film form
The film is formally a "still-frame film", or the whole film uses a "photomontage" technique. Each picture also has a different number of frames, and the rhythm matches the speed of the plot. Only at 19 minutes there is a continuous image of the heroine blinking for about 5 seconds (but it can also be understood as a picture montage with a fast editing speed). The method of picture montage coincides with the discussion on memory that the narrator narrated at the beginning. When people recall the past, only those most impressive moments will emerge in their minds, just like each still frame picture. From this logical point of view, the director believes that still-frame movies can better reproduce people's feelings about memories.
lines
Except for the murmurs in the "experimental" section, which are spoken in German, the film is largely narrated by French narrator Jean Négroni. Also at the beginning there is an announcement read by the airport announcer in French.
soundtrack
The soundtrack is mainly orchestral and simulated heartbeats, the arrangement rhythm and heartbeat speed are also linked to the plot, in milder episodes no soundtrack or a slower-paced orchestral music is used, in tense episodes the orchestral rhythm becomes faster; the heartbeat sound is only associated with " Experiment" to match the urgency of the male lead.
clip
Dissolving and changing the editing speed are the main editing techniques used in this film. Disintegration is mainly used in the time-space travel of the male protagonist to reflect the passage of time, or to reflect the interleaving and changes caused by the different things he experienced in each experiment-compared to the time and space of "reality", "the past" and "" What happened in the two time and space of "the future" has changed more obviously for the male protagonist. A change in editing speed is a change in the length of a single shot. The most obvious is the capture of the heroine's sleep state in about 19 minutes, and the editing speed is gradually accelerated. Finally, the heroine blinks for 5 seconds, which can be said to be a moving frame shot. The other is that the hero rushes towards the heroine from one end of the viewing platform at the end, which obviously speeds up the editing speed. This editing technique combined with the gestures and movements of the hero in the video also makes the audience feel a certain danger, and emotionally transitions smoothly to the heroine. the end of its death.
photography
Photography is a very prominent aspect of the film. In the "now" shots, most of the pictures are dim, and "the future" is even more so, the background is completely black. Only shots from the "past" are relatively normal, and even beautiful. The difference in this picture reflects the difference in emotions, and at the same time, it also gives a certain explanation to the motivation of the characters-the male protagonist gave up the (so-called) beautiful future world and chose to return to the world of his childhood. The reasons have all been reflected in the comparison of the pictures. In addition, I would like to use the following pictures to explain how this film realizes the changes in the relationship between the characters from the perspective of the camera:
In the preparation stage of the experiment, the camera of the experimenter is a horizontal lens, and the wall in the background is relatively clear. At this time, the status of the male protagonist and the experimenter is relatively equal, at least the relationship between people and people.
The moment before the first experiment started, this was a subjective shot (POV shot), in which the experimenter's condescending position had already presented an atmosphere where the male protagonist was dominated. The background becomes completely black, which intensifies the atmosphere.
During the subsequent experiment, every time the male protagonist returns from the "past" to the "present", it means that the experiment has progressed. At this time, a shot of the experimenter will be cut, and the position and angle of the experimenter appearing in the camera are slightly different each time. Elevate a little. For the last time, the male protagonist has been able to accurately teleport to any moment in the past, and a smile finally appeared on the experimenter's face. But with such an angle of smile on the camera, it is impossible to make the audience happy, but it only makes the back colder.
The experiment has entered the second stage, which is to travel to the "future". In this subjective shot, there are two experimenters, this time not only from a higher angle, but also from a single close-up to a two-person close-up. I think this shot is to express that the male protagonist has slipped from the status of a human to the status of a tool. The eyes of the two experimenters at this time are more like looking at some kind of tool without humanity.
This subjective shot is the last time the male protagonist completes the experiment, at the moment when the blindfold is removed. This picture perfectly echoes the picture of wearing a blindfold in the first experiment. I noticed that compared to the picture at the beginning of the experiment, the experimenter in the eyes of the male protagonist is out of focus, which also implies a change in their relationship: from a connection that actually belongs to people, to this connection gradually becoming blurred or even separated .
The last close-up shot of the experimenter was still an elevation shot, and the experimenter looked forward without smiling. At this time, the male protagonist has been completely reduced to a time-travel tool, waiting to be erased from the memory of the double life, or the male protagonist has disappeared from this group of relationships. Looking forward to drawing new hope from time-travelling technology. Again, such a shot can only make the audience feel intimidated and creepy.
Concept: Time and Space
The three time-spaces in the film each have their own purpose. The "present" time and space is the main axis of the story, and the experiment of time and space travel allows the hero to start a journey back to the past. The "past" time and space is the arrangement of emotions and characterization, which mainly helps the audience to understand the motives of the characters and generate empathy responses. The "future" space-time complements the film's space-time logic, which illustrates the ubiquitous existence of time-space travel technology in the "future", which is not directly expanded in the film. But this actually indicates that the prison guards in the "present" time and space in the ending will go back to the "past" to hunt down the hero and kill him. In other words, it is the "future" that predicts an event in the "past".
off the field
The reason there was only one motion shot was that director Chris Mark was so poor that a camera that could shoot motion shots could only be rented for an afternoon.
The scene where the hero and heroine look at the cross-section of a tree trunk is a tribute to Hitchcock's 1958 Vertigo.
The director himself did not actually regard the film as a film, but a photonovel.
Terry Gilliam's 1995 "Twelve Monkeys" was inspired by the film.
Feel free to leave a comment to discuss Dyke or anything related.
View more about La Jetée reviews
