Thursday, April 9, 2020
How the West Looked and Sounded
Robert Altman utilized distinctive techniques of cinematography and sound in McCabe & Mrs. Miller. He used natural light during the day and subdued lighting to capture the look of gaslight during the night. He used sound that often captured all the noise in the room without differentiated individual voices. Thus much of the film looks dark and dingy and sounds noisy and unfocused. Does the lighting and sound add to the experience of watching the film -- or does it detract? Does it provide a sense of life in the West at the turn of the twentieth century? Or does it distract from the story?
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller, directed by Robert Altman, is a film about a man whose confidence takes over a small town and eventually lands him with a bounty. During his time there he builds a brothel and develops a relationship with a prostitute named Mrs. Miller. The film’s cinematography is unlike any other movies we have studied in our class so far because it is more accurately compared to a modern film than one of an earlier time period. It is evident that Altman was pushing the boundaries of what one could visually take in during a movie while still following the plot. However, most of the visual and audible choices made are essential to portraying the vibe of the scene. For example, the scene where the two are eating at a table and McCabe is watching Mrs. Miller, it is very dark and hard to see. Although this makes the viewing harder, it creates an unsettling feeling over the scene. They then fall into a serious conversation, which fits the vibe of the scene. Altman is strategically enhancing the movie experience by amplifying other senses in the audience such as hearing and feeling rather than just sight. Although it is a bit excessive at times, this film is experimental as to how much editing and physical manipulation can be pushed on viewers at a time. It was a little bit hard to follow, but it breaks boundaries compared to previous films leading up to this one in 1971. In regards to the western era, the same concept applies. The dark undertones provides an ominous reminiscence of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe distinctive techniques that Altman employs in McCabe and Mrs. Miller, such as dark lighting and sometimes-unintelligible dialogue, accentuate the risqué subject matter of the movie, which Hollywood films typically do not highlight. A few minutes into the film, McCabe arrives at a saloon, and the scenes in the saloon are extremely dark, making it difficult to distinguish much of what is going on. To add to the unclear visuals, the men in the saloon talk over each other, some even with cigars in their mouths, making it nearly impossible to understand their conversations. Prior to this, there is no introduction to characters or the plot of the movie, so the audience does not have any grasp of what the movie entails. This scene reflects the vulgar plot of the film, which focuses on the development of a brothel. During the time in which this movie was made, Hollywood movies do not include much nudity, violence, drug use, or explicit language, but this movie includes significant amounts of all four. Running a brothel is not an inherently happy, admirable thing to do, so the movie uses lighting and other techniques to illustrate that these things are perceived as shameful and done in the shadows. Another particularly dimly lit scene is when McCabe expresses his feelings to Mrs. Miller, but she leaves him in the middle of the night. The scene shows her slowly walking away from the bedroom and into the night with melancholy music playing in the background. In classic Hollywood movies, the female and male leads typically fall in love and end up together by the end of the film. However, due to Mrs. Miller’s job as a prostitute, she cannot fall in love with and remain faithful to a man. Although she seems to have some feelings for McCabe, her priority of making a living complicates their relationship. The ill-lit scene reflects how she must sneak out into the night to avoid blatantly breaking McCabe’s heart. These two scenes and many others express the film’s scandalous and somewhat depressing plot.
ReplyDeleteMcCabe & Mrs. Miller, directed by Robert Altman is a Western drama film that covers the plot of a man beginning a brothel that is eventually almost compromised by business men who want to buy it. McCabe does not want to sell to the businessmen so the businessmen send people to kill McCabe and strip him from his business. Following through this plot in the movie, we see the different scenes and settings that this movie is placed in. It is worth taking note of the differences from traditional methods of filming in certain scenes. One that stands out the most is in the very beginning of the movie when McCabe goes and spends time with people from the village in a dimly lit saloon. The lighting in this film makes catching everything that is going on hard to do as it is not the traditional perfect lighting that we are used to seeing where we can almost see every little detail of all of the characters in a film. To add on to the lighting, we are not able to easily make out what each character is saying which I found interesting because it is usually crucial to hear everything a main character is saying. I found this at first to be a little weird, but I noticed the real sort of feeling this scene gave me. It did not feel like it was completely set up and there were actors acting. It just seemed like a real experience you would get when walking into a busy saloon with people talking all around you while their words merge together. I enjoyed these techniques throughout the film as they were different and added to the feeling of each of the scenes.
