"Metamovie" is personally understood as "movie about movies", or "movie about the production process behind the scenes of movies".
From the very beginning of "The Furious Line", two long first-person shots with a strong sense of substitution were dedicated to the audience:
This dazzling opening has successfully attracted the audience's attention and helped the audience to establish their next movie expectations in a subtle way. And just as the audience watched the next story with expectations, a terrible scream completely destroyed all of this. After the camera was turned, we realized that the picture just now was just the shooting material of a B-level film, and the production staff in front of the screen were distressed by this terrible sound effect.
But it was this "naughty" sound design that made the audience finally realize that this exquisite opening of the schedule is actually a carefully packaged "shadow in shadow" structure. In addition, this opening also formally established the film’s story motif and sound design motif, and also demonstrated Parma’s approach to “meta-movie”: the guiding/antagonistic relationship between “picture” and “sound” in the image It is also a discussion about the sensory pathways that can be touched by film as a medium.
1. Split focus lens, rear projection and split screen
The split-focus lens uses a special "split-focus diopter" to create an effect similar to deep focus and large depth of field. It can visually make the image of objects in both the near and far planes very clear. And another distinguishing feature is that it will lose focus at the transition zone between the two normal focal planes, that is, the depth of field is discontinuous. This technique first appeared in "Citizen Kane" (the photographer is Greg Toland), and was carried forward in Palma's hands and became the best narrative aid.
Many times when we watch a dialogue drama, in addition to the front and back, we can also switch between the narrator and the listener through the zoom, which helps the audience focus on the narrative theme. But Palma often doesn’t do this. Either he focuses the two in the dialogue on the same visual plane, or he adds other objects that are not involved in the dialogue. When the two are equally clear, the traditional focusing method is split. So as to create a new dramatic effect.
In other non-conversational scenes, when the split-focus lens replaces the zoom lens, the natural line of sight guidance method disappears, and the information is presented to the audience in the most crude and straightforward way. On the other hand, the close-range and long-range positional relationship of the subject in the split-focus lens is also an important clue to interpret the Parma lens sequence. When the character is in the distant view and the object is in the close view, it will invisibly add a layer of "peep" effect to the lens (the lens effect is the most prominent in the first-person perspective); when the character is in the close view and the object is in the distant view, it is intuitive 'S indicates the choice that the character will make next, or the best metaphor for the character's own destiny.
Back projection , a technique that projects the foreground action and the background film that has been shot in the studio beforehand on the screen in photography, and then combines them on the same film through photography, as opposed to front projection. Due to the limitations of the camera and recording technology when shooting outdoor scenes in the early days, rear projection was widely used to shoot dialogue shots of people in moving vehicles. Hitchcock is also good at using rear projection to expand the world in the film and achieve the goal of pursuing "naturalism". Although with the continuous update of technology, this technology itself has become very unnatural. So now the rear projection technology is still used for certain artistic considerations , and the spatial fragmentation caused by this incoordination of the front and back scenes reminds the audience of the classic Hollywood style.
In fact, looking back carefully at "The Furious Line", Palma only used rear projection in two places: one is the male protagonist deriving the truth about the scene of the accident through recording; the other is the passage where the male protagonist is chasing by racing cars. The former is undoubtedly in line with the "artistic considerations" I mentioned before, and what about the latter? In this era where there are no limits to real-time shooting car chase scenes, why did Palma choose this "thankless" shooting technique? Is it pure nostalgia, or another form of "artistic pursuit" ?
Split-screen shots , just as they literally mean, are to divide the complete picture on the screen into several different pictures, so as to achieve specific aesthetic or narrative needs. It was originally a certain form of film grammar, but it was originally It originated from the early technical development of film, such as matte technology, multiple exposure technology, etc. The early attempts to split the screen can be seen as a test of technical means and the expansion of the picture space, while the films after the 1960s and 70s have truly incorporated the split screen into the system of film narrative grammar. Come. The most representative of these is Parma.
But note that even though Parma is a master of split-screen technique, he is very restrained when using this technique. A movie is only used once or twice, which can maximize the freshness of the audience to the single technique. . In Palma's hands, split-screen technology breaks the boundaries of time and space, presenting a combination of multiple spaces and multiple time processes in a limited, fixed and single screen space. At certain moments, the two divided narrative spaces will come together at the climax, but the split screen still continues, replacing the traditional front and back styles, and the space appears in front of us in a multi-perspective form of expression. , And has the time characteristics of juxtaposition. Through this expression, Parma’s split-screen technology creates a new kind of suspense: the traditional editing methods are like reminders to the audience, creating suspense and ruining it. The split-screen technology avoids this point and puts all elements on the screen by introducing different perspectives. In this juxtaposition of time and space, the characters constitute a coexistent and equal relationship. Or it is an activity performed by the same person, but the information presented can be more comprehensive. For the audience, this kind of "Mugffin" exists and does not exist. It starts as a tribute to Hitchcock, but it is more plump than Hitchcock.
