Film Babel analyzed

ASSIGNMENT 1 Narrative structures / Patterns of Parallelism

Internal and external description of the first scene: After the voleyball match in which she participated in the morning Chieko has a meeting with her team mates at the ‘‘J-Pop’’. Her father leaves her in front of the club reminding her about her appointment later the same day for the dentist. The scene begins with Chieko entering the club. The host keeps asking her something. Unable to understand what she’s been asked Chieko tries reading from her lips but fails and instead just points at the table she wants to go to and passes by leaving the host in puzzlement. She greets her friends and her first question is why they have chosen the table in the corner. Her friend’s aswer includes a sign with eyes to look at the table next to them. A group of young boys is sitting there. When Chieko does so she is instantly attracted to one of the boys. Unconsciensly she starts staring at him. He notices and just for a moment they make an eye contact. The boy looks away and so does Chieko. A burst of laughter follows when her friends see what is going on.

Chieko and her best friend leave the table and go to another room to play some video games.

Internal and external analisys of the first scene: As Chieko enters the club we can see the confusion on her face while trying to read what the host is saying from her lips. She is constantly bewildered and feels like an outcast. After her mother’s death Chieko is barely communicating with her father. Her mother was the only one who trully understood her. Their alienation leads to a complete lack of parental control from her father’s side and it looks like she is trying to find a substitule of this lack of attention. When she sees the boy from the opposite table she is entirely interested in him in a romanic way. She likes him and we can see this from her reaction after they make an eye contact. She laughs and looks down because of her bashfulness. There are no second thoughts on her mind when she looks at him and we can say that her motives are pure.

Internal and external description of the second scene: After suffering a rejection on the side of the boys sitting on the opposite table, Chieko and her friends return to their table. There is a new company sitting on the table next to them which, again, consists of boys only. Chieko had previosly removed her underwear in the restwoom of the club. She starts staring at one of the boys on purpose. As soon as she manages to make an eye contact with him she flashes him.

The boy is shocked and he tells all of his friends. When they turn back to look at Chieko, she does it again. Their reaction is a mixture of surprise and rapture. In the next moment Chieko receives an sms from her father reminding her about the dentist appointment and she has to leave. Passing by her main ‘‘victim’’ she gives him a triumphant look, while he’s staring at her in fascination.

Internal and external analisys of the second scene: Chieko is unable to handle any form of rejection. When she and her friend return from the restroom she had already made a decision to take control over her own faith and to take action. Her determination is relentless. When Chieko makes an eye contact with one of the boys from the opposite table her intentions are completely different.

She has no romantic interest in him but rather wants to prove herself that she is desired. She wants to shock as a response to the rejection. Chieko is obsessed with how the male gaze sees her. She wants to be objectified and this is made to ppear self-provoked. The obsence of patriarchal control in her househols, also, contributes to Chieko’s reckless sexual behaviour. She is completely obsesed with attracting male attention and once she succeeds she feels like a conqueror triumphing over her ‘‘prey’’. This is,also, the inciting moment in the story of Chieko, because her succeeding actions prove that Chieko’s attitude will completely change from now on.

She has set a goal – to have sex - and will do whatever it takes to achieve it.

Pattern of parallelism: The repetitive elements in the scene are the following elements: the action takes place in the same place (same table). The characters are the same – Chieko and her friends. They are also wearing the same clothes which indicates the action takes place on the same day. The variation is expressed by the people sitting next to them – the boys from the first and second scene are different. Nevertheless, both of the groups are objects of Chieko’s interest. The type of interest she shows towards them

is quite different. In the first scene Chieko has a romantic interest in one of the boys.

She is even shy and nervous when looking at him. In the second scene Chieko’s only purpose is to shock and to scandilize. She can’t bear rejection and this is her way of expressing her feelings. This also indicates the difference which is expressed by the change of Chieko’s character. As a leitmotif can be regarded the specific camera positions. They are all framgentary shots of her body parts revealing her legs or buttocks, for example.

