Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)

1920

In general, film production is divided into three phases: pre-production, production and post production. Preproduction involves all the aspects of film making that go on before the cameras start to role. The time when the actual film is being photographed is the production phase and everything that happens after that is called post production.

The preproduction phase deals with such things as writing the “treatment” (a description of the film) the script and story-boarding the film. Storyboards are rough drawings of each shot that will occur in the film.

Photographic Techniques

In filming the director arranges a set-up which includes everything that will be seen by the camera when the camera starts to operate. This includes such things as lighting, which while the lights themselves may not be visible, still has an impact on the image.

The basic unit of film making is usually considered to be the shot. Basically the shot is the film which is exposed from the time the camera starts running until it stops for any set up.

A take is each time the shot is done and done again.

The image on the film is caused by the amount of light which falls on the film. If there is too much light, the picture appears washed out and is called overexposed. If there is too little light the film becomes dark and is called underexposed.

The photographer controls the amount of light which falls on the film by manipulating the aperture or lens opening and the length of time the shutter is open.

Every lens has a diameter which can be made smaller or larger. The size is called the f-stop. An f-stop of 16 is much smaller than one of 4. You can regard the f-stop as the bottom number of a fraction so you will be able to remember the sizes. In effect 1/16 is smaller than 1/4 The larger the opening the more light that falls on the film. In effect if the lens is 1/4 open, more light will fall on the film than if it is only 1/16 open.

The shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second and indicates the length of time that the film is exposed to the light. Shutter speeds are generally given in fractions of aa second – 1/60, 1/200 and so on. The longer the shutter is open the more light falls on the film.

It should be clear from this that there is a relationship between the f-stop and the shutter speed. A photographer can keep the same amount of light on the film by keeping the same ratio between the shutter speed and aperture. Given a constant source of light , the photographer can increases the shutter speed, and increase the aperture and still maintain the same amount of light hitting the film.

There is, non-the-less, variation in the actual image. This has to do with a concept called depth of field. When a photographer takes a photograph, most cameras require that the photographer focuses the camera. Let us say that a photographer wishes to photograph a person who is 25 feet away from the camera. Let us also suppose that in the same photograph there will be people as close as 6 feet from the camera and some people as far away as 100 feet from the camera. The photographer focuses on the person 25 feet away and take the photo. If there are several photographs taken at different apertures, the photos will look rather different. If the photographer focuses on the person 25 feet away from the camera and the aperture is very large – say f 1.2 The person at 25 feet will be in sharp focus but everyone else will be blurred. If the photographer uses f 16, virtually everyone in the picture will be in focus. When people talk about this aspect of the photo, they are talking about “depth of field”. This means from what point to what point (moving away from the camera) are things in focus. Shallow focus has little depth of field. Deep focus has greater depth of field

IN motion pictures, it is possible in a single shot, using shallow focus, to change the object in focus while the camera is running. Someone close to the camera may be in focus while someone in the background is not. Suddenly the person in the background comes into focus and the one in the foreground goes out of focus. This is called rack focus.

In addition to the ways in which the photographer can control the amount of light falling on the film through manipulation of the aperture and f-stop, photographers can also use films with different sensitivity to light. The film’s sensitivity to light is given by its film speed. This is usually given by an A.S.A. or DIN number. The higher the number, the more sensitive the film will be to light. Hence a film speed of 25 is less sensitive than one with a film speed of 400. There are always trade offs however, and here the question is one of graininess. Films with higher film speeds tend to be grainier than those with lower film speeds.

RESULTS

A photographer must choose a film with a specific film speed. Then, to get the proper exposure the photographer must select an aperture and shutter speed which will expose the film properly. The choice of f-stop and shutter speed will affect the depth of field for the shot.

Each of these is a choice that must be made by the film makers for each shot, and choices always have the potential for carrying meaning.

CLIPS FROM STACHKA (STRIKE), APOCALYPSE NOW and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE

In Strike, the killing of the cattle is not tied in any way to the scenes surrounding it. In a sense, the viewer is made to be aware of the fact that this is a film we are watching. The juxtaposition of events are intellectually related, not in terms of plot however.

In Apocalypse Now the shots are more related. The slaughter of the bull is being done outside the compound where Willard is killing Kurtz. We can read the killing of Kurtz as a sacrifice. The meaning is not only different than in Strike, but the film does not break its realistic stance because of the juxtaposition

In Bowling for Columbine, we are dealing largely with a method of distortion. By cutting away from Heston, but allowing the sound to continue we are led to believe that certain events are going on at the same time when in fact they are months apart. We do not notice that Heston appears in a different shirt and in front of a different background.

There have been theoretical discussions about whether or not film makers should make the audience aware that the film is not real or whether they should make it as real as possible. Those people who argue that film should call attention to itself or make movies in that style are often called “Formalists” while those who try to keep their editing techniques invisible are called “realists”.

In the Das Kabinettt des Doktor Caligari (Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) we have a story which is filmed in large part in a very expressionistic way. The film is certainly not realistic looking. Light and shadows are even painted on the sets. We come to realize ultimately that the reason for this is that the story we are being told is being told by a madman and his mental distortions are apparent on the screen.

The film is made with a “frame” story. That is the major piece of the film is “sandwiched" between two scenes in which Mr. Frank is telling a story. The scenes in the garden where the film begins look far more realistic than those in which we see the events which Mr. Frank relates.

Some of the complexity of the film revolves around the complicated ending which deals with the frame story. The internal story deals with a wandering show in which a sleep walker named Cesare is brought from his sleep to prophesy for members of the audience. His appearance in various towns is accompanied by strange murders, apparently committed by the somnambulist under the direction of his keeper, Caligari.

As the framed tory reaches its conclusion, Mr. Frank pursues Caligari after his last murders to a mental institution where the insane Caligari is the director. Finally proving him to be a mad man Caligari is locked away in a cell.

As we return to the frame story, the teller of the story and his friend walk back to the mental institution only to discover that Mr. Frank is a patient and the entire story has been told by a madman. At the point the set returns back into its expressionistic form making it hard to know whose mind is now generating the images (although they are somewhat less impressionistic).

Ultimately the film closes with Caligai grasping the idea that Mr. Frank believe that the director is really Caligari. Now that the director understands this he knows how to cure him. What this means is unclear.

While the internal story certainly contains a subtext about the problems of people being controlled by others, and would in its own right possibly serve as warning about this, it is clear that by making that story the story of a madman, it virtually reverses the films subtext.

In terms of composition there are some interesting visuals happening in the film. Notice the scene when the doctors decide the director is insane and put him in the straight jacket. How does this sequence (and grouping) compare to the scene in which the doctors put Mr. Frank into the straight jacket? Notice that the doctors are grouped is virtually the same way that they are when they putting Mr Francis into the straight jacket. Does this indicate in some way we whould equate Caligari with Francis?

Some questions: