MAN ON FIRE

Matt Winkelried

Film Theory

February 11, 2010

Professor Jonathan Rattner

Midterm essay

Throughout the course of the semester, we as a class have been discussing what the line is between film art and entertainment in cinema. Film is a piece of work that touches and invokes the senses of the audience. Andrew states in his book, "In film the senses perceive attractions, but cinematic meaning is generated only when the mind leaps to their comprehension attending to the collision of these attractions,” (Major Film Theories, 52). In the particular case I am talking about I recently viewed the film Man on Fire starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Directed by Tony Scott, this film is about an ex-soldier/hired gunman to protect a family (mainly the daughter) who live in Mexico City. The film follows Washington’s character as he tries to find and take revenge on those who kidnapped the young girl. We can distinguish and identify that the appearance of formalism, which is a symbolic and stylized manner of production, is This film does a great job of using multiple techniques that we have discussed in class that make it both film art and an entertaining piece of film.

Tony Scott does a great job of telling the story of this protagonist through many techniques. When it comes to camera work, one important aspect is the use in the film is the wide-open shot, and accompanied with the cinematography of the city. This gave me and I believe every viewer the true essence of the city. As discussed in class and from the Balázs reading, these filmmakers and us as the viewers use these camera techniques to understand what the character is seeing and when combined as a whole (the finished film) we interpret what the expressions or emotions the characters are having or what the filmmaker wants us to have. As Balasz states and is written in Film Theory & Criticism, “But a good film with its close ups reveals the most hidden parts in our polyphonous life, and teaches us to see the intricate visual details…” (FTC, 274). Close-ups, panning and other types of shots are used strategically through out the film.

Immedialty in the first four minutes of the film, when Denzel’s character is driving into the city, we are right in the face of John Creasy. This shot is used over and over as the character develops a relationship with the young girl. This technique helps us see the transformation of a relationship between the two characters. As said in Film Theory & Criticism, “Close-ups are often dramatic revelations of what is really happening under the surface of appearance,” (FTC, 274). This is a clear cut example of Balasz formalism in that it is the technical aspect of film that makes film art. An interesting example was used in the piece, when they describe a scene of a character where the camera is depicting a close-up of his fingers nervously fumbling a small object. We can instantly make the assumption that he is either worried or nervous. How this contributes to being film art is the fact that we are entering the characters identity. We are feeling exactly what he/she is feeling at that moment. Close-ups can also help set the mood of a scene. Having the camera angled to where everything looks as if it is closing in on you, it gives you the feeling and mood of the environment shown to us in the movie. Other camera techniques can provide different methods of knowledge to the viewer. And by knowledge I mean when the audience discovers something before the protagonists do. The best method is the use of ease dropping on conversations characters are having. These techniques are the mechanism that create film art.

The style of editing in this film was in my opinion superb. Reason being is that the style of editing used not only helps us understand what the character is thinking or seeing but is a clear-cut example of formalism. In Andrews piece The Major Film Theories, he interpreted Eisenstein’s view of montage as, “Montage is the instrument of this heightened consciousness…takes inarticulate of banal elements and fuses them into ideas too rich for words…shapes these felt ideas into a grand syncretic emotional event, an event capable of reorienting our thought and our action,” (Major Film Theories, 57). A more in depth example is the quick cuts used. When John Creasy (the main character) has these “flashbacks” and memories of the young girl, which is an effective tool to keep the audience involved in taking revenge on the kidnappers. This technique of the quick cut and distorion of the shot, also can help understand the frustration and intensity that the specific scene or moment is showing us. For example, when Denzel has the corrupted cop tied to the hood of the car, spontaneous moments are repeated. To me this gave me the feeling of anxiousness and uncertainty of what will happen next. These memories are displayed through a series of quick cuts and montage editing. As I interpreted in Brandy and Cohen’s piece Film Theory & Criticism, This technique is a key tool that helps separate the film apart from reality and it’s purpose and function as cinema, not only keying us to a representation of reality.

Eisenstein, as discussed in class as well as the reading, believed that editing and its role in our perception of reality in film was very important. As discussed in Film Theory & Criticism, they discuss how Eisenstein believed that each shot is individual in its self and has individual meaning. From the text of Film Theory & Criticism, “The old filmmakers…regarded montage as a means of producing meaning by adding individual shots to one another like building blocks,” (FTC, 27). To interpret this in an easier sense to me, editing is similar to the blood that pumps into the human heart in which gives us life. So editing gives life and understanding to a film. Without it, it would be hard to describe a certain message a filmmaker would try to convey if he used words. Arnheim and Eisenstein both have similar views on reality and its role on screen. The reproduction of it is merely not enough, it only temporarily fosters our emotions. Real cinema takes fragments of the present world transforming and humanizing it by presenting it through editing to fully stimulate that feeling.

Explained in this essay, formalism is what makes film art. The theorists who have studied this idea of formalism and how its techniques contribute to the film creators strive to distort reality. Now any film can use these techniques and camera styles to make there films, however it is only through careful strategy can these techniques and this idea be transformed into the art that the viewer can relate to and be fully absorbed into the characters and story. In my paper, I discussed how Man on Fire depicts and shows this idea of formalism. Tony Scott successfully made this film into a piece of art. Looking back at the theorist who I have discussed, they would, in my opinion, agree with me in that this is an excellent example of film art.