ENGL 197

Quick Links

• Phantom and Christine's First Encounter
• Unmasking
• Raoul and Christine on the Rooftop
• Carlotta Sings and Phantom Drops Chandelier

 

Course Information

Instructor: K. Gillis-Bridges
Class: MW, 12:30-1:50 p.m.
Rooms: Mary Gates 082A/082
Office: Padelford A-105
Hours: MW 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
Phone/Voice: 206.543.4892
Email: kgb@u

Compiled Scene Analysis Group Work Notes

Phantom and Christine's First Encounter

1) How do the arguments made in the cinema studies lecture apply to your clip? What other arguments might you make about the scene?

• Visual details underscore mixing of the two worlds (Christine from the opera house; opera house’s entertainment and music represents people escaping/ignoring/pretending that all of the horrors of the revolutions did not take place; Erik from underground and the torture chambers, which is all of the stuff the opera house tries to cover up).


• There is an uncertainty regarding what or who Erik is. He is not a monster; he was once human.

2) What is distinct about the mise-en-scene and cinematography of your selected scene? How doe these elements function to develop characters and the relationships between them, delineate settings, organize plot, convey themes or communicate meaning?

• Tinting – in Christine’s dressing room, the tint is yellow: yellow = safety, light (yellow is generally a happy color), might also represent the wealthy opera audience; underground in cellars is green: more uneasy color, darker; tinting changes when Christine goes through the mirror because she goes from a place of safety to a place of danger; tinting turns back to yellow after she becomes comfortable in Erik’s presence.


• Although he was once human, Erik now has a mysterious quality which makes him the Phantom. He has lived beneath the Paris Opera House for so many years that many do not remember his name. Yet, he asks Christine to call him Erik, not “the Phantom.” He does not want to be a monster. His knowledge of music is ingenious, yet he still wants to be loved. We see this when he calls to Christine, when he hesitantly taps her on the shoulder once she comes through the mirror in order to not scare her. The camera gives us shot with his hand moving into the picture, and then it retreats before actually touching her shoulder.

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Unmasking Scene

1) How do the arguments made in the cinema studies lecture apply to your clip? What other arguments might you make about the scene?

• Contrast of light and dark in the scene indicates the merging of two worlds.


• Music brings together Christine to Phantom (merging of two worlds).


• Acting generates sympathy for the Phantom.


• Before the unmasking, Christine seemed to be the victim, but after she took off Erik’s mask, he became the victim; it was the turning point.


• Repressed history (Erik wants to be accepted, achieved through varying angles -- POV)

2) What is distinct about the mise-en-scene and cinematography of your selected scene? How doe these elements function to develop characters and the relationships between them, delineate settings, organize plot, convey themes or communicate meaning?

• Setting
  • Connection between her room and phantom’s lair
  
  
• Tones
  • Yellow tint (like world above)
  • Amber tint / shift to brown
  • Tint change from amber to brown like in the deal something was wrong
  
  
• Shots
  • Medium long shots in most of scene; close ups of her face when she reaches to unmask him
  • Both share equal screen space both are always in the shot
  • Close-ups on Christine show us her intense curiosity and entrancement
  • The initial close up of his face shows the shock he felt when she took off his mask. Also, there’s various close ups of Christine’s face showing her going from curious to scared.
  • Sense of depth in the unmasking focus on phantom
  • Focus narrows to only Phantom's and Christine’s presence
  • Long shot durations especially of her face
  • Phantom’s face is out of focus after unmasking (Christine’s POV)
  • Unmasking shot shows us Phantom before Christine sees him (from his eyes)
  • First shot of Phantom directly occurs during unmasking, sudden, promotes fear in audience
  • Changing view points (around Phantom’s unmasking) suggests complexity, important to see both viewpoints
  • Christine low on the shot makes her look vulnerable. There’s a high angle on Christine, when Erik is standing over her; signifying that she’s weak.
  
  
• Lighting
  • Light on Christine, Phantom in the shadows
  • Corners are shadows make the frames smaller and lessens off screen space
  • Darkening
  • Under lighting of the phantom’s true face
  
  
• Pace
  • Pace of film changes from slow to sudden to surprise/shock audience more
  
  
• Acting
  • There’s the argument of uncertainty Erik feels because for one thing, he’s wearing a mask. Also, when his face is revealed, his moods change at various times. He goes from being surprised, to angry, to embarrassed, to sad, to loving her again. Also, he unsure about letting her go back to the Opera, but let’s her; although he is still torn.
  • Unmasking unveiling reveals who he is; shows desperate old man
  
  

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Raoul and Christine on the Rooftop

1) How do the arguments made in the cinema studies lecture apply to your clip? What other arguments might you make about the scene?

• Erik becomes more desperate in this scene. Even though he still has size and power, which is shown to the viewer because of the low angle and the fact that he is on top of the large statue and mimics the position of the statue, he is thrown in to an increasingly desperate situation as he is betrayed by Christine.

2) What is distinct about the mise-en-scene and cinematography of your selected scene? How doe these elements function to develop characters and the relationships between them, delineate settings, organize plot, convey themes or communicate meaning?

• The blue tint not only shows that this event takes place at night but also gives the audience a feeling of darkness and betrayal and jealousy which is reiterated by the actions of the phantom’s wild gestures of distress. The betrayal is evident in the framing and the shot distance as well. At the end of the scene, Raoul and Christine are at the focal point of the wall closest to the camera which gives a feeling of intimacy to the couple and the audience.


• Also, there are medium shots when Christine and Raoul are talking and then a long shot of the phantom, showing that he is becoming further alienated from his one goal and chance of a future life with Christine. While the clothing of Raoul and Christine remains in one place, the cape of the phantom billows about him in the wind as his grand plans begin crumbling about him.

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Carlotta Sings and Phantom Drops the Chandelier

1) How do the arguments made in the cinema studies lecture apply to your clip? What other arguments might you make about the scene?

• The scene as a whole helps develop the phantom’s character. He doesn’t mind killing, will do whatever it takes. Erik’s repressed psychotic history comes to the forefront. The Phantom shows he’s a person to be feared—he’s developed as a threat.


• Opera house was a nice elegant (heavenly) place (note the angel paintings around the chandelier), and the Phantom changes it into a place of terror.

2) What is distinct about the mise-en-scene and cinematography of your selected scene? How doe these elements function to develop characters and the relationships between them, delineate settings, organize plot, convey themes or communicate meaning?

• The managers are framed with the rest of the box they’re sitting in; by comparison Raoul is shown closer up. The managers are just a part of the rest of the opera house, the lavish decorations.


• Phantom plays with the lighting to evoke fear in the audience.


• In most shots of the chandelier, it takes up the entire frame, emphasizing its size. The shot looking up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling shows it from the opera audience’s perspective.


• Painting of angels around chandelier, the chandelier is up high, in the heavens, and the phantom makes it fall from the heavens. Phantom is changing the opera house, which was a pure heavenly place, and plunging it into terror, the heavens are falling.


• Note to Raoul foreshadows something, builds tension.


• Not much movement at first, few people fanning self in audience, relatively calm. After chandelier drop more movement from audience/people as they panic. The opera house has changed; people can no longer be calm or feel safe there. Chaos at end of the scene, everybody in the formal wear, running around panicking.

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