Overall Look
Within the film The Man Who Wasn't There Roger Deakins, the Director of Photography, effectively utilizes various cinematographic aspects in order to produce an overall look to the film. Throughout the film Deakins uses harsh light and harsh shadows depending on what the scene is attempting to depict. The harsh contrast between the scenes that are well lit and the scenes that are dimly lit greatly stand out from many films that I've seen. Not only does this cinematographic characteristic add artistic value to the film's overall cinematography, it also helps to emphasize the wickedness that remains prevalent through the development of the film's story. Aside from this, Deakins tastefully uses dolly shots constantly throughout the film. Unlike most films, Deakins only uses these shots subtly and not dramatically. It is apparent that he prefers to use dolly tracks that are shorter than the usual. I believe that Deakins not only uses this to set the film's style a part, but he also uses it in order to allow the audience to process the images within the dolly shots at a slower rate so that they can further examine what they are seeing causing them to think deeper about the film itself. Deakins also routinely uses scenes that are backlit. These backlit scenes are commonly used when we see the protagonist of the film thinking to himself or smoking a cigarette. Lastly, Deakins uses a wide variety of camera angles throughout the film. The one that remains the most prominent in my head is the bird's eye view shot that shows Ed cutting a customers hair. This angle almost put's the audience into a God-like position, where we are examining Ed in his daily life only to later end up more deeply examining him as a human being. When observing all of these cinematographic aspects as a whole, it is evident that their holistic purpose is to help evoke a sense of psychological abnormality within the protagonist's character.
Images
Though sometimes apparent, images within a film can shed light on various messages that are not directly portrayed by the actions or dialogue of a scene.
-In the above image, a typical medium close-up shot, nothing seems to stand-out until you begin looking deeper into what's displayed. In this scene, Ed is shown wielding a pair of scissors right above the head of his soon to be "business partner". Ed is standing behind him, almost as if sneakily plotting something while cutting his hair. The low angle angle in relation to Ed's eye-level also indicates that Ed has more power within the scene. This power seems almost sinister when you holistically analyze the way he's holding his scissors and the expression he is displaying on his face.
-In the scene above, Ed is quietly smoking a cigarette as his wife reads while bathing. This scene is interesting because the way it is lit. Ed is backlit and in complete shadow making it seem like his character isn't really in the scene at all. Because of this, the scene evokes an "outside looking in" type of feeling. It's almost as though Ed is just observing the life of his wife rather than being a part of that life. This certainly relates to the title of the film because Ed is clearly "the man who wasn't there".
-My favorite scene is the scene above. This scene stood out the most to me when I watched the film because of the vertical bars of shadow that almost symmetrically covered the character in the scene. In my opinion, this scene adds to the "outside looking in" effect of the film. It's as though the people/society in the film are imprisoned within a box. It makes you think that maybe everyone else is wrong about the ideas of how to live a functional life in their reality and Ed may be the only character to come to realize that all of those beliefs are results of conformity, this conformity is like a prison, and the only true way to live life is to simply just let it pass you by.
Shot Length
Within the film, shot lengths don't seem to stand out too much. They're pretty standard. Short shot lengths are used more favorably when more than one character is in the scene. Long shot lengths are used prominently when Ed is either thinking to himself, acting by himself, or smoking a cigarette. In addition, the long shot lengths in this film are usually accompanied by more dramatic music in order to build suspense while short shot lengths are usually accompanied by music that is face-paced or no music at all in order to add a sense of thrill to these scenes.
Shot Types
This film is flooded with consistent eye-level medium shots. These shots help exemplify the idea that there is something wrong with the society within the film by making everything seem too consistent. In real life, consistency is scarce, so seeing repeated medium shots throughout the film evoke a sense of suspicion in my opinion. Though the film does possess many shots that are typical, it also utilizes shots that aren't. The one that remains the most prominent in my mind is the birds-eye view barber shop wide shot. In this scene the birds-eye view wide shot is used at the beginning in order to help establish the audiences examination role in the film. It is thus noted that the audience is meant to watch Ed's world and examine his interactions and how his peers act around him. Close-up shots are typically used when Ed is questioned or a new aspect about his character is revealed. This is largely because an extreme close-up not only helps the audience better identify with the character, but these shots also help to display the emotional state of the character by exaggerating any facial expressions that are acted out during a scene.
-An example of a close-up shot that evokes a sense of wickedness within Ed's characterization
Camera Angle
As stated in previous sections, a lower camera angle is often used in relation to Ed in scenes where he is joined by his victims. This helps to emphasize Ed's power over their lives in the film. Other than that there is only one other camera angle that really stands out and that is the birds eye view angle (as stated in the section above). This angle gives the audience more of a God's eye view than a birds eye view because we are able to see and analyze the inter-workings of the characters within the film and how their actions all tie together and develop into their fates in life. This is also displayed in the scene pictured below that was also shot from a birds eye view angle.
Composition
Just as in the scene above, many of the scenes in this film have a very balanced composition that adds to the film's theme of order in life. However, there are a couple of scenes that are out of balance in order to emphasize the stark contrast of the order within Ed's life and the disorder within his very own mind (Pictured Below).
Camera Movement
-This film is full of dolly shots! The dolly shots in this film help the audience examine the characters, foreground, and background to a greater extent. This results in a deeper analysis of the film itself which ties into the question at the end of the film, does Ed ever change or did he die simply not caring and just letting life pass him by? Through dolly shots, the audience is kept thinking so when the conclusion of the film arrives their minds are already stimulated and they are able to generate their own ideas about Ed's characterization and how it develops, if it developed at all, throughout the film.
Cinematography Style
- I feel that a majority of the cinematography of the scenes in this film are meant to draw attention to them. The film constantly illustrates the contrasts of the blacks and whites by strong lighting matched with equally strong shadows. The intense light and the harsh shadows draw attention to the film but more vividly emphasize the stark contrast within Ed's own characterization. It's like there's a battle going on within Ed's head and this battle is illustrated through the carefully planned out lighting within the cinematography of the film's many scenes.
(Pictured above and below, scenes with intense light contrasted with harsh shadows)
