ps: Time is limited, just pick out the typical points to write, you can go to see it as a film and understand it by yourself.
Since his debut in the feature film "Poor Mountains and Bad Waters", Terrence Marek has always been known for his unique director qualities and image styles: focusing on the combination of character psychology and natural environment changes, extreme naturalism in processing light, appropriate handheld photography, and approaching actors. The close-up scenes, the whispering narrations that express emotions in prose style, the connection method that opens up the perspective and the near scene, the fragmented but orderly montage technique, and so on.
If "The Knights of the Holy Grail" and "Singing Endless", which have left most people incomprehensible in recent years, have disappointed fans, then the film "The Hidden Life" will surely allow us to see the most Marek images once again.
1. Dissolving and diluting editing transitions
001
002
003
At the beginning of the film, the director used real images during World War II to blend and pave the way. The so-called welding is to simulate the visual retention of the human eye, forming a dissolving effect in the picture (001 lens).
And desalination is more widely used in this film. For example, in the 002-003 shot, Frankiska heard the roar of the plane, and the next scene is the next scene. The end of this shot is not directly skipped, but accompanied by the gradual dimming of the picture. This approach coincides with the film in rhythm and is more appropriate and natural.
2. Make up for the sense of jumping caused by the increase in the subject of the scene
004
005
006
The 004 lens is the first lens of the film. Editing between the two shots 004 and 005, we will find that the scenes of the two shots are the same. Direct editing will cause the viewer to feel a jump in the visual lag. Therefore, the director added 006 shots to introduce Franciska into the painting. Such a sequence of shots of 004-006-005 makes people feel much more natural.
3. Interaction of different sceneries in the composition
007
008
From the two shots of 007 and 008, it can be seen that photography only uses one frame to cover each scene. This composition method is used in Marek's film to be superb (in fact, the 005 shot in the film is more typical ). The correspondence and symmetry of the composition between the close shot, the middle shot and the far shot are techniques used extensively in the film. A similar technique can be seen in Marek's second feature film "Days in Paradise". This approach can bring up the implicit contrast between the distant objects and the near and mid-range objects, thereby visually highlighting the vastness of nature and the smallness of human beings.
4. One-shot anti-classical mirror method
009
The so-called classic lens movement method is a set of lens movement methods formed in old Hollywood based on pros and cons and coherent editing. One of its principles is the central axis principle, which aims to create an immersive look and feel. (I won't go into details here, friends who are interested can search for it).
010
011
When dealing with the dialogue scenes in this film, Marek tried his best to use a one-shot scheduling method instead of using pros and cons. (The dialogue scene between the two in the 010-011 shot was edited only once.) This seems to violate the principle of the axis of the classic lens movement method, but with the blessing of hand-held photography, this actually achieves an immersive sense of onlookers. Different routes lead to the same goal. Similarly, this scheduling method is quite common in "Days in Heaven".
5·Full composition enlarges the performance of the actors
012
013
We can easily find that when dealing with some reaction shots in the film, the shots will be as close as possible to the actor's performance. The full composition, the cramped space, and the close-up scenes are used to magnify a certain emotion in the picture to create and observe. The emotional resonance and dramatic tension of the audience. The 012 scene shows the couple playing and joking while growing potatoes; the 013 scene shows Franz being reprimanded by the prison guards.
6. The decisive moment and the application of omission
014
015
016
Franz refused to take the oath and confronted the chief. Before the decisive moment of the 015 lens chief, a crowd response lens (014) was given, and then jump cut was used to subtly omit the process of the soldiers coming over.
7. Application of special composition mode
017
018
In the 017 scene, Franz was teased by the guards in prison and was exhausted. In this period, Marek used an oblique composition to make the figure deformed in the picture, so as to convey anxiety and pain.
018 shot, Franz's last night before his death. The candlelight on the right side of the composition constitutes the only light source in the picture, thus forming a large area of shadow, creating a strong sense of tragedy in the music of string ensemble and Franz's whispered prayer.
8. Contrast lens that echoes in structure
019
020
Through the 019 and 020 group of structurally echoing cameras, we can intuitively feel the change in the attitudes of the villagers. In 019, everyone talked and laughed. In 020, the women spit into Franciska’s bucket, and the men threw debris at her.
021
022
022 shot, the single shot after Franz was executed, but still adopts the 021 double shot composition mode, which forms a mutual reference on the screen, leaving a lot of blank space in the screen, and compares Franciska’s emotions in the contrast Intuitively presented to the viewer.
9. Different expression effects of sports and fixed positions
023
024
This set of shots took place when Franz was drafted into the army for the first time, and Francesca went up the mountain alone.
In the shot of 023, Frankiska is deep in the snow, and Marek chooses to hold the exercise camera to show the stumbling while traveling.
When Francisca walked out of the snow in the 024 shot, he switched to a fixed camera to watch, allowing the viewer to release the feeling of sinking.
10 Summary
In general, in "The Hidden Life", there are no bloody battlefields and no concentration camps. The raging war only took place in the heart of the farmer Franz.
In terms of image style, Marek continued his exquisite, soothing, and epic audiovisual language, using a large number of ultra-wide-angle lenses to capture rural landscapes: vast fields, clear streams, towering mountains, and the sun's rays through the leaves. , The breath of grass and the daily work of the farmers.
In the end, the natural environment becomes the externalization of the character's spirit, and the seemingly insignificant and secretive daily life is as firm as belief and cannot be destroyed by tyranny and violence.
The material of the article comes from the first issue of 2020 of "Global Screen"
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