SCENE SNSYLSIS
Lost in translation
Intro Cinema E
3355
Yoon Jeong Hwang

Ⅰ. SCENE OVERVIEW
Bill Murray plays Bob Harris, an ageing, washed up Hollywood star spending a week in Tokyo advertising ropey Japanese whisky. Although he does not speak a word of the native language, Bob’s confusion lies far deeper; he is lost from his family, who communicate with him from the States almost solely via fax. These messages are not letters of love, longing and affection however; they are inane reminders, pestering him about which colour carpet he would like for his study. Cleary the marriage has reached the point where the thoughts are still there, but the feeling is not.
Equally confused is Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson, who has also found herself lost in Tokyo, this time on a trip with her photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi). Two years into their marriage and it’s already starting to tarnish; unfulfilled by the vacuous souls she meets as part of her husband’s job, her frustrations are exacerbated by the fact that she is unable to work out what she wants to do with her life. It doesn’t help of course that her husband is an idiot, all be it a well-meaning idiot. When he goes away for a few days she strikes up a friendship with Bob and they form a bond which lifts them out from their bewildering milieu and grows into a love that sadly will never develop further.

Ⅱ. SCENE ANAYLSIS

  
Duration: 00 : 39 : 13 ~ 00 : 39 : 59

Setting: Window in the hotel room

Shot Size:
This is a long full shot to medium shot and close up then long full shot again.

Sound:
Music is a big part of the film. But this scene does not have any music or sound. I think, the
Charlotte’s mind is like that no exciting, funny, interesting… maybe director intends these emotions by no sound.

Contrast Dominants:
The Charlotte is dress in very light gray and pink clothing and if it were not for the light shining directly upon her, we might lose her all together in this shot. The background is obviously a screen and she blends into the area that she stands in front of. The silhouettes of the trees in G1, G3, G4, and G5 contrast the overall lightness of the shot and help to direct one’s eyes to the center of the frame.

Character Movement:
The Charlotte’s movement within this shot is the main focus. She moves rapidly back and forth along the x-axis and then to the side on the y-axis.

Camera Movement:
The camera steadily moves back at a very slow pace as the Charlotte moves closer towards the camera. This movement is necessary in order to keep the focus of the shot on the movement of the Charlotte while keeping her in a steady medium shot.

Camera Angle:
The angle of the camera is at an even eye level. There is no high or low angle. Angle composition is like that when Charlotte turns her head to look at the outside, camera moves to the opposite side with her eyes. We know the director want to value the character’s
psychological focus above everything else.

Focus:
Pan focus for the Charlotte’s psychological focus. And the camera work is awesome. This movie is filmed from a truly third person perspective, where we are only able to observe this relationship, but never really get inside their relationship...but it works.

Color:
The movie’s color is mostly blue. We can feel the blue color like lonely, cold and something like that. So this scene also wants to show the same feeling by the color mode because the character always has a depressed mind.

Edit:
Genially window means like that it is used to connect between inside space and outside space. But this scene shows the other meaning. The window is used to separate between the character and unfamiliar surroundings. So we feel a sense of alienation and isolation like a stranger from the character.

Lighting:
The director makes character’s shadow by using back lighting. It can show the character’s feeling. She spends too much time vegetating in front of the window but people in the outside the window move busily. It is the contrasting spaces. It appeals the character’s melancholy feeling and is a concerned indirectly.