Updated 27 February 2007

ENGLISH 114: INTRODUCTION TO FILM, Fall 2006

Section 2: Monday, 6:00-9:30 p.m., Professor Larsson

Week 7, February 26, 2007

Note: Test 2 next week.

No office hours this week. Email me if you have questions or problems: donald.larsson@mnsu.edu

25 multiple-choice, true-false questions

Terms and concepts from Barsam (Chapters 5 and 3), lectures (see Terms to Know page on website:

· Acting

· Mise-en-scene

· How terms and concepts apply in/to:

o Tootsie

o The General

o Duck Amuck

o Lumiere short films

o A Trip to the Moon

· Narrative and meaning in Tootsie and The General

Some questions may relate to a still shot or a short clip from a film.

Bring full-sized Scantron sheet (8 ½ “ X 11”) and a Number 2 pencil

More on Acting and Mise-en-Scene:
Clips from Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980)

Film stars Robert DeNiro as real-life middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta

· Scene 1: “A date with the Champ”

o Young LaMotta—setting meant to echo scene from On the Waterfront between Brando and Eva Marie Saint

· Scene 2: “Fists on Concrete”

o Much later in life.

o LaMotta has gained weight, turned flabby.

o Thrown in jail for violent outburst.

o Hard, low-key lighting suggests film noir atmosphere of boxing films such as The Set-Up (1949).

o Top lighting and cell set line “I am not an animal” as mirror of scene in Spartacus, suggests direct parallel between Roman gladiators and modern boxers

o Method acting at its limits: DeNiro deliberately gained weight for later scenes in film; fury of fists on wall echoes James Dean in Rebel without a Cause

The General (1927)

Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman; Cinematography: Bert Haines and Dev Jennings; Editing: Keaton and Sherman Kell

Cast: Buster Keaton (Johnnie Gray); Marion Mack (Annabelle Lee); Glen Cavender (Cpt. Anderson, Union Army spy); Charles Smith (Annabelle’s father); Frank Barnes (Annabelle’s brother); Joe Keaton (Union General)

Questions for Discussion:

1. What is Johnnie Gray like when we first meet him? What do we learn about his character and personality from his behavior in the opening sequence of the film?

2. How are settings, costumes and props used in the two chase scenes? Do the objects in the environment help or hinder Johnnie? Why or why not?

3. Where do you see uses of parallels and similarities or difference and contrasts between the use of objects in different scenes?

4. How do all of the film’s conflicts and problems resolve themselves by the end of the film?

5. How does Keaton’s facial expression and body language help to define his character?

6. How does the arrangement of objects in individual shots make use of the depth in a scene?

THE GENERAL AND MISE-EN-SCENE

Narrative Sequences

§ Prologue—

§ Introduces Johnnie, Annabelle and their character traits

§ War breaks out, sets up rest of film

§ Theft of Train and First Chase

§ Union Headquarters

§ Second Chase

§ Battle

§ Conclusion

Chases structure film through parallels in mise-en-scene

Johnnie's Character

Dumb	Clever/resourceful
Clumsy	Athletic/agile
Unlucky	Lucky
Obsessive	Determined

Negative traits emerge when Johnnie is most obsessive

Most of Johnnie's traits are revealed in opening sequence

§ Love for Annabelle and train

§ Clumsiness (falls off porch when Annabelle kisses him)

§ Athletic ability (runs to be first in line, jumps over tables)

§ Determination (keeps trying to enlist)

§ Obsession leading to lack of attention (doesn’t see Annabelle, doesn’t realize the train is moving when he sits on it)

Johnnie’s character is expressed through use of mise-en-scene, especially props from setting and costume, Keaton’s movement and expression

Point of View is relatively omniscient and objective, with some subjective point of view shots that match character’s veiw

§ (P.O.V. shot of Annabelle through hole in tablecloth)

§ We usually know more than Johnnie, especially during first chase; helps to create suspense, humor

High degree of resolution in ending

§ Johnnie gets General back

§ Gets uniform

§ Gets Annabelle

§ Solves problem of "split personality" by becoming a saluting machine!

MISE-EN-SCENE IN THE GENERAL

§ Committed to historical verisimilitude--actual Civil War locomotives, historically accurate costumes, weapons, etc.

