This film was just like any other silent film, in that its use of camera angles, dramatic close ups, and subtitles were prevalent. I liked the way the use of camera angles clearly showed how the characters saw each other in relation to each other. For example, when the camera is on Joan's face, she is shot from above; when the camera directs our attention to the judges and members of the court, the camera is shooting from below, looking up at them. Just that detail shows a lot about the characters and their place in the society and setting of the film.
Unfortunately, the version I was watching didn't have sound, so I decided to play the Baroque Pandora station, which made it quite interesting due to the contrast of the subject of the film and the bubbly nature of this genre of music.
Unfortunately, the version I was watching didn't have sound, so I decided to play the Baroque Pandora station, which made it quite interesting due to the contrast of the subject of the film and the bubbly nature of this genre of music.
The use of close ups makes it really important that every
actors palying whatever character, whether significant or not, makes sure they
really embrace the emotion they have to be emitting.
The fact that I don’t understand French perfectly wasn’t a
problem because of this fact. I know the general idea of the plot of the film,
so the emtions and facial expressions told the story. As we discussed in class,
knowing the fact that it was specifically the “passion” of the eponymous heroine
of the film, and since the film started with the trial, we can assume that she
is being tried for being a heretic. I’m not too familiar with the sotry of Joan
of Arc, considering the fact that I didn't grow up with Bible stories as a
child, but from what we discussed in class, it was a very aptly named film.
As a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I couldn’t help but
think of the episode “Hush” which was, if I remember correctly, one of the only
television shows (at the time) to run a an almost completely silent episode. I
think this actually garnered some awards. It was a very powerful episode
because in the plot, the characters lose their voices and are trying to fight
the demon of the week. So everything is magnified, from their emotions to the
use of close ups. It was a very unique thing to do for the time, considering
the only reason there were silent films in the past was because of the fact
that the technology for sound in film had not yet existed. The fact that they
chose to do it when they had the option of having sound was very interesting
and unique and gave the actors and Joss whedon the opportunity to explore and
experiment creatively. I was just reminded of this episode of one of my
favorite shows by this movie because of the fact that the way it was filmed,
withtout sound and with a plethora of close ups, was very similar and evoked
the same emotions.
In the episode of Buffy in which the character's voices are stolen, they are forced to communicate with each other through new methods. Before their interesting slide-show by Giles, the characters are miming out words and ideas to communicate with each other. The characters are purposefully exaggerating their motions because, not only can the audience not here them, but the other characters also cannot hear them. While the similarities between this idea and a silent film are interesting, I think they are also drastically different. The characters in Joan of Ark are constantly easily communicating to one another. The acting style is stylized to accommodate lack of sound, but I would not put it on the same level as charades. Furthermore, I found that the Passion of Joan of Ark had much more close-ups than the episode of Buffy in question. The majority of shots in this episode are medium to wide shots due to action sequences in the show. Furthermore, the use of the camera in Buffy is much more fluid to follow the movement of the characters as they run through dorms and battle demons. Meanwhile, the use of the camera in the Passion of Joan of Ark, was very stagnant and choppy.
ReplyDeleteEndya, you definitely seem to remember more details from this episode haha. I have seen it a few times, but not recently. But you're definitely right. I didn't acknowledge the fact that the characters and actors in The Passion of Joan of Ark obviously weren't acknowledging the fact that the audience couldn't hear them, because first of all it's a silent film but the dialogue is displayed. So they are emitting their emotions for different reasons. They don't have to act out what they're trying to say, necessarily, as the cast of BTVS had to.
DeleteI agree on your observations of a silent film's emphasis on images to communicate things that sound cannot. I know nothing whatsoever about Buffy the Vampire Slayer except what information is given in the title, and therefore I cannot say much about that. I made a more mundane connection with a silent film to (ironically) blindness. Just as a movie without sound must rely upon its visual qualities to send messages to the audience, so a person without sight must rely upon other senses like hearing and touch to understand the world.
ReplyDeleteBecause this film was silent and therefore was forced to use much more imagery than a regular film, it would appear that this "religious" film also has a great deal more focus on religious signs and symbols. Do you think that this film is sort of a predecessor of the modern flourishing visual culture as defined by Plate, a transition from vocal/liturgical/textual worship to one that has a greater appreciation of images? Or is the religious symbolism present in the film purely because the film was silent, without any deeper meaning?
That's an interesting way to think about it. Your comment about comparing the silent film to blindness actually caused me to compare the focus of imagery used in silent films as a means of compensating for lack of sound as the inverse of what it's like for a blind person listening to music. Let me try to explain. In the way a silent film would compensate for lack of sound, it strengthens its aesthetic quality and symbolic imagery in order to send a message. This made me think of music in general. With good music, you don't usually need a music video or any kind of visual accompaniment, if it does what it's supposed to do, which is elicit some sort of emotion. In that way, I would compare a silent film to beautiful music, as its inverse, if you accept it. In both cases, one of the senses is being taken away, and in order to make up for it, they focus on addressing one sense, either vision (for the silent film) or hearing (for music).
Delete(Not a blind person listening to music, but anyone listening to music. Ignore the word blind in the second sentence.)
DeleteI thought that the lack of sound forced me to focus more on the plot and the emotions portrayed by Joan. I had to watch with my full attention, rather than just listening to dialogue or background music. I agree that the use of close up shots made the actors have to portray authentic emotion and I think that this technique created an intimacy between the character and viewers that modern and sound over-loaded films sometimes lack.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. You're right, your full attention was required in order to fully appreciate the message they were trying to send. And you were mostly using your sense of sight in order to take in the message, rather than a combination of vision and hearing.
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