Debating Cinema and Time in film Inception - Essay Example

? Debating Cinema and Time in Film Inception Inception movie is based on the Bernani and Dutoit theory of forms of being, the movie just like in the form of being by Bernani and Dutoit is a powerful, intellectually sophisticated, and seductive movie that is worth watching. The arguments and development of the movie is hinged on strong psychoanalytical and philosophical theories that will obviously convince one to change the way they construe seeing. This is exactly what happens with the inception movie, Leonardo is able to extract the useful information from people in their dream, and this action makes one to review their understanding of what they know about informational storage in the brain and sleep. The approach that is given to Inception by Christopher Nolan conforms to the perspective of the theory of Bernani and Dutoit as portrayed in their book,-the approach given by the movie make the possibility of being to be put at great stake. Nolan also in hi movie, inception uses the theory that states that film using the ‘general apparatus’ are predetermined to guarantee production of a subject that dominates an ideology. Throughout the movie, there are breath-taking special effects coupled with unbelievable twists and turns. The film man referred to as Batman: the dark night and the Prestige are rated to be brilliant with the ability to create a world within a world with the masterpiece. Even though it is a little bit difficult to understand the movie, it has managed what very many directors are yearning for; the ability to leave the audience in need of more and continues with the talk about the movies weeks after watching it. There are creative camera works that has been used in the development of the movie and this is what contributes to the peculiarity of the movie. For instance, when Leonardo and his partner Arthur visited Saito with their proposal for a dream to steal, the camera work involved in the scene is one of the very rare uses of 180 degrees. The use of 180 degrees do create the realism that there is a discussion going on while in the real sense it is just the use of two cameras on the opposites to create an impression that there is a discussion taking place (Furstenau, 2010). Usually, 180 degrees shot is to make shots that are close up in nature and will allow the audience to construe the characters emotional state and not the entire shooting scene. This camera work was used in the movie to depict the three men sat in a round table discussing. Apart from the 180 degrees rule, the director of the movie also used some other unique styles of expressing the facial expression of two characters talking; this involved the use of ‘shot reverse shot’ which is able to move back and forth between two characters to depict that they are in a conversation. This technique also uses the 180 degrees rule to show a conversation between two people by moving the camera back and forth between the two people so that the audience can connect with the facial reaction of the characters talking (McCormick, 2004). This technique has been perfectly used in the movies where two people are discussing or talking in a way that it brings out the sense of conversation that connects easily with the audience. In the film, most of the shots are long shots, medium shots, and close shots meant to bring in varieties in the movies, this works well in keeping the audience interested about the movies and avoid tension building in the audience since they are fully aware of the happenings. The closes up shots are used particularly when the intended purpose is to depict the facial expression of the audience such as reactions and emotional state. In this case, the close up shots works to pass important information to the audience and about the character of the individuals as well as what they think. Close up shots in this regard can also be used to bring into focus some of the important characters in the movies and to which the audience should pay more attention to and follow because they are of significance in the development of the plot (Frampton, 2006). The movie has also used in context mise-en-scene, it can be defined as the articulation of the cinematic space, this articulation is important in the deduction made by the audience, for instance, in the inception, the director has used it rightly to depict that Saito is indeed wealthy. The space shot within his room is full of gold and other expensive items that it brings out the aspect of richness without equivocation (Epps and Kakoudaki, 2009). Mise-en-scene is always used for the purposeful depiction of a place literal, particularly in movie situation, it is important for the audience to construes something. In the shot that was made in the movie, the fat that everybody in the house has dull clothes has depicted mise-en-scene about the seriousness then. This, coupled with the fact the whole situation looked tense including the body language is evidence enough that serious dialogue is on and no longer fun, this tense situation in a carefully shot movie like inception will be transferred to the audience (Schweinitz, 2011). The sounds system in the movies has also been used to depict situational happenings, the sound effects are clearly authentic and diegetic, this can be construed from the sounds of the footsteps to the voices in the room as well as that of wine pouring into the glasses. The background music is not diegetic and instead thrombones, this has vividly brought the aspect of background vibrations which depicts the aspects of dream which is a central theme in the movie. Inception has thus employed unique style of movie shooting that blends well with the narrated story in the movie (MuI?nsterberg and Langdale, 2002). Film styles are those recognizable techniques that are employed by those involved in the making of a film so that the film production can be given unique aesthetic value that make it distinct form the rest. In essence, it encompasses all those aspects that are considered for various reasons when making a film so that it can be appealing to the audience that will be watching the film. The styles of making film have experienced exponential changes with time that in the inception film, several aspects of the film have been used to make the film be very appealing and as interesting as has been noticed with the inception film. The director of the film has borrowed several aspects of style from the previous studies shots film and transformed them in a unique