City of God Analysis
City of God is a depicts the reality of the narrator’s life growing up in the slums on the outskirts of Rio. What was meant to be a small film project became a success in many ways. Although it quickly became an international sensation winning numerous awards the filmmakers were also successful with their use of various components of cinematography. One critic said that “City of God is a wildly entertaining film. The sheer energy of the movie is never less than compelling. Meirelles pulls out every filmmaking trick in the book, utilizing freeze-frames, montage, flashback, quick-cutting, and even strobe lights” (Millikan 1). I will analyze various scenes from the film and explain how each successfully applied film techniques. “The techniques that I will elaborate on include lighting, shots and angles, editing and a few principles of film form.
The cinematographer primarily used a realistic lighting design throughout the film. The outside scenes appeared to only use either the sun light or the moon light. The inside scenes appeared to utilize only the practical lighting sources which were visible either from the ceiling, lamp or windows. If there were any key lights used for exposure they went unnoticed because everything looked so realistic. The filmmakers took advantage of extreme low key lighting because they were so dark that it appeared that they were being filmed with a home video camera. A majority of the movie was very dark but lighting was used to distinguish time and the narrator’s perception of life during that period
Lighting can be used to convey emotion and it was apparent that Rocket felt fondly of his early childhood. When he flashed back to life as a young boy the scenes were very colorful and hard, high contrast lighting was used. There was also much more laughter and humor during this period. As Rocket aged his life became difficult and gangs became more prevalent to him. He began to see what life was really like and knew that he’d
The cinematographer primarily used a realistic lighting design throughout the film. The outside scenes appeared to only use either the sun light or the moon light. The inside scenes appeared to utilize only the practical lighting sources which were visible either from the ceiling, lamp or windows. If there were any key lights used for exposure they went unnoticed because everything looked so realistic. The filmmakers took advantage of extreme low key lighting because they were so dark that it appeared that they were being filmed with a home video camera. A majority of the movie was very dark but lighting was used to distinguish time and the narrator’s perception of life during that period
Lighting can be used to convey emotion and it was apparent that Rocket felt fondly of his early childhood. When he flashed back to life as a young boy the scenes were very colorful and hard, high contrast lighting was used. There was also much more laughter and humor during this period. As Rocket aged his life became difficult and gangs became more prevalent to him. He began to see what life was really like and knew that he’d
Bibliography: Millikan, Jay. "City of God." Stylus Magazine. Stylus, 1 Sept 2003: 1. Web. 9 Jul 2010. . (Millikan 1) Holden, Stephen. "City of God, 2002 FILM REVIEW; Boys Soldiering in an Army of Crime." The New York Times. NYT, 17 Jan. 2003. Web. 9 July 2010. .