Voice & The Auteur Theory - Sofia Coppola
This week I chose to explore Sofia Coppola's work, almost solely based on the tiny fact that she is the wife of the leading man of a band I thoroughly enjoy, Thomas Mars of Phoenix.
I was surprised to realize, I had seen a lot of her work before, actually, MOST of her work before this moment. So I was excited to be able to look at it with a critical eye instead of having to decipher the plot and point of the movie.
I watched
The Bling Ring
Marie Antoinette
Somewhere
The Virgin Suicides
Lost in Translation
and for some fun and to see the way her voice might have translated i also watched
The Flaming Lips : This Here Giraffe
Phoenix: Chloroform
I found that the her voice certainly shined through every single movie, and the first element I noticed make an appearance time and time again was the way sound was used in the movies. More often than not the dialogue was sparse and there was use of a lot of mundane sounds we don't truly pay any attention to in our real lives, however are very much a part of the human experience. I found this a strange movie watching experience because it allowed me as the viewer to have to just.... sit there and simply experience it. Another common element I noticed in some of the movies, was the female voice and the appeal towards a female audience, more often than not we tell tales about what we know, and Sofia is a director and Im sure a fashion icon to some. In a similar manner she also often explores the idea of celebrities, and people in the public eye. Considering that she comes from a celebrity family with long history, it is safe to say she's also speaking from experience somehow. An element that often baffled me was the spectrum of color schemes she uses in her work. It is either all strangely washed out and pastel, almost washed out and nostalgic, or it is bright and bold and dramatic but never that "normal" movie look that lies in between.
It was also interesting to watch some of the music videos she directed and see how the voice translates to those extremely short form videos. As it turns out, some of the aspects still held up, the nostalgia, and the use of sound vs imagery remained strong, and although it was not obvious, it was apparent that she was the director if you happened to know her style, which at this point, i did.
This was a wonderful assignment to do, because it was in a medium that we often consume in our society today.
I was surprised to realize, I had seen a lot of her work before, actually, MOST of her work before this moment. So I was excited to be able to look at it with a critical eye instead of having to decipher the plot and point of the movie.
I watched
The Bling Ring
Marie Antoinette
Somewhere
The Virgin Suicides
Lost in Translation
and for some fun and to see the way her voice might have translated i also watched
The Flaming Lips : This Here Giraffe
Phoenix: Chloroform
I found that the her voice certainly shined through every single movie, and the first element I noticed make an appearance time and time again was the way sound was used in the movies. More often than not the dialogue was sparse and there was use of a lot of mundane sounds we don't truly pay any attention to in our real lives, however are very much a part of the human experience. I found this a strange movie watching experience because it allowed me as the viewer to have to just.... sit there and simply experience it. Another common element I noticed in some of the movies, was the female voice and the appeal towards a female audience, more often than not we tell tales about what we know, and Sofia is a director and Im sure a fashion icon to some. In a similar manner she also often explores the idea of celebrities, and people in the public eye. Considering that she comes from a celebrity family with long history, it is safe to say she's also speaking from experience somehow. An element that often baffled me was the spectrum of color schemes she uses in her work. It is either all strangely washed out and pastel, almost washed out and nostalgic, or it is bright and bold and dramatic but never that "normal" movie look that lies in between.
It was also interesting to watch some of the music videos she directed and see how the voice translates to those extremely short form videos. As it turns out, some of the aspects still held up, the nostalgia, and the use of sound vs imagery remained strong, and although it was not obvious, it was apparent that she was the director if you happened to know her style, which at this point, i did.
This was a wonderful assignment to do, because it was in a medium that we often consume in our society today.
Comments
Post a Comment