However, unlike Parma's other split screens, the only split screen paragraph in "The Furious Line" does not carry suspense elements, and is unexpectedly "monotonous" in form and content. This paragraph first starts with a split-focus lens that explains the relationship between the scenes (to a certain extent, it also implies that the cores of the split-focus lens and the split screen are approaching). The left side is the detailed movie sound finishing work, and the right side It's just a piece of news about the governor's attendance at the fireworks show. In terms of the number of editing points, the left side obviously has more than the right side, so that it is convenient for the audience to focus on the left half of the screen. The sound effects also imply clues to the development of subsequent stories (specific sound effects such as "foot steps", "clock", "thunder", "shot", and "body fall"), and the screen intuitively shows the content of the film's post-production, and the news on the right The comparison of the media, on the one hand, is once again relevant to the attribute of the "metamovie", on the other hand, it also slightly involves the reflexive content of the media (which can also be proved by the attitude of the characters not caring about the news, or the "movie" The media confrontation of "TV"?).
2. Film is an art that integrates "visual" and "hearing"
Regarding the film itself, since the first sound film "Jazz Singer" was released, the film is no longer just pure visual art. As for how the sound is related to the picture, certain basic rules must be followed. "Pickpocket" filmed by Bresson in 1959 is perhaps the most typical example of this rule: in an empty shot where there are no characters/persons yet to enter the scene, sound effects can be used to pave the way for emotions, transmit signals, and build space. That is, "Sound first, look back, feel second . " Let the sound guide the audience, prompting them to have certain expectations for the next picture, and the next thing the creator has to consider is whether to comply with or against expectations, depending on the dramatic effect they want to achieve.
Let's take a look at the 9-12 minutes of the movie, a segment of the male lead recording ambient sound. Basically, it perfectly follows the sound guidance concept mentioned above. The microphone that follows the sound in the protagonist's hand is a transitional object of "from sound to picture". In this passage, the sound and the picture are still coupled. In addition, Parma also arranged five similar lens sequences to guide the audience step by step to the breaking point of the plot:
The first set of shots sequence: three shots from near to far, step by step zoom in the environment and shrink the characters, and in the last shot, a certain invisible sense of peeping is emphasized through the leaves in the foreground, which also hints at the arrival of a crisis/accident .
The second set of lens sequence: still arranged by the near and far lens, but this time it is mainly from the perspective of the "peeped", continue to fill the environment, and finally use the split focus lens to enrich the image of interest.
The third set of lens sequences: no special changes, only transition effects.
The fourth set of lens sequence: The lens arrangement still has no special changes, but the leaves with blurred foreground appear again in the last lens, which enhances the sense of peeping, which can be regarded as a danger signal that an accident is about to happen.
The fifth set of lens sequence: instead of using the previous lens transition mode, it directly cuts into the split-focus lens of the recorder and the sound source, clearly showing the symbolic connection between the two, and also paving the way for the protagonist's behavior of tracing the truth behind. Subsequently, a car accident occurred and the paragraph ended.
In this paragraph Parma which is truly their own scheduling skills to imply a crisis / incident through different changes in the details of the sequence of shots and shot sequences in each group are a vital part of the sound, each group The sequence of shots are all driven by sound effects to move the lens, and then the line of sight is naturally guided to the target by the movement of the lens.
But after that, the "sight" and "listening" in the movie plot were deliberately divided: around the same murder, the information displayed by the photos as the carrier of the screen is one-sided, and most of the time, the rich and powerful and the media Used; and the audio tape as the sound carrier is the key clue for the protagonist to pursue the truth.
When the film progressed to 30 minutes, another proof of the concept of "metamovie" appeared: the protagonist collaged the photos in the magazine in units of "frames", and finally produced a complete "film"; at the 52nd minute , The sound and the picture are finally gathered on the "film", the incomplete information is pieced together, and what the audience sees in the end is the truth presented by the carrier named "movie."
Parma used two clips to show the audience in detail the production process of the film. As mentioned before, "a film about the behind-the-scenes production process of a film", it also summarized that the film is a combination of "sound" and "painting". The composition of the art form, and the highly fusion of this motif with the suspense type of the film itself, the text and image in the intertextuality point out the essence of this relationship: about how the "movie" is transmitted, divided, and integrated And hide "information".
