Laxton also shot Jenkins’s previous film, Medicine for Melancholy. Among these boys is Kevin the only one who looks at Chiron like a person and in Chiron’s point of view he looks at Kevin’s bruise instead of him staring back like the other boys. Maybe you think you know what’s about to come in the next hour and a half.”, You don’t, and that’s the point. Similarly, thereâs a scene where the main character is learning how to swim. How high-angle is something? How long-angle is something? Best picture winner, Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, premiered in 2016. We covered this in our beginnerâs tips for portrait lighting, and many of the same principals apply here. I took swimming lessons as a child and grew up with a pool in my backyard, but that is often not the case. Attention! It is difficult to sum up all that feels new about Moonlight, which puts a fresh lens on so many things at once. Personally, I fell in love with the beautiful vulnerability of this scene, as well as the stunning cinematography. Your California Privacy Rights. Realism was avoided, with an understanding that when a setting is visually pathologized, so too are the human beings in it. The beginning of the film starts with establishing Chiron, the protagonist, and Juan’s, the mentor, place in the community. Barry Jenkins’s first film, Medicine for Melancholy, has a similar theme to his second feature film. Juan has burst into Chiron’s sanctuary, literally and metaphorically, and offers him food as a source of comfort. After the bullies leave, Chiron wanders around and finds a syringe, foreshadowing his profession in the third part of the film. This arc shot is a motif that is used repeatedly throughout the film and has two meanings. The camera gives Chiron’s point of view so that when the other boys stare at Chiron, they are looking at the audience. Cinematographer Laxton used an Arri Alexa digital camera that displays skin tone more vibrantly as skin tone was an important aspect of Moonlight. We were at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, sitting at a table in an otherwise empty lounge. GradesFixer. Filed under. When Kevin notices Chiron sitting at the bar the shot cuts to a close-up of Kevin looking directly looking into the lens. It Takes Inspiration From "In The Mood For Love" Wong Kar-wai's films are known for their ⦠Moonlight’s cinematography is the most important in establishing not only the characters and the environment but the relation between the two and their importance to the main theme of the film. ⦠Natural light is also used during the diner scene. One of a torn down community filled with poverty, ⦠The cinematography allows the viewer to step behind Chiron's lens of life and notice how hard it must be. Chris O'Falt Oct 26, 2016 2:49 pm Outside the diner, the bulbs were changed to give a more blue hue. Ad Choices. Inside, much of the lighting is practical and natural, coming from golden, warm hanging lamps and overhead lighting. How the camera’s moving through a space. From the opening of the scene, as Chiron approaches the diner, lighting is at play. Which is a scene I think we have seen. Your California Privacy Rights. In the color correction, we embraced the brightness and high contrast, intending to emphasize the heightened sense of extremes.”, “We needed an image that had the aggression of our character’s state of mind. But the drug economy in which the characters live does not define them as human beings. In another shot, Little’s mom, Paula, played by the brilliant Naomie Harris, is bathed in pink light as she fumes at her son. "Moonlight" is altogether an absolutely brilliant movie, and the recognition it got was extremely well-deserved. The main characters self-discovery is told through these chapters, each through a different developmental phase of his life. Color and light are tools for transcendence, used to reframe and illuminate. So did Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote the play on which the movie is based, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. For Chiron, his community ostracizes him for being gay. Now, it represents his world, one of anxiety and persecution. The camera goes to a low-angle shot as Chiron’s glare becomes harder and the sound of his harsh breathing becomes louder. Watching Moonlight is a deeply personal experience. MOONLIGHT, a poetic tour de force, was one of the 2016 AFI AWARD honorees and âilluminates the peerless power of cinema to inspire empathy for others and embrace a greater understanding of ourselves.