The unparalleled use of visual language and picture tone processing make this movie deservedly a masterpiece of light and shadow. There are so many excellent, worthy of reference, incomparable, amazing pictures, scenes, and plots. , I can’t and I know I don’t have the ability to read them in detail. Everyone has different ideas, so I will analyze my personal understanding of the effects of the photographic scores and the language of light and shadow of some of the impressive and favorite plots in the film.
At the beginning of the film, a series of quick narrative montages are used to explain the place where the story happened logically and rhythmically-the Chicago Nightclub, which indirectly shows that this place plays an important role in the subsequent plot.
One of the protagonists, Velma, appears, and the camera starts to follow, bringing the audience into the play, simulating the effect of a subjective perspective. At the same time, the dramatic light effects in the room create a stage atmosphere, pervading the atmosphere of drunkenness and drunkenness.
On the other side, Roxie swaps Velma's characters with a strong overhead light in a fantasy created by the dim soft light in the nightclub. The distortion effect makes the image of a woman who aspires to be famous and the supremacy of fame and fortune jumps into the audience's mind.
If Velma brings the illusion of turning around, then what Roxie is performing is the reality of restless desire. The film adopts a parallel sequence. The over-saturated colors on the stage and the gray streets, warm and cold, dream and reality, without transition, are all showing joy. The abrupt and huge contrast of warm and cold colors also make a metaphorical hint for this joyful fleeting.
When it comes to hints, director Rob Marshall has worked hard in the film. Many seemingly small details play an important role in the future plot. All these are hints and are worth studying.
Let me illustrate with an example. I am here to make a bold personal speculation. From the picture of Roxie glaringly at Fred on the stairs, just projecting the staircase pattern on the wall, can I think in a small way that the director Rob Marshall is using a god’s perspective? Roxie made a prophetic hint that he is about to go to jail? If it is what I think, then the director's rich imagination and superb mastery of audiovisual language expression techniques are enough for me to admire and admire.
In addition, the lyrics and scenes are seamlessly coordinated. The hints between the lyrics and the movements between the stage and the bed are so natural and harmonious. I personally think that the director used the small details of the audiovisual language to suggest the two heroines at the beginning of the film. The inseparable close connection between Roxie and Velma paved the way for the development of the storyline.
The next thing to be discussed is the contrast in the language of tone, light and shadow.
The indoor warmth reflected in the mirror after Roxie's murder is in contrast with the cold in the subconscious fantasy. The quick editing gives people a sense of abruptness, showing the psychological anxiety of the characters and the evil hidden deep in the soul. Hue and Guangying express the strong and sharp contrast here.
In the scene where the police clearly suspected Roxie's husband's shelter and Roxie was a murderer, the heroine under the direct light appeared innocent and weak, and the guilt desperately concealed at a glance. With the design of the character's action, the protagonist's head turns to form a side light. The dramatic light effect of the warmer color creates a conjecture. The warm color of the character's clothing contrasts with the dark tone of the stage background, and crosses reality to protect his husband. The confrontation with the police showed a sense of warmth, and as the rhythm of the notes accelerated, it released a sense of anxiety and ominousness. The warm light on the woman is in sharp contrast with the cold light on the husband. The argument that the two accused each other was a pavement for the husband and wife to turn against each other and finally the wife went to jail.
When he was in prison, a short period of front and camera seemed messy and disharmonious. From the glitz of dogs and horses, he was pushed into the dark and icy prison. In addition, the atmospheric perspective effect created on the empty street was real and bizarre. The changeable reality.
Immediately afterwards, another important figure in the film, the female warden, made a dramatic appearance, effectively using the element of shadow, backlighting and overexposure, atmospheric perspective effects as a transition to the imaginary world, adding realistic cool tones and conjectures The contrast of the warm colors of the paintings, the image of greed for profit is concrete and vivid. The dramatic shadow appearance on the stage, reality and imagination intersect back and forth in the same action connection, the stage light-following effect and offstage applause all reflect the maternal self-respect and self-respect. The projection is the symbol of the desire nature deep in the subconscious mind. The backlit drama light effect at the end of the song and dance further shapes the evil in greed.
The last is the discussion on the expression, composition and plot presentation of the contrast montage.
This clip appeared on the first night after Roxie was imprisoned. With a series of smooth and unrestrained fast editing montages, the stage and reality are in a bizarre chaos, the female prisoners staged a gorgeous rebellious, angry and unruly musical stage play, where the director once again used amazing audiovisual language techniques, lighting The luminescence and extinguishment symbolizes anxiety and contradiction, and reproduces the clamor of intolerable violent factors at the moment when female prisoners commit crimes.
Then the female prisoners came out to "self-complain". The composition of the second female prisoner's appearance is quite playful. The director uses a man's lower body as the foreground, and the female prisoner becomes a "civilian under the crotch" as soon as he enters the stage, insinuatingly confessing her motives for love killing, and the design of the last action echoes it. , The man "bows his head and proclaims" under her body is another sign of a big contrast ending that puts the cart before the horse, and it is ironic. During the process, the lights flickered, suggesting and symbolizing the ups and downs of the plot.
The last stage of the group dance scene is full of contrasts of light, dark, light, and color. Whether the clamoring red and the black at the end can be simply understood as a kind of psychological hint of color, and the struggles and contradictions of the female prisoners in desire are at a glance.
It is worth mentioning that the director gave full play to the biggest role of the mirror in the film. In the inner monologue of the famous Roxie with the help of the gold medal lawyer X, the mirror presents Roxie's triumphant, fame and fortune ambition, and exquisiteness. We can completely reflect more and more from more and more mirrors. There are many shadows, and I can see the complexity and change in Roxie's heart. In the rough presentation of the backstage of the nightclub at the beginning of the film, the feature of the set is the sense of space added by the mirror, and the composition is very novel.
In view of personal preference for Roxie's husband's stage clips, I will briefly appreciate the following.
Roxie's husband officially had a monologue of the inner world for the first time when negotiating with a lawyer. Reality and imagination form a cross montage. On the stage of imagination, the background is mainly dark, and there are low light effects from beginning to end. A huge shadow accompanies him. If the mother's shadow is a symbol of the inner desires of the greedy nature, and the other half of the personality, then X’s presence is downplayed by his shadow, which is impressive. Obscured and ignored by lawyer X and even his wife X. At the same time, she was swallowed by the shadow, lost herself before the extreme deception of fame and wealth by her beloved wife, and even became a participant in the deception. The final backlit silhouette effect deepens the sense of devouring darkness, and he has become a pawn on the path of his wife Roxie's fame and fortune.
There is a category of movies, they can be called exemplary, they can only be imitated but cannot be surpassed. But the perfection of "Chicago" makes all imitations just a blank. Perhaps "Chicago" makes people never get tired of it not only because of its singing and dancing, and its brilliance. It's because of the relaxation, stunning, film, photography, and audiovisual languages that make people feel like they are in a hurry and feel the inescapable desire for restlessness after the characters turn around.
2009.3.5. Final exam homework for film criticism class
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