I recently watched movie Angels
and Demons. The movie follows Robert Langdon in his search through Rome to
locate 4 missing cardinals and an enormous antimatter bomb. One of the most
important themes is the battle between religion and science. The movie begins
with the juxtaposition of two scenes. The first is showing the funeral of the
recently deceased pope, while the second shows the CERN, a European Organization
for Nuclear Research, laboratory. Besides comparing the places, the moods in
each area are very different. The funeral contains lots of shots of morning and
sorrow. The ceremony seems to contain lots of traditions and aspects relating
to the past. At CERN, they are on the brink of creating a new material, called
antimatter, and the atmosphere is nothing less than ecstatic. Camera shots
there depict new technology, and have more relevance to the present and future.
The two different places also contain
different camera work. The funeral contains lots of still shots, which help at
to the feeling of what is going on. The excitement at CERN is paralleled by the
motion of the camera. The first shot shown there is at the bottom of the
particle accelerator and pan up, and begins to show rest of the lab. The camera
spirals, tracks, and pans all adding to the commotion. The two scenes, along
with their film techniques, introduce the theme to the viewer and provide an
interesting contradiction.
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After reading the novel Angels and Demons, I decided I had to see the movie. The novel was one of my favorite books of all time and I hoped I would like the movie just as much. As often happens though, the movie dissapointed me a little because it was not as thourough and detailed as the book was, however, it was still a decent movie. The movie is filled with intense action, and Langdon must trace an ancient path to find what he is looking for. The film techniques i picked up most on during the film were camera and music. During the scenes where Langdon and his partner were trying to find potential murder victims, there was always suspenseful music. There was also a number of scenes where they were searching for something among a large crowd, with a ticking clock. The camera used very short duration shots during these scenes to create a sense of overwhelment for the viewer, a sense that Langdon would never be able to find what he was looking for in time.
ReplyDeleteI also watched Angels and Demons recently. I thought that the movie was good even though it became boring during some parts. The movie is all about allusion. This movie is all about an evil group, called the illuminati, that wants to destroy religion and gain more power. The illuminati are an old group of people that prided on science and technology, and were against religion. The movie relies heavily on mid-range shots and long range shots to show the puzzles that Robert Langdon solves in order to stop the illuminati’s evil plans. Using long shots, the directors can show the viewer the vastness of the Illuminati’s plans and show their largely drawn symbols. The movie also has long range shots that help the viewer feel the distance that Langdon travels and they also help the viewer feel Langdon’s distress as he is placed in tough situations. The movie also uses dramatic classic music to help the viewer achieve two things. Firstly, the music helps the viewer get into the era of the illuminati and helps show their dramatic ideas. The music also helps the viewer get pumped up in the action scenes as well as the suspenseful scenes.
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