I noticed that The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari uses framing to alter reality a lot through the film. Because the framing is so small and the cameras aren’t able to follow the characters through the setting, the background is often smushed or twisted. When they wanted to put the attention on a specific person, they would frame their face with blackness because they couldn’t zoom in. Perspective also played a huge role in this film. The point of view changes depending on what the film wants to show. The most memorable example of this was when Alan was killed. The perspective was changed several within a few seconds to show all of the angles of the moment. My other favorite example how the produced played with reality is the road up the town. It looked like stairs, but the way they were painted and the way the background was created, it looked like the people were moving farther away on a far road.
Reality is also altered because in a lot of parts you could se the backdrop was painted on. An example of that is in the scenes after the funeral. All of the plants are clearly made out of cardboard and the walls are simply white sheets painted over.A lot of the objects that were painted seemed unnatural and couldn’t have been the real thing. Although a lot of the scenery was fake, the film was decently produced and the plot was interesting enough that it wasn’t noticeable throughout the film. I noticed that the physical reactions and emotions were very much exaggerated at all times. It looked extremely unnatural and sometimes a little silly, but without the exaggeration, it would be extremely hard to understand how the characters are feeling, even with the help of the music. The music set an overall tone to the film, but for individual emotions, you have to pay attention to the facial and physical movements.
In the end, the film did a great job of twisting reality one last time. Throughout the whole film, we were made to believe a certain truth; that the director was the Caligari that killed people through a hypnotized (or a sleepwalking) man. But in the end there was a plot twist in which the whole film was fake and just a made up story by a man in an asylum. Everything that we though to be true was once again altered and made fake.
If I were to create a murder mystery silent film in NYC, I would definitely take advantage of all of the rooftops and sky scrapers. With certain visual affects I think you could make it seem like the rooftops are way higher than they actually are. Being so high up, with fog would create a creepy illusion. This feature would make my film relatable but unique at the same time. I think it would create an interesting perspective. Also, the subway would also be a unique NYC feature to use in my film. In contrast of being really high up in the sky scraper, I would also film under ground. Both are extremes and I want to highlight that in my film.
