In yesterday’s seminar, we had a wonderful cinema lecture presented by Professor Diaz. I enjoy learning about cinema and love to hear about new symbols and their representation in different films, so this particular lecture enticed me. One thing I particularly preferred were the clips Professor Diaz used to provide examples for each new term. With the film The Birds I was quite intrigued by the suspense created by the classical cutting used. I have also recently discovered the ingenuity of Hitchcock films and the symbolism he has for every aspect of their mise en scene. When I get the chance I want to definitely watch this film.

In Orson Welles A Touch of Evil a long take was meant to create suspense, which it truly did for me. Compared to Citizen Kane’s low angle shots this scene showed how versatile Welles can be with his lenses and camera movement. The short film Professor Diaz showed was quite funny in the way that the setting was one place yet so many different characters entered and left the frame. At one point it even looked like the first character flew into the wall. The director used editing not for narrative purposes but for magic tricks. I seem to like the Orson Welles use of continuity editing, though, because it makes you feel more like you are one with the scene. Though most of the scene consisted a crane shot, you truly felt like you were an onlooker to the plot of the film and you were worried about when the bomb was going to go off. I also think that continuity editing gives the actors more of a challenge. It calls for less room for error and it seems to make the acting appear more real. I know that most soap operas have long shots. With a new script for every day’s episode I think that though they may not be the most famous actors they are some of the most talented.

Ultimately, I see how much film relates to recent history. By this, I mean that film can really be a time capsule of the time period they are from and create a perfect example of the time epoch of when it was created. This is evident from the transformations from black and white to hand tinted to Technicolor and now the development of three-dimensional films. The evolution from simply having music in the background to live sound also shows how much technology as well as the world has evolved.