Scene analysis of the Making of an American Citizen - Movie Review Example

It is important to understand and analyze one of the scenes that capture the feministic nature of Blache’s work. The scene that will be analyzed is titled, In The Land of Freedom, His First Lesson in Americanism. The Scene like the rest of the film is a silent film in black and white. The scene and the whole film is accompanied by instrumental music and the sound of the violin can be easily heard. This helps in creating a dramatic feel of the film. The first shot of the camera is a still shot on a busy street with people moving up and down.

The Camera is very near to the people on focus that the ratio of the shot is nearly equal to the view. The objects of focus are captured in full view and they can be seen to be very near the camera. The camera pans and the shot focus on Ivan Orloff and his wife who is carrying a huge sack while Ivan walks admiring the new environment. The camera pans horizontally to show Ivan holding a stick while pushing his wife like a mule amidst the crowd that stares at him. The next camera shot is a still shot which shows Orloff and his wife getting lost in the crowd behind the camera.

The camera turns its focus to the other people who are better dressed with their wives while at the same time, their wives are shown to be happy and walking hand in hand with the husbands. The camera remains still as the people move across it with the aspect ratio of the shot being normal. There is a cut in the scene and the next shot shows Ivan Orloff with his wife on a dockyuard. The wife is shown to be tired as she drops the sack she had been carrying on the ground. Ivan is shown to abuse his wife as he raises the whip to beat her like a mule.

In the background of the shot, a steam or ship passes across the focus of the shot. The distance between the camera and the objects of focus is a bit more compared to the previous shots. As he pokes the stick on his wife, the focus of the camera captures the moment while the steamboat passes in the background. A well-clad gentleman walks and stops Ivan from tormenting his wife. The camera slightly pans from the right to the left to capture the whole scene. The gentleman is an American and he is wearing a suit which makes the distinction between Ivan’s ruffian look and behavior and that of an American citizen.

The focus of the camera remains on the three objects with the background clear. The American gentleman is shown to be talking and convincing Ivan not to treat his wife like a mule. The shot concentrates on the three as the gentleman offers a helping hand to the Ivan’s wife. He then lifts the sack and gives it to Ivan to carry. Ivan is reluctant while he tries to imply that his wife should carry the load. After more convincing, the focus shows Ivan accepting to carry the load while his wife is given the stick, which Ivan had been using to treat her like a mule.

The wife is also shown to be reluctant to take the stick but she is forced by the American gentleman to use the stick to drive Ivan in front. The scene is cut with Ivan and his wife being pushed to walk away with the interchanged roles. The neighbors are shocked to see Ivan in the next shot carrying the sack while entering the building. Blache uses still and slightly panned shots in the scene to enable her create an effective and artistic production. The Scene helps to show how a ruffian is taught several lessons on adapting to