way that blends to give the breath-taking inception. Some of the much-used styles in the inception include sound effects, dialogue, mise-en scene, and cinematography (Thiele, 2009). These entire factors are blended in the filmmaking to ensure specific taste of the viewers by satisfying their entertainment needs. In filmmaking, the term is mostly used in reference to the design aspect of the film production; the design aspect in this case is aimed at depicting the visual theme in which a story is told. Telling of the story in this case includes the artful visual ways that is hinged on story boarding, stage design and in the cinematography. There is also the artful ways that boarder on poetic aspect this is achieved through direction. In the inception movie, mise-en-scene is given a classic consideration in which the appearance of everything before the camera is carefully arranged in terms of props, actors, sets, and composition (Wartenberg, Thomas, and Curran, 2005). Other aspects of sounds and lightening are also considered in a special way to give the required value to the movie that has earned it the fame it acquired after its release. A combination of the cinematography, mise-en-scene, and film editing in the inception has resulted into the verisimilitude influence that the viewers have experienced when watching the movie. The design of inception has succeeded in generating the relevant aspects of mood setting, suggestion of the state of mind of the characters involved in the movie, and the generation of required sense of time and space. This style in filmmaking has also been effectively used to bring out the movie composition that involves such issues to do with movement and positioning of the objects as well as the actors in the shot. A situation that illustrates mise-en-scene as used in the movie is when Leonardo met Saito with his friend. The setting of the place, positioning of the actors and the body language could enable the audience to connect with what is going on in the minds of the actors as it brought the picture of the mood and all other aspects that the director wanted depicted at the venue (Evans, 2010). In the movie inception, several factors have been considered drawn from the mise-en-scene to bring the various aspects as seen in the movie. These aspects are key to proper filmmaking that will be appealing to the views since it makes the viewers to have a more in depth understanding of the movie that if the aspects are lacking. In this regard, the aspects have to be carefully looked into so that they can depict the intended value to the viewers (Mulhall, 2002). They include the following; Set design is an important part of putting up the scene in a desired manner including all the objects in the scene; it plays the role of amplifying the emotion of the characters involve and by extension, the dominant mood. This is important in the film as it plays the significant role of depicting the emotional, economic, social, physical, and psychological segment of the film (Park, 2010). This has been significantly expressed in the inception where the meeting of the three took place, Saito has been depicted to have lots of gold and silver all over the wall, and this is signifying his wealth since he is regarded as a rich man in the movie. The clothes that are worn by the three men are all in dull colours, this brings the idea of serious deliberation and this is accentuated by the sitting arrangement as well as the body language as shown in the film. Several values of light can be used to make the audience have different tastes of what a film has for them; this is successfully engaged in the inception to make the audience understand the characters in the movie. The intensity of the light, its quality, and direction can all be used for different significance in shooting of a film. In this regard, lighting can successfully bring out the following to the audience; themes, glamour, time of the day, mood, shape, and distance (Nochimson, 2010). The reading of the movie can be brought about by the space as depicted by the film, it is important to note that most films are shown in two-dimensional surfaces, and this poses a great challenge in showing space when shooting movies and films. Space is important in the clear depiction of proximity, depth, proportion, and sizes of objects and places, to achieve this, as has been the case with inception, there has to be several manipulation of the camera through placement of the lenses to bring the desired effects (Sinnerbrink, 2011). The other factors that can also be manipulated for the same desired options to be achieved include lightening and set design in filmmaking. In shooting a film, all the actors and the objects including the space has to be included in a frame, this requires that the symmetrical balance have to be maintained within the frame of shooting. This translates the a balanced distribution of colour, light, and the figures that are to be shot, even though the act of balancing is important in shooting, figures and objects that are off balance can sometimes be used to pull the viewers’ attention given the fact that such properties tend to make them pay a lot of attention (Cavell, 2003). The other important aspect used in the inception also includes costumes, hairstyles and make-ups as well as acting. In the inception movie, there are many shots made by different cameras in different angles. At the beginning of the movie, there is the establishing shot that plays a significant role in the movie; this is particularly good in the thriller movies because it make the audience to be familiar with the setting immediately the movie starts. The audiences in this case have the opportunity to know what is going on while the characters in the movie do not have any ideas of what is taking place. Again, a close up of the token and the faces of the characters are shown in the following shots for the role of creating a suspense as well as depicting what the character are feeling. The movie inception is also riddled with several tracking to demonstrate the actual actions that are taking place and helps the audience to construe the meaning of what is taking place (Cavell, 2005). During conversation, the movie has engaged several reverse shot to depict that two or more people are conversing and in this situation, they are able to show the facial expression of those conversing. The reverse shot in the conversation is able to give two perspectives of the conversation from which it is possible to deduce what the characters