Lost in Translation




Scene Analysis

August 15, 2010

Joanna Wang

Student number: 3435







 
 
Lost in Translation


I. SCENE OVERVIEW:

It is the beginning of the movie, Sofia Coppola uses a quite smart way the introduce the background of this movie which is using voiceover which about a lady, she said welcome to Tokyo with the strong Japanese accent, it tells us this story will happen in Tokyo and the strong Japanese accent buries a hint foreshadowing which is Bob will feel unaccustomedness in the Tokyo, because he is a foreigner from western country.

Shot Size: long full shot to full shot



Sound:



Depth of Field:

After this scene, the background music ring, it is a soft and slow lady’s voice with the sad emotion, why Sofia Coppola choose this style of melody, because at the beginning of movie, she want use a piece of music to demonstrate the inner emotion of Bob, he sitting in the car with the tired and confused look and with piece of sad, slow music, it makes audience feel heavy heart while they which this sense.




This scene has been built by two shots, which is Bob’s face and street view and the Tokyo street view is quite beautiful, but the main character is Bob, how to let audience pay attention on Bob, not street view ? So Sofia Coppola uses a clever way to deal with this problem which is Depth of Field, she makes the background (street) blur, that audience can focus on Bob’s face, and catch the emotion of Bob, but at the same time, audience can still see the beautiful street and colorful neon light, it makes the contrast.

Shot Type: close shot

At the beginning, Sofia Coppola uses close up to focus on Bob’s face, that audience can catch or guess the some information at the beginning of movie straight way, such as who is the main character, and from Bob’s face, audience maybe can guess part of movie theme that Sofia Coppola want to express which is lonely or something.




Camera angle:


Then the camera becomes medium shot

Audience all know Bob is sitting in a car, and this scene likes suspense, people may think Bob will go some where, and Bob is looking outside from the window and people will guess maybe Bob will see something later, this scene grab audience’s eyes, and makes audience really want to know what happen next, it is a great way to catch attention.

Next Sofia Coppola uses the other shot type which is call “point of view”


Shot Type: medium shot


We talked about Sofia Coppola makes a question at the medium shot, so she gives us the answer by using point of view, so we can know he sees alive Tokyo street, it makes a huge contrast between Bob and people in the street, so we can suddenly feel the lonely and helpless of Bob.


Camera angle: the camera angle is even close to eyes level.


And we can also know Bob sees an advertisement, and Bob is on this advertisement, the film so far, audience may know Bob is an idol, he came to Japan wants do something and he feels lonely and helpless.

This film just uses some simple shot type that introduces clearly the background of main character – Bob.


Camera angle: full shot and long


Depth of Field:

From Bob’s car window he can saw the Tokyo night. This shot is following the car moving and camera is long and full of them. The bustling cities and his mood contrast it. The mysterious city, he was so tired. The lens for night he was about this long and lonely travelling.