European Cinema Minutes                                                        Katie Heath

1-14-04

We opened class today with a discussion about how directors get their meanings across in films. We questioned what directors do to get us in the mood and to accept the story. Dr. Reimer stated that as viewers we watch films for more than one reason: for the enjoyment of the movie/plot and to analyze films by paying attention to its specifics. He suggested that we have to develop an eye that catches everything on the screen such as colors and background scenery, clothing and small movements. By asking us to recall the color of his scarf from the first day of class, he demonstrated that one really has to pay attention to detail. Thus, this kind of focus will aid in our understanding of the films for the purpose of discussion. Dr. Reimer urged us to be observant.

We watched the beginning of “Carmen”, a Spanish film directed by Carlos Saura. The film is based on a 19^th Century opera and earlier novella, or short novel, written around 1850. One hundred years later Saura made a movie about ballet; it was the ballet version of the opera “Carmen” that toured Europe. Saura is one of the three biggest Spanish directors. We opened this film viewing with a few questions: What is Saura going to do with this story? Is he going to modernize it? How does he approach it?

The first ten minutes of the film showed women dancing in an audition in a flamenco style – not like traditional ballet because of its modernity. The audition is for the lead role of Carmen, and Antonio Gades, the director of the ballet, is looking for the perfect girl in Seville. We discussed the documentary style of the film because of the true-to-life audition scene; it is the beginning stages of laying out a production. We also discussed how we know by watching the first ten minutes of the film that there is a lot of history to it; we concluded that the credits tell us so and that the story is dated by the clothing in the background pictures, one of those details which DR. Reimer used to urge us to pay attention to the little things. We discussed the music of the film when Antonio is listening to the originalopera and is played out by sounds of women singing in Flemenco Gypsy; this is possibly a culture clash as the two sounds compete against each other for presence in the film. Antonio is looking for the right music for the dancing and feels he needs a slower rhythm and more of a melody. We discussed how Saura takes the documentary style and brings it into a fictional story with the suspenseful scene when Antonio visits the dance studio and viewers wait for the camera to search over the dancers, looking for Carmen. The emphasis of the camera is on the dancer who comes in late who we believe to be Carmen, and the film becomes more of a story at this point. Dr. Reimer points out the part when Antonio is actually speaking words from the original story. Laura Del Sol plays Carmen. In the end of the film, someone gets killed. The question is over whether or not they really get killed or if they just get killed in Antonio’s play. Dr. Reimer said that the theme of the film centers around what is real and what is fantasy.

We talked a bit more about directors’ decisions to put music in films and how music works in a film. Dr. Reimer spoke about the deliberate camera moves and angles that give films meaning.

Dr. Reimer instructed us further on the minutes assignment. He suggested we take a look at last class’ minutes for an example. We are to e-mail our minutes to him, and then he will e-mail us back as to whether or not they’re okay.

We then watched a British film called “Trainspotting”, directed by Danny Boyle. Dr. Reimer gave us some idea of what a director does to comment on his own material by working with his camera. Some things are at the director’s disposal in order to subvert either their own material of someone else’s, according to Dr. Reimer.

To sum up the portion of the film we watched, it is about a guy who steals drug money from his friends while they are all asleep and runs away with it. He looks at himself in the bathroom mirror before he does it. The music has a techno feel to it, and it becomes harder and loses melody when he is in the act of stealing. He feels guilty and that he may be a bad person, but justifies it with wanting to have a life like everyone else. He describes the life of the middle class. The camera shifts to the round room where all the guys had been sleeping. We get an aerial view of the room and the chaotic scene of the men when they learn that he has left with the money. We learned in class that the aerial view is so that the director can let us see from unrealistic views in order to comment on them. Dr. Reimer said that from this view we can see more than the story itself; we see the dynamics of it.

The camera goes back to the thief who talks about what he is going to become. He goes from being in focus to being very blurry and out of focus. This presents him as possibly an untrustworthy character, as we discussed, also. The movie takes on a more personal turn when the guy ends with wanting to be “just like you,” leaving us with questions of our own materialism.

We took a look at last semester’s student film project called “Sonnabend,” a film with intense classical music and images, but no dialogue. Dr. Reimer stated that it was a 20-25 minute film with good screenplay and editing by five students just to let us know what we may be getting into should we decide to work on a film.