3819, Adrian, Lost in Translation
**Posted by Adrian Adermann at 10:39 PM
Adrian Adermann
Scene Analysis
August 16 2010
Lost in Translation
Soffia Coppola
Scene from
19:30 – 20:30
Scene Overview:
Bob Murray as a successful actress is in Tokyo to film an advertisement shoot for Suntory whiskey. He finds himself caught up in a midlife crisis when he meets a young lady by the name of Charlotte who is confused about where she is in life. The two find the selves bonding as they explore Tokyo together.
The scene that will be explored is the second photo shoot of Bob Harris. The overview of this scene is mainly made up of the preparation for Bob Harris and the advertisement shot of Suntory whiskey. It is a collection of shots revealing to us the stage layout as well as all the props to be used, accompanied by a backbeat with increasing music complemented by photography noise to heighted the scenes effects.
Descriptive Analysis:
Duration:
Mise-en-scene:
The aim of the scene is to present to the viewers that they are filming the shoot for Suntory. It isn’t indicated in this scene but the location and time period of this section and movie is Tokyo in the year 2002. They reveal to the audience that it is the Suntory shoot in many ways, such as creating an indoor environment that has very dark lighting ideal for advanced cameras with intense flash, having many people walking around the set doing their own individual jobs like the makeup artist and he camera man. Many key props such as the cameras and whisky are being heavily shown to further reinforce that this is well indeed a photo shoot. These are all very important techniques to make it clear that they are doing a photo shoot let alone the Suntory whiskey advertisement shoot.
Colours:
This is an interesting scene for colours, the point being that there isn’t lots of colours involved. Which doesn’t take away the importance of colour but makes the colours that are shown more of a target and more significant. What is key is that there is a lot of colours ranging from black going through to white. This is mainly created from the lighting of the stage but also created for the purpose of presenting to us that the coloured objects are in fact to be focused on and are indeed more important. The most noticeable colour would have to be the orange in the whisky, it is the only colour that stands out this is mainly due to the cameras focusing and un focusing on the whisky but more importantly the saturation of the dark grey around the whisky that heightens the amount of light and orange being presented in the whisky. Other important colours apart from the orange would be the white being used. The white that is being created is mostly being produced by the lighting in the room whether it’s through the flash of the camera or just the general lights in the scene. The white is very important due to the fact that it makes it clear that there is a photo shoot going on. It is clear via the brightness of the white that this is a photo shoot, this is because it is artificial lighting so that they can control there surrounding making it prime for a photo shoot. It is necessary for these colours to be singled out in the way that they are to further reinforce that this is indeed a photo shoot for Suntory whisky.
Sound:
The sound in the scene is unique to this scene only. There are many different noises arraying from the mutter in the background, music, Bob Harris on the phone, sound effects and prop noises. In terms of sound this scene has a lot going on, there are many sound effects to help us see and make it clear that this is a photo shoot. An obvious noise would be the lights heating up preparing for the shoot. It’s interesting to be able to hear how they use all these noise together. When you listen to all of the sound together, it’s almost as if the sound is increasing and preparing us for the shoot. You will notice that the music increase in volume up until there ready for the shoot and once there ready the music fades until there’s no music at all. While the music builds we can hear things like the lights heating up and the ice in the whiskey. The sound is used in very creative ways and put together to create an exciting intro in preparing the audience for the photo shoot.
Music:
The music for this scene would be created just for this movie, it’s only a short amount and it’s a basic back beat. Even tho it’s a basic back beat it’s used effectively to heighten the mood as well as lead us into the photo shoot.
Dialogue:
The dialogue involved is mostly between Bob Harris and what we can presume is his agent. So the only real amount of people talking is two. But there is a lot of mutter going on in the background. We can only hear it as mutter and we can’t really make out any words making them irrelevant and more of a sound effect. The dialogue is mostly about Bob talking with his agent about a business deals and the way the conversation is flowing it sounds as if Bob is refusing the offer of the agent.
Contrasting areas:
The most significant contrasting areas would have to be the lack of colour to colour that actually is shown e.g. the grey backgrounds and lighting to the orange looking whiskey. It is also worth noting the amount of people at the start of the scene to the end it’s goes from lots to just Bob.