are thinking about as well as their emotional position. Realism can also be created in this case through the point of view shot as used in the inception movie; this in the movie allows one to construe what is taking place from the point of views of the characters (Colman, 2009). This technique has been successfully used in the movie to depict those menacing and the unseen images to the viewer-it is a good technique in a thriller movie as seen in the inception from which the viewers are able to construe some of the development unlike the characters. In the inception, the music used do not take the perspective of the diegetic music, instead, the movie opted for a rather faster music with sound tracking that has fast tempo that is used for creation of the required suspense. This technique is equally important in adding value to the thriller movies by keeping the viewers on the edge, these techniques has been used effectively in the inception and thorough out movie, the viewers indeed are kept intact with the movie throughout. The diegetic sounds are also used for the conditioning of the mind that something is going to happen that is related to water, this equally serves to keep the audience on the edge (Bordwell, 2006). There is consistent use of sound qualities that has made the intended picture palpable for the audience to understand the movie flow (Mullarkey, 2009). In the inception, one of the editing examples used in the flashbacks, this is used to demonstrate the past of the character in the movie and serves in changing the theme of the movie. In the inception, there are flashbacks that are used by the director for making the audience understand previous situation that explains what is happening currently (Bersani and Dutoit, 2004). Such flashbacks used in the movie are given short period and this is considered effective since it does not give the whole story a continuous way. Only the woman’s face is shown and this makes the audience to be in a suspense about her role in the film, this a gain leads to the creation of a suspense that keeps the audience wanting to know more about what is going to happen next. Slow motion is also widely used in the movie to show the falling of a character into the bath, the role of the slow motion is to emphasize how important the scene is to the viewer’s so that they can have a more relaxed way of understanding events that are rather faster. These events would not be construed under normal visual conception ability and the slow motion option allows the viewers to capture this in its context. Notwithstanding, fast motion is also considered during the periods of flashbacks and they enable the viewers to be excited, they are also used during scenes where actions have taken place. In the inception, lightening and colour have been used to bring out some of the effects that are required by the director regarding the mood of the situation. In the opening of the movie, the shot given to the men shows them dressed in similar suits that are all black and white. The black colour in this case connotes something hidden, evil, or dark while the white colour is used for the shoe of innocence, this leads to a very interesting conclusion about the character that are shown in the movie (Mullarkey, 2010). They are innocent, but they are going other things under covert so that they are not fully understood; through the token, development of scenes is hinged. Without it, most of the scene would not happen in the movie and thus it will lose the entire meaning of the movie. Dim light as used in the inception is important for the fact that is sets the mood of the movie and tracks the viewer’s attention regarding what to happen next. In the context of inception movie, the director has used all these styles to achieve the thrilling effect of the movies that has made the audience be glued to the movie and has reviewed it time to time in the discussion days and weeks after they have viewed it. Inception according to the philosophy of film by Deleuze takes the cinematic form of time-image. In cinematic, there are two options that are used to make the cinema, this is through the movement-image and the time-image, the two styles different in the sense that they employ different techniques in coming up with the cinema. Cinematic styles have shifted from movement-image to time-image where unlike in the movement-image where emphasis is given to actions and movements of the images making time to be indirectly considered, in the time-image cinematography, time is directly expressed while the characters are not reacting in a direct fashion. In inception, this cinematographic style has been used in the development of the movie in which the characters are made to show movements indirectly. For instance, in the inception time-image technique has been widely used in the movie when Fischer dies in Sidney and had to be flown back to Los Angeles where the team that was with him shares the flight with Cobb who eventually sedates them and brings them to the shared dream. The movement of the flight is necessitated by the cameras that make immobile objects to be seen as moving, this is what Deleuze refers to as time-image cinematography. Deleuze also confirms that the cinematographic strength is in the successful transformation from movement-image to time-image, the new form time-image bring a new perception-acentered perception, this enable the audience to impose concepts on the images in a way that suits their interests. In this case, montage is also used to bring in the conceptual perception that is imposed to the audience; in this relation, the use of montage is for the successful passage of time, inception has successfully used this editing technique to manifest time passage in the movie. This transformation made Deleuze to make a conclusion that cinema has been of remarkable transformation to the philosophy through such cinematography as time-image. He also asserts that cinema and philosophy should be conjoined just like life and cinema should be bound together, this is necessitated by a new thinking mode occasioned by the time-image technique. References Bersani, L, and DutoitU.2004.Forms of being: cinema, aesthetics, subjectivity. London: BFI. Bordwell, D. 2006. The way Hollywood tells it: story and style in modern movies. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cavell, S. 2003. The World viewed: reflections on the ontology of film. Enl. ed. Cambridge (Mass.) [etc.: Harvard University Press. 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