ASSIGNMENT 2 Action Lines and Planes in Cinematography

Description of the action lines at work within the scene: The scene opens up with a view of the setting which is the dessert. Then it moves towards the ambiance in the bus. The tourists are laughing, looking at pictures and the overall spirit is cheerful. Then we see Richard reading a book and his wife Susan who is resting her head on the window. She is looking out of the window. The next thing that is shown to us is the couple’s hands. Susan puts her hand over his. Then the camera again moves to Richard’s face. He looks down and sees she is holding his hand. Then he looks at Susan, but they don’t make eye contact because she is still looking out of the window. The camera defocuses him and shows her. Then, again we see from a different angle that Richard is looking at her. Their hands are shown again but Susan slowly removes her hand. Richard’s face is shown and afterwards Susan’s but again no eye contact is made between them. We see an outside image of the bus which is quickly replaced by the image of Richard’s book, His face again and Susan’s in the background. Susan has fallen asleep. A seemingly unexplainable crack in the window appears and Susan starts to faint. Richard notices right away and asks her what is happening. In the next moment we can see that her white blouse is soaked in blood. Richard notices that. His louder voice makes the other passengers panic and wonder what is going on. Then we see an extreme close up of the wound and Richard holding his wife trying to help her.

Analysis of the action scene at work within the scene: Susan and Richard are on vacation trying to recover from the trauma of their child’s death. Their marriage is unstable and Susan has doubts that she can forgive Richard’s actions after the baby’s death. Instead of being there for her and supporting her he escapes trying to deal with the pain his own way. From the begining of the scene we can see that they are very alienated. They make no single eye contact during the whole scene. Susan preferes to watch outside her window even though her thoughts are somewhere else and her mind is wandering. When she puts her hand on Richard’s it gives the viewer a sense that there is still something

between them and even hope to recover their relationship. However, Susan still doesn’t take her eyes of outside of the bus and we are unable to decide what she is thinking about and what is the reason to put her hand over his. She slowly removes her hand which illustrates how small the chances for their relationship to be repaired are. Even though she might have had a moment of warmth towards Richard in the next moment it just vanishes. When she is shot Richards panics and tries to do something but he is helpless. The quick camera movements which make this part of the scene a bit blurry reflect his own state of mind – he still hasn’t realised what has happened and his actions are desperate. Also, the image of the muslim woman the bus passes by are undefined and vague.

Description and analysis of the use of the three planes in the scene: The scene opens up with a some shots of the setting in the dept plane – a very high angle. It shows the setting but also creates the feeling that they are in the middle of nowhere. The bus looks even smaller than it is on the huge open space. It,also, exagerates its insignificance in comparison to the endless desert. The next plane used is the frame plane - a very wide shot. But its only function is to serve as an orientation to the viewer the action takes place We see the ambiance in the bus from several different angles – high and eye level in the dept plane. They have no fixed meaning in this case, but rather just allow the audience to feel the general mood. It, also, creates a sharp contrast between the purpose of all those people being there and Richard and Susan’s motivation. The dominant mood in the bus is also shown using mid shots and medium close-ups in the frame plane.

Next we see the two main characters – Susan and Richard - and it is important to mention that we never see them next to each other in the same shot – either Susan is in the background while the camera is concentrated on Richard or vice versa. This indicates the alienation and rupture between them. Each one of them is looking in his own direction. They never make eye contact throughout the whole scene and to be more precise Susan avoids looking at him. This, also speaks how disappointed she is of him. The first plane used is the dept plane and it is an eye-level angle. The next plane is the frame plane and extreme close-up are used. The purpose of this is to

show the tension between Richard and Susan and is an indicator of the crisis in their relationship. Those extreme close-ups also make the viewer leave his comfort zone because we feel intimately close to the characters.

From the very begining we can see the Hollywood-centric focus on Susan, whose grief is signalled by her expressions seen in the close-ups. Those shots of Susan are in the dept plane and, also, there are eye-level shots in the frame plane. The extremete close-ups create intimacy. We see her as if we are sitting next to her in the bus. This, also, makes us focuse on her facial expression and especially her eyes which speak better that words. Her face communicates her feelings – anger, grief, pain, disappointment. From the geographical plane – when she is almost looking at the camera – we see that there is something on her mind, some burden, something that can’t give her peace.