Lighting:
This scene is clearly using artificial light for many reason. First being that their trying present to the audience that their doing a photo shoot, this is shown by the lights that are visible are obviously lights pre prepared for the photo shoot and the noise of heating up lights also help us understand that these are artificial. It’s also noticeable that the lighting around the cameras are very dark and only the people are revealed. It only become lighter when they change the focus onto Bob were the scene become quite brighter.
Character Analysis:
Character relationships:
In this scene there are many different characters but the two main characters are Bob Harris and his agent. The relation of these two characters is obviously one of business and they are in a dispute which is yet to be resolved, what makes them the two main characters in this scene is that they have dialogue and for half the scene the camera is on Bob talking on his phone to the agent. The other characters would be the photographers, makeup artists, light people, director, and what we can presume as the owners of Suntory whiskey. These characters don’t have a major role in this scene, but together they helps us to understand that this is a photo shoot.
Character Movement:
There is a large amount of movement throughout this scene this is mainly by the preparation team. The team is mostly coming in and out of the scene due to them getting everything ready but at the very last moment once everything is ready we see the team disappear and Bob swing around on his chair. The biggest movement in this scene would be Bob swinging around on his chair. It is at this point that the direction of this scene changes from preparation to action.
Editing:
Time:
Shot 1 – 19:12 to 19:13 = 1 second
Shot 2 – 19:13 to 19:15 = 2 second
Shot 3 – 19:15 to 19:16 = 1 second
Shot 4 – 19:16 to 19:17 = 1 second
Shot 5 – 19:17 to 19:19 = 2 second
Shot 6 – 19:19 to 19:22 = 3 second
Shot 7 – 19:22 to 19:25 = 3 second
Shot 8 – 19:25 to 19:27 = 2 second
Shot 9 – 19:27 to 19:31 = 4 second
Shot 10 – 19:31 to 20:10 = 39 second
Editing Style:
The editing is interesting because the first half is lots of different shots presenting lots of different things to us. Then the last half is just the one shot of Bob talking on his phone. It’s almost as if it’s been edited to make the first half establish what’s going on and once they’ve established what’s going they can reveal Bob on his phone. The editor has edited it so that the first half is made up of 1 to 5 second shots and then after that there is just on big 39 second shot which is quite a long shot. The editor has also put many interpose shots in making clear that there is a lot going on. We can see that the editor has gotten really creative with how they present this scene, they have used many different shots and transitions to make the scene look better and more enjoyable.
Transitions:
They have used a few blurred transitions which make the scene more eventful and exciting it actually gives us the perspectives that were looking through the camera ourselves. They have even used lights flashing for a transition.
Cinematography:
Shot types:
This scene has many different shots. But is made up of many close up and medium shots, this is mostly due to them trying to focus on key props such as the whiskey. The close up shots a very frequent because this scene is an intro to another scene, the close up shots are used to present the layout of the room and help us better understand stage. They also use many interpose shots which helps us better understand that this scene is very busy. There is also a bit of panning as well.
Camera angle:
For pretty much all the shots the camera is very centred. The camera does however sway a few times is still focused on the prop or character it’s targeting. A few of the camera angles are presented as if a free hand photographer is filming.
Camera Movement:
The camera in this scene has a lot movement and is also very free. But they would have filmed a lot of it with a tripod but some of the scenes are presented as if a hand held camera is being used. They use the effect of hand held camera to present the start of this scene as if someone is presenting scene layout itself. There is also a bit of panning used in this shot as well as an interpose shot with lots of movement going on between the characters. The camera is very centered.
Depth of field:
The depth of field is gererally focusing in and out of what the perticutar shot is looking at. The target in the shot is very centered but the background isn’t really unfocused at all. This scene has been created to present lots of clear shots to us.
Total compostion:
This scene doesn’t have a deep meaning that’s present by focusing on subtle things. It’s very clear that this scene is mostly made up for the purpose of being an intro for the photo shoot. It prepares our selves and makes it very clear what’s coming. But it is a very well created scene by use of sound and shots, they aren’t your typical shots and sound making this scene most effective.
Deconstructive Meaning:
When we look at this scene as a whole and take into account the scene analysis we start to understand the importants of this scene to the following scene and the rest of the movie. Although this scene doesn’t have a deep meaning telling us the true self of Bob Harris or some issue about communism it does out line why Bob Harris is in Tokyo. This scene doesn’t give us a deep meaning that helps get the point of the whole movie, it does however give us preparation and factual information for the scenes to come making it an important scene. When we deconstruct his seen we understand that this is one of the photo shoots for Suntory whiskey.
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