I wonder if I’d be able to make people feel something when I begin to create something in the future.
I feel I have the ability to capture and set a scene but narratives are something I do have to work on.

I watched ‘Sunrise – A Song of Two Humans’ recently.
A silent romantic drama from 1926, it was the first of its kind that I had watched that features a synchronised score.
It is ranked number 82 in the 100 greatest American films and is considered a masterpiece.
The editing differed greatly from that of the Great Train Robbery; another silent film from 1903.

The transitions and film overlays were sophisticated and gave us a sense of time and place.
My favourite scene was the opening marsh sequence wherein the man goes to the woman, after she stands outside his house and whistles to him.
This would have been an early example of the rise of the femme fatale in cinema; adopting typically masculine roles of pursuit.

 
The scene begins with a tracking shot through the marsh, a set that was made on a sound stage especially for the film.
It set an ominous tone, dark and high contrast, increasing the dramaticism.
The shot follows him through the bushes and we switch to a pan to focus on the woman who awaits his arrival.
She is lit by the light of the moon, highlighting her figure against a dark background.
When they finally see each other, they take a pregnant pause and then embrace one another.
The power play is reversed in the marsh scene as they lay in embrace.
She sits above the man and assumes control of the situation, as was set earlier by the whistling at the front of his home.
She directs the scene and controls the conversation too – ‘tell me you are all mine!’ & ‘sell your farm and come and live with me.’

The way in which this movie was edited, uses music and mastered the mise en scene to convey feelings and play with the emotions of the audience was nothing short of masterful.

The one criticism I do have of that particular scene, as it progresses, would be the conversation that takes place and takes the audience by surprise.
‘couldn’t she get drowned?’

Could this be an example of a filmmaker who was focusing on the application of mise en scene and cinematography in an age of movies that were not accustomed to large amounts of text, so what text they did incorporate was used to get to the point?
I think because that statement was so jarring, it immediately told the audience that this woman was evil; coupled with the fact that she was dressed entirely in black in the cloak of darkness, whereas the wife wore lighter clothing.

The movie sparked an idea of working on a modern day short that uses similar techniques, maybe not using celluloid but at least gestures and double exposed effects like Murnau to create moods and set scenes.
Having only had limited experience with making clips, I’m very keen to see how my styles will adapt and grow through the process of this course.