â Movie Trivia for MOONLIGHT: âDID YOU KNOW MOONLIGHT is based on an unpublished play written by Tarell Alvin McCraney called âIn Moonl It’s what our job is: To depict a judgment.” There is an inherent tension, then, between his role and the effect he is hoping to elicit. Moonlightâs cinematography uses bold colors and stunning shots to create an emotional experience. My original ⦠The most mesmerizing scene immerses you in the blue-green water of the Atlantic as Juan teaches Little to swim, complicating notions of masculinity and fatherhood while overturning a racist stereotype. On October 6, 2017 By sophie Through three acts, the film Moonlight (2016) explores three periods of the life of the lonely and sensitive Chiron, who faces the difficult intersectionality of growing up poor, black and gay in late 1980s ⦠The two men didn’t know each other at the time, but they have together brought the hyper specificity and full emotional heft of their lived experience to bear on the story of Chiron, a poor, black, and gay boy who comes of age in a Liberty City housing project. CN Fashion & Beauty, Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 5/25/18) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 5/25/18). That it should feel so radical—for a kid from the projects to be portrayed with a complete, three-dimensional portrait—stirs up a heightened, devastating awareness of how rare a thing this is. Fear, love, and hate all coexist at the same time. As Chiron finds a hiding place, the bullies insults become louder and louder. The focus on the Main Character Throughline, the cinematography, the editingâeverything brings you in close and whispers Chiron's journey of self-actualization.But what really makes the film such an intimate portrayal is the clever omission of a key element of story structure.. LIST OF MOVIES WITH GOOD CINEMATOGRAPHY MOONLIGHT. No words are spoken and the two characters are just staring at one another. Having trouble finding the perfect essay? When Juan talks with his employee and sees him reject a customer, the camera circles around the characters. Laxton explained: “In that moment, when she’s very angry at her son, the pink light tips the audience to a different aspect of her, a different side to her.”, Laxton went to film school with Jenkins in the early aughts, at the Florida State Film School in Tallahassee, where for a time the two were roommates. It’s merely a feature of the landscape, where air is humid, birds chirp, people disappear, and small bills flow in a circle. When Kevin and Chiron wrestle, the camera becomes shaky and cuts to shots of their arms and legs. Moonlight is a coming of age movie of a young African American man through three stages of his life. “When you walk around the city, perspiration is inherent to the experience. Are you interested in getting a customized paper? Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/analysis-of-cinematography-in-moonlight-by-barry-jenkins/, Recieve 100% plagiarism-Free paper just for 4.99$ on email, *Public papers are open and may contain not unique content. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy. In the film, there is a short flash, before the drama builds, in which we see a young Chiron innocently and ⦠The movie follows the story of a young, introverted boy named Chiron through three different periods of adolescence. The scene above takes place at roughly the center point of Barry Jenkinsâ Oscar Winning 2016 queer coming-of-age drama, Moonlight. The green hues and flicker of the florescent lighting enhance the slow motion and camera movement to give us the feeling of a heart broken with violence. “What that’s done over the last, say, 30 years is it has made the audience assume that of these communities. Many of Moonlight’s moving moments happen when actors look directly into the lens, letting the audience look into the character’s eyes and have a deeper emotional connection with the characters. Jenkins’s mom contracted HIV; McCraney’s died of AIDS. Moonlight is such a beautiful experience because of the way Director Jenkins uses color, camera angles, and lighting to connect the audience to the characters. When Chiron finally joins him, the camera jump cuts and it is no longer a long shot as Chiron begins to have fun. “The light in Miami is so specific,” Laxton said. Chiron is changed forever in the preceding scene. Here, it symbolizes the community and tight connection between the boss, employee, and customer. Near the end of the film, Chiron is standing in a doorway but the camera has skewed the perspective by not standing directly in front of the doorway, making Chiron look small and confined. Lighting is used to challenge stereotypes by juxtaposing the dark things that happen to characters with bright and beautiful lights in the background. When Juan beckons Chiron to teach him how to swim, it is a long shot as Chiron decides what to do. Maybe subconsciously we chose it for Moonlight in an effort to depict this community in a brand new light.”. Moonlight is a film about masculinity, the wounds and crises of which are the same for all sexualities, but conditioned by the background weather of race and class. The camera is sped up and closing in on Chiron and his friend, trapping them even further. Elements of Visual Design in the Film Moonlight Essay, The Sexual Identity and Overall Well Being of Chiron in Moonlight, a Film by Barry Jenkins Essay, Structural Analysis Of The Movie Moonlight Essay, The Main Message Of The Film Moonlight Essay, How Opposing Forces Are Interconnected, Interdependent and Complementary Essay, Guilt Or not Guilty: the Delicate Balance of Seeking for Justice Essay, From Villain to victim as highlighted in A clockwork Orange Essay, Analysis of Underlying Themes in Twelve Angry Men Essay. The film’s most famous quote, “In moonlight black boys look blue”, which is shown most providently in the second chapter with its green-blue hue. Before learning any cinematography lighting techniques, youâll need to get familiar with the light youâre working with. The most significant and appreciated scene of the film, where Juan teaches Chiron how to swim, uses symbolism, score, and cinematography in a skillful and touching ⦠When Chiron’s mother begins to leave, she continues to stare at Chiron and walk into the door where the pink lighting was coming from. Jenkins uses all the tools there are in camerawork to create a story that’s personal to each and every person. Moonlight’s camera work and mise-en-scene, specifically the lightning, is one of the film’s most important parts of its cinematography. It’s my job to depict judgment, yet I’m ultimately searching for a way to get the audience to relinquish that judgment and to just be watchful.”, We asked Laxton to describe his approach to shooting four of Moonlight’s most striking scenes, moments in the film when color and camerawork are particularly integral to the story and evocative of the place and people. “We used it as the opposite of that, to show the character alone within this vast frame, to emphasize the isolation.” Laxton added, “It’s a format, a kind of lens, that is associated with large blockbuster movies: the Star Treks, the Star Wars. Moonlight cinematographer James Laxton on shooting one of the film's most iconic scenes â Juan teaching Little how to swim. The theme, being who we truly are and what our environment expects us to be, is the protagonist’s main conflict. Anatomy of a Scene | âMoonlightâ By Mekado Murphy ⢠November 24, 2016 Barry Jenkins narrates a swimming sequence from âMoonlightâ featuring Alex Hibbert and Mahershala Ali. With âMoonlight,â that mode is an overwhelming specificity. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. ... A small but memorable illustration of Laxtonâs theory occurred during the same swimming scene mentioned above. “Those two things are at complete odds with one another. Here, we wash away the old Chiron, and introduce a new one.”, Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 5/25/18) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 5/25/18). Jenkins, 37, was raised by a single mother who became addicted to crack. The bright colors used are different than the usual dark and harsh colors American indie movies that tackle social issues usually have. Analysis of Moonlight's swimming scene. “I think what’s happened is that the realistic aesthetic applied to drug addiction, or lower socioeconomic classes, portrays the characters as having dark or depressive mentalities,” Laxton said. All rights reserved Gradesfixer ™, “Analysis of Cinematography in Moonlight by Barry Jenkins.”, Analysis of Cinematography in Moonlight by Barry Jenkins [Internet]. I first did not understand the scene, analytically as well the cinematographic choices, but the more I look into it, the deeper I realize it is. For example, take the swimming scene. It’s a very familiar interaction. Natural light was used during this scene and the humidity in the air made the actors skin a softer glow. They also used anamorphic lenses, which normally allow multiple characters to play out a scene in the same wide-screen frame. So much is happening behind their eyes. Sophie Gilbert In the next scene, the child, Little (Chiron’s nickname when he is young), played by Alex Hibbert, interacts with the dealer we have already met, Juan, in a way I will characterize only as unexpected. To do this we went for some soft, overhead dramatic lighting with accents of color, one of those being the pink light in the background behind the character Paula. Similar themes are present in both films, but Jenkins’s sophomore film shows how much the filmmaker has improved. Cinematographer James Laxton shot every scene in Moonlight with clear purpose; to capture and express Chironâs inner world from moment to moment. Ad Choices. But Moonlight is more Wong Kar Wai than The Wire. By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. Miami is a sublime fever dream of pastels and neon, lush greens and glistening, perspiring skin tones. So was McCraney, 36. Barry Jenkins 2017âs best picture winner Moonlight has been broadly praised for its cinematography, with one critic claiming âevery shot is seared into my brain.â. Moonlight Sequence Analysis: Cinematography The sequence that sticks out to me in the movie Moonlight is when Juan teaches Chiron how to swim. 2020 Sept 01 [cited 2021 Feb 19]. But a community can also be a cage. According to USA Swimming, approximately 70 ⦠A man teaching a boy how to swim turns into a powerful moment of communion in this scene from âMoonlight,â directed by Barry Jenkins.The film explores a young black manâs coming-of-age in Miami. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below: Sorry, copying is not allowed on our website. This lighting gives the character depth and not just a negative stereotype of an abusive mother. We shot that scene in an hour and a half. When we tell stories about characters in this context, the go-to style is often a bleak realism. It is a lens that has been used on many beloved movies and cinematographer James Laxton has said that “It’s for grand stories and big-scope thoughts. Aesthetic effect refers to the practise of using different elements of a film (mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography and editing) to generate film form. Barry Jenkins, the screenwriter and director behind the beautiful new film Moonlight, grew up in Liberty City, the Miami neighborhood where the story is set. this essay is not unique. The horrors in black and white â The Lighthouse (2019) Cinematographer: Jarin Blaschke. (The teenage Chiron is played by Ashton Sanders in the second act, the adult Chiron by Trevante Rhodes in the third.) The long camera take at the early part of the scene⦠The first decision you need to make when deciding which lights will work the best, is whether you need the light to be hard or soft. Original Misgivings. “Judgment is something I think I’m very concerned with in filmmaking,” Laxton said. This essay has been submitted by a student. The camera, said Laxton, is playing with our associations by saying, in effect, “Here’s something you’ve seen before. If you fit this description, you can use our free essay samples to generate ideas, get inspired, and figure out a title or outline for your paper. Since one of the concepts of our visual language had to do with being immersive, it was a must to put the camera in the water, within the tides and waves of the ocean, to experience the swimming lesson as the characters do. We balance between sensuality and violence, and in this moment, violence triumphs. When Juan breaks down the boards to the house, lights fill the room. Want us to write one just for you? Light bulbs were changed from green to blue during a diner scene later in the film. When inside homes or night scenes, Laxton used color filters on the camera lenses with pinks or greens to make sure that the emotion the characters were feeling came across. It’s something that as a cinematographer you are constantly aware of. The film is separated into three chapters, ‘Little’ as his youth, ‘Chiron’ as his adolescence, and ‘Black’ as his early adult life. In Moonlight, clichés and tropes exist only so they can be upended. It has received critical acclaim and is considered to be one of the best films in the 21st century. The close-up of Chiron after Juan’s offer clearly shows his anxiety. This is done substantively, with the emotional terrain of the characters, and it’s done visually, with angles and light. The way each character talks are also contrasting, Juan speaks relaxed and caring while Chiron does not speak. If you’d like this or any other sample, we’ll happily email it to you. Later in the film when Juan teaches Chiron how to swim, the camera is level to the water so that the audience feels like they are swimming with the characters. While Juan is respected by his peers, Chiron is persecuted by them. A fourth wall break happens when Chiron and his friend look directly at the camera as if the character is talking to the audience. 185,114 Views The Ketchup by Rotten Tomatoes The camera is always placed as close to the actors as possible, so as to put the viewer in the scene. The opening scene of "Moonlight" paints a grim picture. Moonlight’s cinematography uses bold colors and stunning shots to create an emotional experience. Moonlight is a 2016 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.It stars Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali. Dollars from the household of a dealer may end up in Chiron’s pocket and later in the hands of Chiron’s mother, who doubtless will return them to a dealer. The spinning has a dizzying effect, which intends to put our audience in a state of tension, uncertain as to how the scene will play out. The camera stops and Chiron looks to the audience as if beckoning to join him. The entire scene is a single shot, showing how natural Juan fits in the neighborhood with effortless authority. An early scene, tonally atuned to the currents of Carlos Reygadasâs 2007 Silent Light, sees Little learning to swim, transported to another world. It makes the audience absorbed into the scene and sees the intensity of what the character is feeling. How you are depicting someone. Color is one of the first things I notice about the sequence. Laxton calls being part of the main competition "a massive honour", particularly at it ⦠Both films use color to reflect the mood of the scene and what the characters are thinking. This is not an example of the work written by professional essay writers. Chiron’s mother being highlighted in neon pink lights her femininity despite her sour expression. “The idea of judgment. It is through these very techniques that Moonlight, which is up for six Golden Globes and is likely to earn as many Oscar nominations, leaves a lasting impression on your mind and eye, and its impact is not limited to your present field of vision.
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