I had to do a project for my lighting and cinematography class, the task was to watch a film from before 1970 from the perspective of solely a cinematographer and write a paper over it. So I went to Blockbuster (I know I know.. lame) and searched for something worthwhile. I came across the John Ford directed The Quiet Man and settled on it because I’m a fan of John Wayne and I had seen segments of the movie before on television.
Anyway, I circumvented my OS’s feeble attempt to keep me from screen capturing with the DVD player open and got 8 frames that I think really sum up the move nicely. (Click here for the movie synopsis)
The first frame is John Wayne’s character Sean Thornton and Barry Fitzgerald’s character Michaleen Oge Flynn. The frame sums up both of their on screen persona’s nicely.
The second depicts the beginning of the rivalry between Thornton and Danaher who is Mary Kate’s (The lead actress and Wayne’s crush in the movie played by Maureen O’Hara) brother.
The third is of Mary Kate (Will your 1950s self please marry me?).
The fourth and fifth sums up Sean and Mary Kate’s relationship quite nicely. One second it’s great and passionate, the next it’s gone and confusing.
The sixth sums up Sean Thornton’s masculinity – he’s just struck his match on the crossbeam above his head in this frame and he is about to put Mary Kate in her place. This was my favorite scene in the movie.
The last two are of the gigantic boxing scene at the end which alone makes the movie worth watching.
Hope you enjoyed this! Let me know if I should do more “movies in 8 frames” (I’ll probably go into more detail in the future as well)
- Ted
Akira Kurosawa is a Japanese filmmaker who directed films in the 40s, 50s and 60s. The clips from above are from one of his more famous films, Rashomon. Kurosawa basically puts on a school for shot composition and texture throughout every scene I have watched of his so far. I love the way he uses the camera narratively and the overall look of his movies. His movie Seven Samurai is incredibly long, but definitely worth the watch if you are ever feeling like a black and white movie night.
As a random tidbit: George Lucas was influenced by Kurosawa. Something about Samurai swordsmen perhaps?
- Ted