The camera frequently lingers on Susan’s face but does not penetrate the surface.

Therefore, the shots of the Moroccan desert and people as seen from inside the bus are primarily there to set the scene. They are hign angle in the dept plane which creates the feeling that we are looking at them as if we are inside the bus and midshots in the frame plane. Although, Susan is looking outside of the window presumably at them and the camera is concentrated on them, we do not actually see what she is looking at because her own gaze remains largely unmediated to the viewer.

We, again, see Susan’s face in the frame plane – an extreme close-up and in the dept plane – eye-level shot. She is almost looking at the camera, which is the geographical plane, which creates the feeling that she is thinking about something particular.

The close-up fragment shots in the frame plane focus on her hands and those of Richard’s finally joining to show the difficulties in their relationship and the potential for reconciling. The dept plane is neutral. The line of action is between Susan and Richard.

We see some in between shots where the focus is on Richard’s surprise of Susan’s action. It looks like Richard is directing his view directly in the camera which is the goegraphical plane, while Susan looks away. These shots of Richard are extreme close-ups in the frame plane and eye-level in the dept plane.

Close ups in the frame plane of the hands show Susan’s hand slowly letting go Richard’s. This shows the viewer that the couple still has a long way to go. The dept plane is neutral.

An extreme close up in the frame plane, worm angle in the dept plane of the bus entering the camera creates suspense. These is no reason why they are showing the bus as seen from outside.

Then, an unbearably long take marks the pivotal transformative moment,with the camera unblinkingly focusing on Susan until the gun-shot takes place. It’s in slighty hign angle in the dept plane and a medium close up in the frame plane.

The switch from still camera position to a haze of extreme confusion filmed in closeup in the frame plane after the shooting, signals the switch in Susan’s position from holiday-maker to victim and recipient of shelter and care from the locals. The Dutch angle is used to express the general confusion and desperation of Richard.

ASSIGNMENT 3 Editing

Scene 1 Internal and external analysis After Amelia receives a call from Richard who tells her that she has to take care of the children on her day off, she tries to find someone else to replace her just for the day. She had already made plans – to visit her son’s wedding. However, unable to find anyone, she decides to take Mike and Debbie with her. Her nephew Santiago is the driver. In this scene the viewer follows the journey from San Diego to Mexico.

Dimension(s) of editing- Relation(s) The scene consists of many shots between which there isn’t a smooth transition. Although these images are seemingly different, they all represent the Mexican culture. This is a thematic relation. Also, the time is compressed and we only see images which represent the distance. This is a temporal relation. As the scene progresses we also see Amelia’s son getting a haircut at the barber. We assume that the trip and the haircut are two parallel actions which also creates a spacial relation.

The editor wanted to compress time, but at the same time express how Mexico looks and feels like. He attentively chose the most revealing of the Mexican culture pictures. The scene is saturated with numerous typically Mexican images which change sharply and swiftly. Not only the distance is compressed, but using this method we can feel the transition from typically American to typically Mexican environment so we can experience the wedding better. The shots of Amelia’s son which are intertwined with the images of the streets, also, help the viewer prepare for the upcoming scenes of the wedding. The streets and their diversity overwhelm the eye. The viewer is given literally only a few seconds to perceive what is being shown to him. Although the scene is only 4 minutes, it feels like we were there throughout the whole journey.

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Scene 2 Internal and external analysis After trying to reach the embassy for help and transportation of Susan to the nearest hospital, a helicopter finally arrives at the village of the guide where Susan and Richard are staying. All villagers are on the street to see how Susan gets lift into the helicopter. Richard tries to pay the guide for his help, but the guide refuses to take his “ American” money. This shows the capitalistic mind of the American. The viewer follows the helicopter and see how day changes into night. When they arrive at the hospital we see that American press and people form the government are there to “support” the American couple after this tragic “ terrorists” attack. The viewer sees Richard waiting for a doctor to give him news about his wife. When the doctor tells him he needs to operate, he can only pray for a good ending.