ReplyDeleteMcCabe and Mrs. Miller utilizes the distinct techniques of cinematography to create an atmosphere that’s real and eerie at the same time. I think it was the first film we watched as a class that displayed the opening credits with a couple tracking shots and a soundtrack running in the background. It was a nice opening that set the audience right into the world of the Presbyterian Church. The overall lighting used throughout the movie gives the melancholy and foggy feel that the movie plot deserves. The gloomy atmosphere adds to the overall confusion of the “love” between McCabe and Mrs. Miller, which is evident throughout the film. The opening scene of the film in particular highlights the dim lighting that adds to the seriousness of the film and also gives the audience a glimpse into the kind of life these people live. Altman’s use of multiple sounds without differentiating the main character McCabe was sheer class in putting the audience into the scene as if they are standing or sitting right beside McCabe and the others. At first, the mixed voices served as a distraction in understanding what was being said but in the end it made me realize how crucial it was for the overall aesthetic of the film. The overall lighting of the film also compliments the unappreciation of running a brothel. Back then brothels weren’t seen as admirable to be run so the dark lighting fits the acts of McCabe. Overall, Altman broke boundaries in terms of lighting to build a world that compliments the film’s plot in the end.
ReplyDeleteRobert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller follows the story of a smooth talking criminal building a brothel in the old west. McCabe is haunted by buyers who want to purchase his business and when he refuses send contract killers to take him out. Altman chose to distort the viewing process through dim lighting, to appear as if it were really taking place by gas light in the early twentieth century. Early in the film, he captured the noise of an entire saloon rather than just our protagonist which aimed to show the disorienting nature of the room. These artistic choices were aimed at heightening the viewing experience by truly immersing the film goer in the action and confusion of the film and time period. However, I feel that these moves were counterproductive as they only served in making both the film and plot unclear. This in turn takes the audience out of their immersed state and makes them aware they are watching a movie not experiencing it. The goal of the filmmaker should be to present the film in such a way that the audience feels as if they are there, experiencing it with the characters on sceen. Altman attempted to do this by employing techniques that made the film appear true to the time period. Instead of bringing the audience in, the grainy dark footage and unclear sound ultimately pushes the audience out and makes them need to think deeper to decipher what it is that they are watching.
ReplyDeleteIn McCabe and Mrs. Miller and the beginning of the new wave of Hollywood allowed for directors to try and create movies that where more immersive. Director Robert Altman used different lighting techniques in McCabe and Mrs. Miller to capture the feel of an oil lamp lighting and natural daylight in the town of Presbyterian Church. As McCabe’s story progresses in the town, the sounds of rain or the creaks of the wooden building enhances the experience of the movie, making the viewers connect the world of McCabe and our own through its realism. The noises of food when it is eaten, or the sound of rain on the cloth coats provides the sense of touch and smell that are hard to describe in movies can be easily connected by the audience for what it feels like to eat a whole plate of eggs or the dampness of their clothes. These sensory experiences provide so much immersion to a movie about the gritty life of the wild west. The medium of movies often lacks these sensory experiences, but director Robert Altman expertly uses the other senses to enhance the story of McCabe and Mrs. Miller. The light snow fall and silence contrasted the loud gunshots of the final shootout is a masterclass in audio design and visual feel is why this movie is one of the best westerns ever made.
ReplyDeleteThe distinctive techniques of cinematography that Altman uses in the film McCabe & Mrs. Miller truly does add an extra sense to the movie. These extra lighting and sound pieces really make the audience member feel like they are in the film. Like when it is raining it really makes the movie come alive with us not just seeing the rain but us actually hearing it. It makes the audience really feel like they are a part of the film and makes it come alive. Another example of the sounds coming alive is when we actually hear the characters eating. It makes the audience feel like they are actually there with them. It gives it another sense of description that is normally very difficult in films but when they add the extra sound to the film it makes the description much better. These sort of extra sounds give the film a much needed touch that gives the viewers great details about the wild west life. Although we see these sorts of sounds and descriptions a lot nowadays, this movie started those sorts of trends that we still see today. Another example of these little tricks that Altman uses is at the beginning of the film there is a dark lighting which sets the mood for a sad and somewhat realistic film. There is a lot of thought that goes into the lighting and it really shows through the film. The lighting adds an extra sense to the film and brings it to life. I think that the techniques Altman used really gave the film an extra sense.
ReplyDeleteIn the film McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the director uses techniques like dark lighting and multiple sounds in order to bring the audience more into the movie. The lighting throughout the movie changes to fit the time of day each part is meant to be in. Like how the bridge scene where the guy who wants to buy socks is shot occurs in daylight but when McCabe is talking with Ms. Miller before going to bed the lighting makes it seem like it is nighttime. I think the lighting changes add to the story because it looks like how it would look in real life. If the audience was a part of the movie, the lighting at night would come from oil lamps and it would be unrealistic to have bright lights around at this time. Another thing that helps with the inclusion of the audience would be the sounds they hear as the film progresses. Through the movie characters are seen everywhere, in the woods, surrounded by people in a bar, and in a brothel. In these scenes, there are more people than just the people the scene focuses on at the time so it just makes sense that the scene has background noise and other conversations going on. This really brings the audience into the film because they can hear a lot of other things going on, not just what the main characters of the scene are discussing. I think that these two things help the film by allowing the audience to connect more with what is going on in the film.
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