ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing7 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing8 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing9 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing10 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing10 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing11 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Reflective Writing11 (THE SCENE IN CINEMA 2021)
ASSIGNMENT 4-Presentation peer reflection
Research Project
Why Wong Kar-wai’s film The Grandmaster is the most distinctive in martial arts films
In recent years, martial arts films have an unshakable position in the movie market. More and more people love it. This unique movie theme has attracted the attention of the audience. The success of martial arts movies is no accident. This research report will use Wong Kar-wai’s film “The Grandmaster” to analyze why this film is the most distinctive film among martial arts movies? And why this is a successful martial arts movie.
First of all，martial arts film is regarded the action movies that contain the characteristics of wushu ‘martial arts film’, which mainly involves showing the type of action of masculine characters (Hiramoto, 2012). Moreover, The Grandmaster is an art drama film that tells the life story of Ye Wen, the grandmaster of Wing Chun, focusing on the flashbacks of his life, starting from his seven-year-old childhood, and how he passed the competitors by enhancing audience interaction via dazzling virtual, melodrama, and fighting sequences to illustrating the choreography (Kermode，2014).
The representativeness of The Grandmaster is related to the adoption of camera coverage in terms of camera shots, shooting angle, and camera movement. Directors commonly adopt close-up camera shots to present the spatial relations of the captured characters and the psychological implications to demonstrate the feature and relationship among individuals (Pelletier, 2018). This is fully reflected in the movie. Wong Kar-wai relies heavily on close up to show the spatial position of lights, seats, buttons, etc., where train movement also belongs to this category. These subjects are positioned on the edge of the frame through shielding and frame restrictions, forming the uniqueness of Wong Kar Wai’s unique style. For example, one dialogue between two males discussing the fame and prospects is unfolded during the conversational atmosphere, and the atmosphere zooms into firewood. Regarding the shooting angle, director Wong used a lot of low-angle and adjacent shots to enhance the audience’s sympathy and connection to achieve a coherent integration (Ildirar & Schwan, 2015). Therefore, the grievances and hatreds of martial arts masters over generations could be expressed as insufficient for showing psychological salience and admiration, where profile shots will enrich senses and sharply contour their attitude towards other masters and consider their literary dramas.
Director Wang also appropriately explained the storyline of Ye Wen through fast motion lens by enabling the proper explanation on the main plot (Archer, 2016). Meanwhile, slow motion has been widely used in shot editing, where Wong Kar-wai applies higher-than-normal frame rate, enabling present higher fidelity actions to the audience (Shen et al., 2014). Shooting convention would be 24 frame per second (FPS) for presenting full background noise intensity (Mitsuhashi et al., 2014), yet Director Wong uses low frame rate effect and utilizes photo burst mode to improve the audience experience. Moreover, the photographer used many slow-motion close-ups to demonstrate the collision of water drops with the hat’s brim and the hem, instead of directly expressing the martial arts movement itself. Through these subtle details, express the speed and power of Kung Fu.
The extraordinary thing about The Grandmaster also stems from the use of color and light in the clip. In The Grandmaster, Director Wong set black as the main accordatura to revealing the grievances and emotional attachments for the characters, and manages to embed such to express seriousness and mystery black by symbolizing martial arts masters. In addition, the movie heavily used Rembrandt’s lighting to producing the shots both natural and realistic (Shaw, 2012). Director Wong substantially used the overhead lighting to set the scene introduced the characters for the benefit of presenting the image of the characters in an adequate illustration manner. This visual presentation enables the demonstration of the feeling of the characters by compelling small and inverted lights. This is comprehensively observed in the entire clip, where the audience could be capable be focus on the facial expressions through Rembrand light by zooming in the details.
The last element is the superb acting skills of the actors. Actors’ performance is a prominent element in filming where it has a decisive influence on the quality of the film that makes the audience get a high degree of attachment and recognition (Drake, 2016). Actors who successfully create roles will eventually make the movie shine, which is an indispensable part of the movie. “The Grandmaster” fully verified this concept and created a competitive advantage for film by enhancing the viewing experience. Moreover, the heroine in the movie won 12 best actress trophies for her role Kong Er. One remarkable clip relates to Kong Er’s farewell to Ye Wen many years later. Wong Kar-wai directly showed the dialogue between the two in close-up shots. In the clip, Kong Er sat sideways almost during most of the dialogue, as if talking to himself. There are no major facial movements throughout the entire process, except for few moments where she looked up to the martial art master in light emotional movement. It perfectly interprets the complicated and powerful inner changes of Gong Er. However, this enables the audience to analyze her psychological activity with minimal changes.
In conclusion, reasonable slow-motion use, remarkable camera coverage, unique use of colors and lighting, and superb acting skills of the actors for The Grandmaster is an impressive martial arts film that worth a comprehensive assessment.
Reference:
Archer, N 2016, ‘Speeds of Sound: On Fast Talking in Slow Movies’, Cinema Journal, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 130-135.
Drake, P 2016, ‘Reframing Television Performance’, Journal of Film and Video, vol. 68, no. 3-4, pp. 6-17.