Three, back to the beginning of the film
Having said so much, now let us return to the opening title and see how Palma uses such an opening to show the visual motif, sound design motif and story motif of the movie.
From the beginning, the names of the production company, the chief director, and the leading actors and actresses were naturally brought out through the four swings of the pointer with variable amplitude and frequency.
Pay attention to the sound design of the title: the background sound effects for the first and second swings are wind + heartbeat . The sound effects when the subtitles are played by the production company are relatively smooth. When the director's name appears, three consecutively appear The sound effect resembling a gasp , as mentioned earlier, implies the arrival of an accident/crisis.
Then the subtitles played the male lead John Travolta, and the background sound effect was replaced by the whistle sound when the vehicle was out of control .
With the appearance of the subtitles of the female lead Nancy Allen, the background sound also turned into the heart-piercing scream at the end of the film .
The headline flashed across the screen, and the background sound turned into the sound of gunshots and flat tires .
Then came the most ingenious design: the two words in the title "BLOW OUT" appeared from both sides of the screen and approached as the sound of the vehicle slipping out of control . Just when the two "Os" were about to overlap, the film opening ended.
So where is the second of the title?
1. Key visual elements (swing pointers that express the strength of the sound), auditory elements (wind, gunfire, vehicle skidding and screaming, and these sound effects are linked to the character itself) and plot elements (car accident murder scene and ending) The show:
2. The two "Os" in the title are constantly close to look like simplified tires, and the background sound effects also correspond to the key plot of the film due to flat tires.
3. Taking into account the method of "painting from sound" mentioned in the second point, two film titles that are close to each other and overlapping may be the analogy of "picture" and "sound effect", only when the two are "completely" "Coincidence", the film can fully convey the information to be expressed to the audience.
The above part is hard to notice when watching the movie for the first time. Only after rewatching it is discovered that the hidden information in the opening is so critical, and it forms a perfect intertextuality with the text content. For Parma, I can only worship.
Finally, the end of the chat:
It is strange that in previous Parma movies, the concept of "love" was basically used as a stepping stone to the plot. "The Phantom of Paradise" is the most typical example. Every love description in that movie seems to be engulfed by the plot, hastily, mechanically and routinely. Although I am very fond of the tragic ending of "The Phantom of Heaven", the shock has nothing to do with the description of love. It is better to say that the crudeness of the love scene has greatly reduced the overall level of the film.
The reason may be Parma's choice to keep the theme of the movie from shifting, or Parma is really bad at writing love scenes, or both. In any case, Palma is really "straight" (derogatory) in terms of love description.
Therefore, in "The Furious Line", even though the atmosphere created by the skyrocketing fireworks and background music is so sad, I still regard the existence of this bridge as a deliberate act of Parma for "sensationalism". Apart from being amazed by the visual effects, I really don't feel much about the other parts (especially the emotions).
Until the "scream" reappeared: At the end of the final, the male protagonist repeatedly listened to the distressing recording, and replaced the previous crappy sound with the last unforgettable scream before the female protagonist was killed, so The plot of "The Furious Line" goes around murder and love, and finally returns to this "crude" B-level film.
As mentioned in the previous article, the information conveyed by the fusion of "picture" and "sound effect" is the same, but the final plot design ruthlessly shattered this theory. After the audience has gone through the entire plot, an indescribable "voice-picture opposition" is formed emotionally. The scream that carries the memory of love is distorted into cheap sensory symbols in the B-level movie. We will never know the male protagonist’s thoughts; he engraved this memory on a B-level horror film, the movie Will it carry this memory? Or to forget the pain through the distortion of the image, we can only guess. As a result, the emotions that had been disconnected before finally sublimated at this moment, and the depressed emotions could not be vented, and the bones were in the throat, and it was difficult to let go. Love is given to the entity, completing the narrative loop belonging to the "meta-movie".
Reminiscent of the previous remarks about “the separation of sound and pictures leads to the concealment of truth”, this time, the reorganization of sound and pictures brings a deeper level of disorder, which makes people think: sound and picture, who can guide and determine us The perceived truth?
Maybe it's entertainment.
Everything is just for entertainment. Sounds and paintings are puppets engulfed by entertainment. Under the wave of carnival, all emotional feedback is set in advance, so the sadness carried by the scream at the end is also lost. Meaning, meaning is given by the audience, determined by the audience, and finally fed back to the audience itself.
Everything is entertainment.
This is the first time I have seen "True Love" in Parma's movie.
The true feelings surrounded by "movies".
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