After this Richard makes a phone call home.

In the beginning the viewer believes all three story are continuous, until we actually see Richard make a phone call home. We now know that the story of Amelia has a late point of attack. This is clarified in minute 09.05 where we see Amelia babysitting on the children of Richard and Susan when Richard makes the call form the hospital. The whole Mexican story still didn’t take place.

Dimension(s) of editing- relation(s) This scene consist of shots that are edited continuously. We see the that every shot is chronologically edited one after another. There is non-diegetic sound in the scene which creates a rhythmic relation - a slightly sad music which accompanies the action. We follow the couple with rhythmically edited shots from the village, the helicopter flight, their arrival at the hospital and Richard waiting in the hospital. This is to build up the tension whether Susan will survive or not. The distance between the village and the hospital is made clear by the change from day into night. This is a temporal relationship, where the shots are compressed to visualise the time effect.

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Scene 3 Internal and external analysis This is the last scene of the film where Lieutenant Mimiya leaves the apartment of Chieko and her father. For a minute it seems as if the police officer no longer wants to be involved in the investigation and wants to leave Chieko and her father to rest.

Mimayo feels emotionally devastated about the story Chieko had told him. He wants to leave the situation to recover or rethink about just happened. When he comes across Chieko’s father in the lobby and finds out she had lied to him about her mother’s cause of death of feel the impending danger and possibility that the girl could have committed suicide. For a minute the viewer believes that Chieko had jumped of the balcony. We see how Maya walks the street and regrets leaving her. As her father gets up with the elevator and enters the house the stretching of time which this takes builds up the situation tenser. The viewer feels like he is going to find her dead or trying to jump out of the balcony. Then we switch to a restaurant were Mimaya is having couple of drinks and takes out the note Chieko had given him from his pocket. The camera switches to the news on TV that explains the discharge of Susan Jones from a hospital in Morocco. This is the moment which creates closure for the viewer of the story of Richard and Susan. At the same time the scene again switches to Chick’s apartment. The viewer first believes her father will look down and see his daughter laying on the cold floor, but he looks to the right and sees his daughter naked at the edge of the balcony. Chieko’s story reaches closure when she emotionally reaches out to her father after being rejected by a series of emotionally unavailable men. The reaching out is not only emotional, but also – and most importantly – physical. In this final scene, a naked girl is embraced by her father as they stand on their apartment's balcony against a nighttime Tokyo view. Chieko’s pale naked body renders her vulnerable and creates a stark contrast next to her father’s dark suit. Her father visually covers up part of her nakedness by hugging her, which makes the underlying sexual connotations all the more disturbing. The camera slowly leaves the father and his daughter holding each other alone and we see them fade out and become small parts of the big city.

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Dimension(s) of editing- relation(s) The scene is quiet, shots take long and the viewer gets repeatedly placed on the wrong track. When Mamiya leaves the building we see a rough cut, he now suddenly walks on the street of Tokyo. The viewer experiences a spatial relation between what happens with Mamiya and with Chieko’s father in the elevator. This seems to happen at the same time. To compress time we also see a temporal relation, because after walking the street only a few seconds later Mamiya is drinking in a restaurant, and asks for another drink. This gives the idea that he has been there for a while. Then the camera switches to a story on television by using a special relation in editing. The presenter talks about the American Susan Jones who is discharged form an Moroccan hospital. The path of Chieko’s father takes a little longer to build up the tension whether Chieko threw herself of the balcony or not.

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ASSIGNMENT 4 The ‘invisibility’ of mise en scene Description of the scene The viewer sees Yoesef and his brother leading the goat back home after the shooting accident with Susan. We see ripped newspaper images of football heroes on the wall and get a look in there house. Yoesef and his brother feel guilty, their mother and sister wonder why thee are at home. Yoesef makes up a story that they ate something wrong. This isn’t a valid argument to stay away from other chores to do. We see how Yoesef looks at his sister. His sister who he always spies on, to have sexual feelings to vent. They know it is wrong but, the sister just lets it happen. Later Yoesef’s father returns home, he tells the boys to warn their mother to prepare dinner. We see how they eat traditional Maroccan food with their hands.

