![]() ![]() In developing the script, Reitman and Ramis subscribed to "the Domino Theory of Reality", believing that audiences would only buy the bizarre plot of Ghostbusters if they were led along in little increments. The film isn't asking that you notice all this stuff, only that you feel it. The effect becomes ridiculous in the black and white of printed text, because something meant to be absorbed subconsciously is robbed of subtlety, all spelled out, gasping for air. But it's important to cover the early scenes with a fine-toothed comb, because the filmmakers are deploying their visual strategy-and I'm deliberately less graceful about it than they are. Here, the reader is invited to scoff at the amount of detail being read into things. The clear split between positive and negative space, off-kilter, with one side subsequently eliminated, sets up a visual trope of tensions between two opposites-setting the stage for a film about the blurring of the line between two worlds, the crossing between life and death, lowly Earth and the spiritual realm.Īll this in one damn shot. Architecture plays a major role in both the design and the plot of Ghostbusters indeed, the film's first image shows us the names, dates and circumstances behind the library's founding, and the renovation in progress elegantly if inadvertently foreshadows the importance of the architect and the construction process behind the Ivo Shandor Building. The lion is the first of many statues, idols and architectural touches that crop up throughout the film, the everyday scares of the city. The film wants us to understand that, in Zeddemore's words, "these things are real," even as it prepares us for the weirdness to come Reitman estranges the library, shooting it on a harsh angle, forcing the cowed viewer to look up at the imposing lion. Our location-New York City-is identified with a bona fide landmark. With one shot, the filmmakers have not only established the genre and an appropriately unsettling air, but laid the groundwork for a few important tropes and themes for the subsequent film to cover. A suitably ominous clump of spooked pigeons fly off en masse in ill portent, and we settle on a lion statue.Īlready there's a lot going on here. As eerie music stirs, the camera drifts downward, cutting off the sky, the negative space of the composition. ![]() The tip of the roof just barely touches the edge of the frame, dividing the sky into two blue triangles. But notice the unbalanced diagonal formed by the line between the New York Public Library and the blue sky. Ghostbusters begins on a tilt, in two different ways. The best filmmaking advice I ever got was this: Make your opening shot a visual metaphor for the whole movie. The second-best filmmaking advice I ever got was this: If you need to ask a favor, bring a pretty girl with you. "The New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue" And we'll see how the movie was working a subtle kind of magic on us all along. We'll uncover how filmmaking choices reveal character, further the themes of the work and enhance both the horror and the comedy. We're gonna go slowly, even shot by shot. Along the way, we'll point out some other little tricks that help tell the story in cinematic form, just to set us up for future chapters and/or further complicate matters. This encompasses the composition of the frame, the objects captured in the image and the progression of the shots. To start, we'll concentrate on how director Ivan Reitman stages scenes, and, by association, what the film shows us and when. The film school crowd will feel right at home the reader less used to dissecting movies will find out it's actually kind of fun. This chapter's not a deep reading of Ghostbusters, but a close one. NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY CAMPAIGN (update: we did it!)ĪUTHOR WEB SITE | AUTHOR FACEBOOK | AUTHOR TWITTERĬall it the inoculation. SHOT BY SHOT | CINEMATOGRAPHY | EDITING | MUSIC | NEW YORK | THE HERO'S JOURNEY START HERE | INTRODUCTION | THE PLOT | THE FILMMAKERS ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |