Metropolis (1927)

To start the research of the film project Heidi and i are required to look at lots of films for inspiration and expand our knowledge of film. For our melancholic and wind attributes of film we will have to look at films and directed styles to see how directors create atmosphere and mood. This can be looking at lighting, composition, camera angles and props. Sound is also an element we have to consider.

Metropolis (1927)

Director Fritz Lang

Starring: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein- Rogge, Gustav Frihlich

Metropolis is a classic science fiction film from the silent era. Directed by Fritz Lang it was for the time a massive budget and scale film with a cast of over 2000 people. Set in the future Metropolis is a grand city divided into working and the wealthy elite class. The story follows the collapse in the cities social system as the working class protest for better working conditions and life style. The laborers are worked like machinery in the depths of tunnels, bellow the towering luxurious life style of the wealthy. The special effects for these times were awe inspiring and inventive, Lang produced a highly stylized vision of future capital cities that is not far off the reality. The elite frolic above the clouds and the workers toil day and night inside 'the belly of the gigantic machine' that runs the entire city. The city is controlled by a sinister authoritarian man whose son, Freder rebells against his fathers principles and attitude towards his poorly treated laborers. The workers on the verge of riot and violence, are encouraged by a young woman Maria to embrace patience and silent strength. Her influence is discovered by A mad scientist kidnaps Maria creating a robot in her image with the aim of leading the workers to revolt. Freder races against time to save the real Maria and reveal the identity of the fake Maria. A moral to the entire story runs throughout "The mediator between head and hands must be the heart". This finishes the film with Freder and Maria mediating the wealthy and the workers to live together and listen to each other.

The stills above are from a 5 second section of Metropolis. These are the images seen when Freder walks in on his father and what he thinks to be Maria (his love interest) Bearing in mind this film was created in 1927 the special effect are very clever. This sequence is our favorite due to the way it layers and layers multiple images fading from one to the other. The sequence is so fast you don't catch everything involved like the white blast scratches and white circles, you do get the distress and upset that Freder is going through. The narrative reads he is distressed and sees things in his head like many many eyes watching him, Marias multiple faces spinning round the screen to Freder falling through beams of light into darkness and the final shot is of Freder in bed ill and we understand he is ill from this new information and leads to him tossing dreaming in bed. The sequence of images and way this has been stitched together to tell a story is inspirational for our film. As we start to think about locations styling and story boarding we find multiple shots that need to find a story. Particularly sections where the character will move from one Marko Mitanovski style dress to another.