First the father asks the boys if they killed any Jackals with the riffle, then the mother asks the father why he is home so late. He explains that the road was closed because some terrorist shoot an American tourist. Yoesef asks if the American is killed and his father says: ‘‘That is what the told’’. Yoesef and his brother now know they are the ‘‘terrorists’’ the police is looking for.

Analysis of mise en scene category one: Setting, decors and properties The viewer experiences the daily job of Yoesef and his brother - they don’t go to school, but instead take care of the herd. They take out the goats to eat in the dry lands of the Maroccan dessert. They have the responsibility for their own incomes and food supplies. This scene shows the “deplorable” conditions of a poor farmer family in Morocco. The setting is in comparison with the scenes where the American tourist are shown and it creates a contrast in the way they live. The family doesn’t have much belongings, a house that almost seems to fall apart and that is very small. They eat what they can pay or grow or keep themselves. In the decor we see that they don’t have normal beds, and eat with their fingers from the same tajine of food, the mother has prepared. The house is probably made out of clay to keep them warm in during the night and cool during the days in the dessert. They do have one little source of electricity for lightning, and it seems like there are small separated rooms, one for the boys, other for the girls. The props that are used to make them appear even poorer are the ripped newspaper “dream” football players that hang on the wall. This highlights that the boys have a dream but because they are destined to be goat shepherds, they know there is no way out. They choose to highlight how this typical Moroccan family lives with the traditional setting, decor, and properties to let the viewer experience the conditions they live in. As a scene in the whole movie it is especially used to make the contradiction between the American capitalistic life and the poor Moroccan farmers life. They also do this to build up the

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tension for Susan's health. Will the poor conditions in these Moroccan villages worsen her medical condition by getting inflammation? The viewer literally feels the dirt and unhygienic conditions, and smells the smell of the skinned goats hides.

Analysis of mise en scene category two: Lightning The viewer expierences the setting of this scene in a greyish, more darker setting. With lightning they have highlighted or aroused certain feelings of time span and try to highlight the guilt of the shutters. When we enter the house of Yoesef and his family see that the color of the frames turns more into red. Red is used as a cinematographic element troughtough the whole film to highlight victimization. In frame two we see two sources of light that appear to be “ natural� light from outside. They have highlighted the room on the left side through the window and on the right side. Both boys stay in the shadow, this could have been done to highlight their guilt and their evil accidental action. In frame 3 we see that the mother walks in and wonders why the boys are home. Here we see that they used low key lightning on the mother and on the sister. Still it seems like that this light comes from a natural source. They did this to highlight the guilt again. Then we see Yoesef’s brother in frame 4 and Yoesef in frame 5. Here they used high key lightning to create high contrast. Yoesef has done something terribly wrong and the contrast is created by a shadow behind him. This stands for the evil action again.

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Then they have used a sky shot in between in frame 6. This is to show the change from day to night. In frame 7,8,and 9 they have initially left lightning. Darkness or shade creates here more tention (What if father knows, or finds out?). In the next frame the food is highlighted form above that gives a clear vision what the family is eating and that they are eating with their fingers. In frame 11 Yoesef’s brother and father are highlighted by using high key lightning on the left side. In frame 12 the only lightsource seems to be the burning light on the right, but we can also see that the high key lightning on the right side to highlight the mother as part of the family. In frame 13 they have used low key lightning to highlight Yoesef’t brother. And in frame 14 the have used high key lightning to highlight Yoesef. The viewer can only see the right side of his face the left side is deliberatly left in the dark to highlight his guilt in this story again.

The function of the use of mise en scene in the film as a whole With the mise en scene we get an inside look in how Yoessef and his family lives, and what they do. This Maroccan story as well as the Mexican story are using a lot of stereotypical mise en scene elements to exalt Americans and their capitalism. But it is, also, used as a critism to American capitalism. Mise en scene elements like posters on the wall make you feel sympathy for the boys as well. They have a dream but they are never going to be a football player or anything else than goat shepperd. The lightning is not only a mise en scene element but also a cinematographic. The reddish lightning is used to highlight the victimization and pain.

