Sin City Review

Sin City
Directed by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
Cinematographer: Robert Rodriguez
Made in 2005

For my FMP I plan to watch a film a day and at least 3 films a week that is related to my FMP. The reason for me doing these essays/ reviews to to help me with the way I wright and the terminology I use. Those some of the films I will look at will not have direct links to time I still believe have a wide knowledge of film will help me for this project as well as uni.

A variation of Frank Miller's books set in a city with no honour and only crime. One of the main plots is about Marv who is on the hunt for the killer of Goldie. I have picked this film as it shows all the key things needed like lighting, use of colour and mis-en-scene that makes a good film great to a very high level. Frank Miller has investigated different ways in which he highlights his characters and focuses on detail with the use of colours and mis-en-scene within Sin City.

Frank Miller used black and white film to enhance the film and colour to make specific areas in the film seem more breathtaking and important. An example of this is the blond young woman; Her hair draws our interest as a focal point as the rest of her face (except her lips) and the background are all in black and white. I am going to be using tints and saturation balance in my film to create different feelings of warmth or coldness as an insight of how the character is feeling at that time.

The blondish-yellow gold colour hair is representational of daylight, telling us that she is a person that brings joy to people. For my film this has given me the idea to use a red tint whenever the main character of the crazy boy is mad and angry. Yellow can also mean cowardice and deceit which the blond character also portrays in the film, having this in mind I will be fading out the red tint in my film to a pink when the boy is calming down to show that he is more relaxed and then dissolving into a cold blue went he feels alone and suicidal.

The film used mise-en-scene and shape very well in a very interesting way. It shows depth, proximity, size and proportions of the place and objects in all the scenes, you can tell it has taken the greatest consideration. In the jail scene the cell looks very far down, as well with the lighting on the bars it creates a strong feeling of confinement and claustrophobia, loneliness and of an empty wide space. Frank is great with making a cold heartless feel that contributes to the feel of the scene dramatically, with the feeling of confinement and of no escape. The film is not meant to be right ‘in your face’ with everything, it’s more of what’s not there than what is, the cinematography gives a restless feel to it

The cinematographer, Robert Rogriguez, used artificial lighting not natural lighting and lit from above. It is viewed from above looking down to give the impression of confinement. The part of the cinematography and editing that stands out the most is the cell bars as they draw you into the image.

The film provokes an emotional reaction from the way it is shot and the camera angles used. At some points it makes you feel down as the view is looking down and dark colours are used so it becomes depressing. The youthfulness of the blond woman makes us feel for her, young women can be seen as innocent and less intelligent as an older person. I am using a similar idea. I will be using a teenager (me) as the main character as this will help the audience know he is not evil but lost and unsure about what he has seen and what his dreams mean. If I was to use a fully grown adult man it would be harder to show that he was innocent and did not understand his actions, even if it is a dream.
The film has a very strong bond with the key characters as it only uses colours for the key characters or objects. So we know what to focus on and it makes it more enjoyable to watch, keeping us interested while watching.

Frank used black and white imagery against colour imagery. This is effective in highlighting and bringing out what is important in the shot as well as giving more information. This has given me great motivation to make colour more important in my own film and use it to enhance the film and create a stronger meaning to it.

To summarise, Sin City has helped me with my own film making as now I take more consideration of elements like use of colour and lighting. As for my FMP it has helped me think about how to edit to create effect.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/