§ Keaton does all of his own stunts

§ All props and settings are motivated (explained by the narrative
or justified by the historical setting)

§ Johnnie has more control over environment during second chase

§ Objects seem to work for Johnnie most during battle scene (sword, cannon)

§ Realism of battle scenes deliberately undercuts humor at times

§ Design elements of some shots mirror Civil War photographs of Matthew Brady

Props and Settings in Chase Scenes

First Chase	Second Chase
Spies pull linchpin	Annabelle in bag pulls linchpin
Spies cut telegraph wires	Johnnie pulls down wires and blocks track
Spies throw obstacles on track	Johnnie blocks track one item at a time
Water tower drenches Johnnie	Water tower drenches Union officers, Annabelle
Spies unlatch boxcars	Johnnies keeps boxcar from becoming a “bridge” between engines
Spies fail to burn covered bridge	Johnnie succeeds in burning bridge

Cannon/mortar on train car parallels cannon in battle scene:

§ First cannon seems to toy with Johnnie

§ Second cannon cooperates, bursts dam

Costumes

Costumes divide characters into groups

§ North/South

§ soldier/civilian

§ officer/enlistee

§ male/female

Costumes help the narrative to progress

§ Johnnie is rejected by Annabelle because he’s not in uniform

§ Spies wear civilian clothes to steal train

§ Spies switch to Confederate uniforms to get through enemy lines

§ Spies switch back to Union uniforms behind their own lines

§ Johnnie puts on Yankee uniform to rescue Annabelle

§ Shot at by sentry, switches to Southern sergeant’s uniform

§ Commands troops at battle

§ Challenged by Southern officer at end but given officer’s uniform

§ Annabelle seems even more clumsy because of female clothing

Costumes provide props

§ bag of shoes

§ sword in battle scene

Lighting:

§ Low-key lighting at night (unmotivated in woods—no apparent source for light)

§ Lightning flash hides and reveals bear in woods (beartrap)

Movement In the Frame

§ Trains and other "inanimate" objects take on “lives” of their own

§ Train stops and starts arbitrarily

§ Mortar bounces and aims at Johnnie

§ Cannon points straight up during battle scene

§ Firewood "jumps" out of fuel car

§ Sword keeps flying off handle—Saves Johnnie’s life

§ Johnnie's "stone face" still demonstrates emotional range when combined with “body language”

§ Worry, surprise, annoyance, happiness, pride

§ Johnnie's behavior demonstrates his contradictory traits

Use of Deep Space Compositions

(foreground and background in same shot)

§ North Advances--Johnnie in foreground, soldiers in background

§ Cannon fires--firing and impact seen in same shot

§ Union HQ--Johnnie takes fruit while Union officers enter in b.g.

§ Attack at Rock River Bridge--Union troops in background, Confederate in foreground

Meaning in The General

Referential Meaning: Meanings created through references to people, places things, ideas; can also imply meanings (such as religious images in The Return)

—Civil War, but also conventions of Civil War movies, such as Birth of A Nation (1915), an epic film by D.W. Griffith about the Civil War and Reconstruction, which is a landmark in film history but also a viciously racist film that ends with the Ku Klux Klan riding to the “rescue”

--Note the absence of any mention of slavery or even images of blacks in The General

Explicit Meaning: Meaning or “message” openly announced in the film, often through dialogue (“You may have to pay for success with your heart” in A Star Is Born, for instance)

--No such apparent explicit meaning in The General

Implicit Meaning: Meaning or message that viewers infer from the narrative, from dialogue, from actions, but also from visual and sound elements in the film

The General seems to imply

· Stick to your goals, but

· Don’t be obsessive about it

· Need for balance in determination and observation

Also

· Humans are capable of acting like machines (but shouldn’t let themselves be controlled by that—Johnnie has the most trouble when he is mechanically fixated on some problem

· Things (“inanimate” objects) may seem to have lives of their own

Symptomatic: The film conveys ideological meanings of the time and culture when it was made; ideology is the more or less unconscious assumptions that we make about “human nature,” the way things are, how life works, etc. that are actually created by the culture (often apparent in older films when we see the things taken for granted about sex roles or race)

In The General, though, Keaton actually undercuts romanticization of war in films like Birth of a Nation

· Verisimilitude of battle scenes (modeled on Civil War photographs) is reminder of war as time of danger

· Sword in sniper’s back is (literal) punch line to running gag of the sword flying off the hand, but also reminder of death in war

· “Glory” scene of Johnnie waving Confederate flag is undercut when he falls over because he had been standing on the back of an officer hiding behind a rock

These elements are all examples of the lack of sentimentality in Keaton’s films.
Conclusion of College (1927)

· Keaton’s last truly independent film

· Bookish “nerd” goes to college but finds that girl he loves is infatuation with rival jock

· Tries out for various sports but fails at all

· Keaton learns girl is trapped in dorm room by jock to force her to marry him

· Keaton runs to rescue, performing range of physical athletic feats

· At end, Keaton and girl get married but then quick montage of 3 shots shows them

o In crowded kitchen with children

o As old couple bickering with each other

o Under headstones in a cemetery

Implication: “Happily ever after” does not happen in real life!

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