Cinematic Techniques In The Film 'City Of God'
Compare any one documentary film with any one cinema dramatization of real events. Compare and contrast the cinematic techniques each film uses to persuade the audience that they are witnessing real story
The films I have chosen are based on the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro. The first being the cinematic film “City of God,” 2002, directed by Fernando Mierelles and Katia Lund1 and “Dancing with the Devil,” 2009, a film documentary by Jon Blair2. The two films are intended to be an insight into the violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Both films employ techniques to try to engage with the audience, for example the use of narrative, sound, lighting, camera angles, props, editing and the use of a narrator and this is what I plan to …show more content…
Dancing with the devil is all raw footage. The cameras used are mobile and so are handheld, “the aesthetic of a hand held camera gives a rugged and jerky effect and denotes a kind of gritty realism making the audience feel as though they are part of the scene rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position,17” this enforces realism. Blair also uses static cameras, which as a complete contrast to the hand held, creates a more focused and more intimate relationship, In addition he uses close-ups at the same time. An example of this is in “Tolt’s” interview. Close ups “magnify the object and takes us into the mind of the character, in reality we only let the people we trust get that close to us so a close up of a face is very intimate. A filmmaker does this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character which promotes verisimilitude. The camera angles in City of God, include low angle, birds eye, close ups, extreme close-ups, eye level and high angle. Merielles’ frequently uses low angle shots with Lil Ze at the foot of the camera. Low angle shots “help give a sense of confusion to a view, the added height of the person inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on screen18” In doing this Lil Ze becomes and over powering, authority figure, which sparks emotional response from the audience. This heightened feeling towards the character enforces how it hits there heart and mind and adds to the verisimilitude of the film. Meirelles chooses to mimic a documentary style through the implementation of hand held camera work, although this time not because of functionality but instead in order to “denote a gritty
The films I have chosen are based on the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro. The first being the cinematic film “City of God,” 2002, directed by Fernando Mierelles and Katia Lund1 and “Dancing with the Devil,” 2009, a film documentary by Jon Blair2. The two films are intended to be an insight into the violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Both films employ techniques to try to engage with the audience, for example the use of narrative, sound, lighting, camera angles, props, editing and the use of a narrator and this is what I plan to …show more content…
Dancing with the devil is all raw footage. The cameras used are mobile and so are handheld, “the aesthetic of a hand held camera gives a rugged and jerky effect and denotes a kind of gritty realism making the audience feel as though they are part of the scene rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position,17” this enforces realism. Blair also uses static cameras, which as a complete contrast to the hand held, creates a more focused and more intimate relationship, In addition he uses close-ups at the same time. An example of this is in “Tolt’s” interview. Close ups “magnify the object and takes us into the mind of the character, in reality we only let the people we trust get that close to us so a close up of a face is very intimate. A filmmaker does this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character which promotes verisimilitude. The camera angles in City of God, include low angle, birds eye, close ups, extreme close-ups, eye level and high angle. Merielles’ frequently uses low angle shots with Lil Ze at the foot of the camera. Low angle shots “help give a sense of confusion to a view, the added height of the person inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on screen18” In doing this Lil Ze becomes and over powering, authority figure, which sparks emotional response from the audience. This heightened feeling towards the character enforces how it hits there heart and mind and adds to the verisimilitude of the film. Meirelles chooses to mimic a documentary style through the implementation of hand held camera work, although this time not because of functionality but instead in order to “denote a gritty