Cinematography technique · used in 4 films
Borrowing stage conventions such as curtains, masks, bare sets and ritual movement. Scenes become formal and life starts to look like a performance.
Examples
Akira Kurosawa · 1957
Kurosawa was a big fan of Noh, a centuries-old Japanese stage tradition. Asaji sits almost perfectly still with a face like a mask, and the spirit's makeup recalls Noh masks too. The flute and drum in the score also come from Noh. The whole film feels like a ritual being performed.
Where to see it: Asaji persuading Washizu to kill Tsuzuki. She kneels motionless while she talks him into murder, and her calm is scarier than any shouting would be.
Masaki Kobayashi · 1965
Kobayashi built the huge sets in an airplane hangar because the studio's sound stages were too small. The lighting is like stage lighting, and everything looks artificial on purpose. The sets make the ghost stories feel like rituals acted out for the audience.
Where to see it: The studio sets. The film stages its four stories inside the hangar sets, with theatrical light and stylized rooms.
Wes Anderson · 1998
Anderson often uses a stage or stage curtains to frame the action, and Max's own school plays sit inside the film. For his Vietnam play he buys dynamite and explosives and warns the audience about safety glasses and earplugs under their seats. A boy treats his life like a production, and the camera plays along.
Where to see it: Heaven and Hell: At Grover Cleveland High School, Max stages a Vietnam War play with explosives that moves Blume and appears to reconcile him with Rosemary.
William Friedkin · 2012
The script is Tracy Letts adapting his own play. Friedkin keeps most of the action inside one trailer and lets long dialogue scenes play out between a few actors. It feels like a stage show where the walls are a little too close.
Where to see it: The final confrontation in the trailer. Joe, Dottie, Chris, Ansel and Sharla all end up in one room, shouting over each other.
Questions