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ASSIGNMENT 5 Sound

An internal analysis of the narrative development in the scene itself After a series of rejections Chieko continues to crave male attention more and more eagerly. Haruki – the cousin of a friend of hers - draws her attention and becomes her new ‘‘target’’. In this scene she does everything possible to get close to and even intimate with him. This includes taking drugs and drinking and then going to a disco.

She follows him closely and trusts all of his decision. Even though when they enter the disco she can’t hear the music which makes it physically impossible for her to enjoy herself, she pretends that she’s having fun only because she wants to stay in his company. The ambiance in the disco is completely unfamiliar to anything she has experienced so far. She is desoriented and loses view of what is happening around her. She tries imitating the people around her but she simply can’t fit. There is a moment in which she just stays still trying to feel the emotions and euphoria around her and to absorb them. This is the moment in which she loses Haruki. When she sees him kissing her friend this is another disappointment and failure of her goal. She is not only devastated by this unexpected turn, but almost reaches desperation. We can feel this in her next actions.

An external analysis of the narrative context in which the scene functions in the film as a whole Until this scene, Chieko has been rejected by at least three men. Some of them are emotionally unavailable,like the dentist, while others simply don’t feel comfortable with the fact that she is deaf-mute and that this would make a relationship too complicated and it would take too much effort to communicate with her, like the boys from the J-Pop club. This doesn’t discourage her but instead makes her want to reach her goal no matter the price. Chieko measures her self-worth according to the male attention she attracts. When she succeeds in provoking the opposite sex’s attention she feels fulfilled and complete. When she doesn’t she becomes depressed and is easily irritated. Her readyness to do everything includes taking drugs with almost complete strangers.

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An identification of all categories of sound used in the secene/s The scene uses diegetic internal, diegetic external and non-diegetic sounds. In the begining the sound is non-diegetic. As they walk on the streets we hear the music and see different images of the Tokyo streets but don’t know where it is coming from.

The moment they enter the disco club the music becomes diegetic because we know that the source of it is the club itself. When Chieko and the whole company get in the dance hall Chieko’s unability to hear the music is presented in short pediods of time to the viewer because a deaf person’s point of view cannot be conveyed for a prolonged period of time. We hear what she’s hearing and it’s complete silence. This is internal diegetic sound.

An analysis of how each category of sound contributed to the narrative development and impact of the scene/s and film as a whole.

As the scene opens we see Chieko and her friends walking in the streets of Tokyo.

They are still under the influence of the drugs and alcoohol they had taken. The melody we hear and which is non-diegetic represents their mental condition in this moments and how the drugs have influenced their perceptions, senses and way of thinking. We, also, see several times Chieko hugging Haruki which creates expectation that something is going to happen between them. It is a very hectic scene. Shots of the group and the city changes every few seconds which creates a sense of dizziness. This illustrated how they are feeling at that moment. The music only increases the feeling of detachment with reality and emphasises how the characters are feeling. They are playing with each other, shoving with people. When they enter in one of the nighclubs the music turns diegetic, because it is played in the club itself. It, also, clarifies to the viewer why we have been hearing it since the begining of the scene. The catchy dance music that starts playing once the group enters the club makes the viewer temporarily forget that Chieko cannot hear the music. As soon as the viewer starts getting into the beat, the music abruptly stops and thus shocks the viewer back into Chieko’s perspective. The complete absence of sound illustrates how sound is manipulated and events are filtered through various sensibilities. The recurrent interruption of the music shows us not only what it is like to feel isolated and discriminated against due to a hearing disability, but it goes even further and tries to convey Chieko’s subjectivity. In the end of the scene, just before Chieko decides to leave the muted sound is synchronous with a plot development 21

and the music in the nightclub sound is off when she sees the guy she is interested in kissing her friend. This, again, puts a strong emphasis on her point of view and makes the viewer feel as she is feeling at the moment – disappointed, misled and dissatisfied with herself.

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