Hiramoto, M 2012, ‘Don’t think, feel: Mediatization of Chinese masculinities through martial arts films’, Language & Communication, vol. 32, pp. 386-389.
Kermode, M 2014, ‘The Grandmaster review – thrilling but often incoherent martial arts epic’, The Guardian, 7 December, viewed 18 May 2021,
Ildirar, S & Schwan, S 2015, ‘First-time viewers’ comprehension of films: Bridging shot transitions’, British Journal of Psychology, vol. 106, pp. 133-135.
Mitsuhashi, M, Ohtera, Y & Yamada, H 2014, ‘Near-infrared imaging of liquid mixtures utilizing multi-channel photonic crystal wavelength filters’, Optics Letters, vol. 39, pp. 5301-5304.
Pelletier, L 2018, ‘From Photoplays to Movies: A Distant Reading of Cinema’s Eventual Legitimation from Below’, Film History, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 1-34.
Shaw, J 2012, ‘Light and darkness in Elsheimer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Beckett’, Samuel Beckett Today, vol. 24, pp. 219-231.
Shen, L, Allison, R, Wilcox, L, & Fujii, Y 2014, ‘Motion discrimination of high frame rate movie’, Journal of Vision, vol. 14, pp. 57.
In the ninth week of the lecture, every classmate had a fascinating topic. I appreciate Leo’s research topics very much. First of all, I am a fan of fantasy movies. Secondly, as a fan of fantasy movies, I also want to know why this type of movie is so popular in recent years. In his speech, he described his plan very carefully. At the same time, it also made me understand fantasy films better.
According to Leo’s research, there are three important reasons for fantasy films to attract audiences. The first aspect is the movie storyboard and its original works. Some of the fantasy movies and their stories are derived from imaginative novels. These are full of excitement of the plot that is precisely appealing to the audience. The second reason is the shooting technology of recent fantasy movies. The special effects mastered by modern technology could make the audience completely immersed in a virtual world, and secondly, its realistic effects make the audience immersed in the story. In addition, most people might see the world they have never touched through fantasy films, satisfying their desires and fantasies. (He didn’t mention this point, and I argue it might give the audience psychological satisfaction). The last reason is using the position and angle of the camera and the choice of lens focal length. The camera angle position and focal length could directly affect the psychology of viewing the movie. The correct use of these devices will make the film present a better picture. Meanwhile, the audience can see the effect they are looking forward to.
Moreover, the subject of my research is why martial arts movies are popular. It’s a bit similar to his theme, but I only analyzed the camera’s movement without examining it from such a comprehensive perspective. He gave me a new perspective to explore the reasons why the audience likes different types of movies.
Finally, through the lens’s remarkable eyes, the film allows us to see a whole new world and see ourselves clearly.
Week11 is the last week of my class with my classmates. Robin shared some clips for us. These clips are from the Belgian director, “The Kid with a Bike.” Including the story behind the movie. The behind-the-scenes footage shows the director’s preparations before the official shooting and how to shoot the planned shots.One thing worth mentioning is that the director will follow the planned movement route in advance to determine whether the camera could accurately capture the desired content before shooting. In addition, watching the behind-the-scenes footage, I found that communication between the director and the actors can ensure that each actor can appear on the screen at the correct time and place.
This week’s course is the last week of the semester’s course. This is also the last week before my graduation. The 12 weeks passed very quickly. I was fortunate to choose this studio. Before I joined the formal work, I could systematically understand the basic knowledge and use skills of film. Besides, Robin also summarized what we learned this semester. Nowadays, I am pretty sure of the importance of these contents in future my directorship. I need to prepare the script, the storyboard, and the floor plan before shooting the movie. To ensure the smooth progress of filming in the later stage of the film. After that, I need to select lenses with different focal lengths, camera shot types, camera movement, and camera angle and position. Through these to show the integrity and diversity of the film. Secondly, with regard to the basic rules of film production, most of the time, the 180-degree rule needs to be followed. But sometimes, breaking this rule will have unexpected good results.
In general, I have learned a lot of useful knowledge from this course, which is of great significance to me. This knowledge will always accompany my work and help me complete each film. Thanks very much for your 12 weeks of teaching. Thank you, Robin.
I have a wonderful memory of this studio.
After the presentation week, Robin provided me with many valuable suggestions. My research focuses on the use of color in the scene, which may arise from what I have learned this semester. Moreover, Robin sends me annotating to help me analyze my subject further. In addition, I have made some adjustments to the content of my research. My topic is Why Wong Kar-wai’s film The Grandmaster is the most distinctive in martial arts films? I will analyze this movie to study why this is a successful martial arts movie. I will start with Camera coverage in The Grandmaster (camera shots, shot angle, camera movement) and slow motion. And Actor’s superb acting skills. These aspects of studying my topic.
Furthermore, this week we discussed plan sequence. The word comes from French. We call it ‘long take’ in English. The long take, also known as the plan sequence, is an uninterrupted sequence(Ra Konigsberg’s “The Complete Film Dictionary”). In the course of the first few weeks, I learned that long take is a shooting technique. The “long take” here does not refer to the length or focal length of the physical lens, nor the distance between the photographic lens and the subject, which is the time distance between the start and stop points of the shooting, that is the length of the movie clip. In addition, in class, we focused on the importance of long take, and the main aspects of the use of “long take”. By reading more information about it long take, there are two characteristics of long take. First of all, the time and space recorded by the long take are continuous. The long take does not interrupt the natural process of time and maintains the uninterrupted nature of the time process, which is consistent with the actual time and process. The space represented by the long take is the actual space that exists. The natural transformation of the space is realized in the movement of the lens. The second feature is the documentary nature of the long take. Bazin’s “long take” theory believes that long haul could maintain the unity and integrity of film time and film space, express the continuity and integrity of character actions and event development, and reflect reality more truly.
Reflecting upon the course of the last week, after learning the movement for different types of shots. I researched more information and learned that specific camera movements need to be completed with different technical cameras. Among them, handheld shots and dolly and use of the Steadicam. These are camera equipment used to shoot scenes and lenses in movies. Hand-held lens could be close to the sense of reality. On the other hand, the shot taken by dolly and Steadicam is more stable. In addition, shooting with Steadicam can change the direction at will.
In addition, I would like to mention the use of the tracking shot in combination with Steadicam. The director uses the tracking shot to convey the information and meaning of a specific scene to the audience. The tracking shot was once defined as film technology. The camera is fixed on a rotatable platform. But with the upgrading of photography technology, the camera could move freely. The tracking shot plays an important role in the movie. They guide the audience to pay attention to the director’s content, highlighting the subject and the surrounding environment. In addition, through the placement of the camera and movement of the camera, the director could provide more background information.Furthermore, impressing me the most with the tracking shot taken with Steadicam was the clip from the 1980 thriller “The Shining.” Stanley Kubrick is creative in his use of Steadicam. The director has repeatedly used Steadicam tracking shots to strengthen important environmental scenes, and through space, the hotel’s horrible and weird atmosphere is brought out. In this scene, the director uses a low camera position at the same height as Danny on the tricycle. The camera always followed Danny not far behind. In addition, it is important to note that some people in this clip may think that the use of handheld will make the scene shakier and show the weird surroundings. This view is not wrong, but the Steadicam shots are more stable, which helps the audience enter the story and experience the horror from the perspective of Danny.
In this week’s study, our focus is on the movement of the camera. In class, we watched several examples of different types of camera movements. Moreover, through these examples and related reading materials, I found that camera movement is a film-making technology that causes changes in the frame or angle of view through camera movement. The camera movement allows the photographer and director to change the audience’s sight without disrupting the plot. Certain types of camera movements in movies could also have a psychological and emotional impact on the audience. These effects might make the movie more immersive and attractive. Besides, the lens of the sport is shooting by moving the camera position, changing the lens’s optical axis, or changing the lens’s focal length. Such as push in, pull out, pan, tracking comprehensive sports camera, etc.
In the class on Thursday, I shared the idea of my research project. I want to study a director and his shooting techniques and excellent Camera movement skills regarding this assignment. He is a very famous director in Hong Kong. His name is Tsui Hark. He is very good at shooting action movies, especially martial-arts films. Moreover, I want to through study his films to analyze the action scenes in depth. Actually, action-themed movies involve many martial arts scenes, so the suitable Camera movement shots satisfy our desire for thrills. Secondly, in his movie The East Is Red (1993 film), the two protagonists’ battle fly from the ground to the sky. Again, the use of a pan shot is vivid, making the battle more intense. Moreover, the most used in this scene is the lens of the comprehensive movement, which perfectly combines various camera movement methods such as camera dolly, pan, track up, and trackback, making the martial arts lens more complicated. It also highlights the difficult duel between the two actors.
In this week, we focus on the performance of the actors. The role of actors in the film is very large and even played a decisive role. No matter how excellent the movie’s script is, if the actor’s acting skills are not in place, he will not be able to accurately convey what the director wants to express in the movie. The most important thing is that actors’ successful creation of roles will eventually make the movie shine, which is an indispensable part of the movie. The actor’s ability to perform in the shot is also an essential factor affecting the film’s overall quality.
For example, there is an excerpt from the film generation master, Gong Er’s farewell to Ye Wen. Wong Kar-wai directly showed the dialogue between the two in close-up shots. In the scene, the heroine sat sideways almost all the way, as if talking to himself. This was the last time they met. For Gong Er, it did not matter the result. She just wanted to say what she was thinking. Gong Er did not any major facial movements throughout the entire process, just slight changes in expression. At the same time, he looked up at Ye Wen’s direction for only a few moments. It perfectly interprets the complicated and powerful inner changes of Gong Er. This performance still dwells in my memory., and I watched this clip many times.
Finally, I was thinking about whether is the movie achievement actor or actor achievement the movie. As far as I’m concerned, the director, photography skills, script, and acting skills of the actors are all critical parts of a film. A film that the audience could remember, these factors are indispensable. Without a good script, director, technology, and scenes. It does matter how good the actor’s performance，which might not really accomplish a movie.