In Response to "Persona" (1966) - Ingmar Bergman (Analysis of the Film)

 This movie is a brilliant psychological thriller that no matter when you pause it each frame could be a photograph. Instantly I was reminded of Cindy Sherman's film stills which I must imagine were inspired from this movie. The narrative of the film follows the themes of masking your flaws to play a certain roll, prevalent based on one of the main characters playing an actor. Often you find that the two main protagonists (Alma and Elisabet) replace each other in certain positions to show the parallels in their lives. They come from different backgrounds but hide things in similar ways. The title of the film Persona directly relates to the hand crafted version of ourselves and how we want people to perceive us. One of the themes that stood out to me was how children were often brought up. We have to likely career women and one of them has a child in result due to her infidelity and one has one because of the societal pressures that women hold to have children and to become a mother. The quotation "wow you are so beautiful now" is repeated in a sequence when Elisabet becomes pregnant, was she not beautiful before? Do women need to be mother's to become truly 'beautiful.' the introductory scenes of the children watching the tape and longingly touching the curtain I assume to be Elisabet's child, he seems to suffer some a condition as well referencing to the "child you cut up." The movie is a brilliant display of the consequences of withholding authenticity in ones self.

I did some research on what the film was shot on and we can see it was shot on 35mm film and has characteristic of Orthochromatic film. Orthochromatic film cannot see the colour red, giving the imperfections in skin we cannot see with the naked eye. We also see some of the clothing Elisabet is wearing is likely red, due to the extreme darkness, she may also have blue eyes as her eyes are particularly bright. I thoroughly enjoy the stark contrast in many of the shots and almost chiaroscuro style lighting. The following are some stills I particularly thought were interesting. 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photography Book Proposal: The Road To LA

Image
 For this assignment I am looking to farther flesh out a zine I made during a the summer. The project explores themes of identity by exploring the changing political climate in Southern Alberta since the Covid-19 pandemic and the Trucker Convoy. Since these events took place I have been feeling very uncomfortable with my Canadian identity and how I am perceived. The following is the foreword I crafted to accompany the zine.   The first time I questioned my Canadian identity was the uncovering of mass indigenous       unmarked graves due to residential schools in 2021. My sister brought this to my attention as she has always been an advocate for Indigenous peoples, and cares deeply about the community. Canada day had taken on a different meaning for me; no longer a celebration of patriotism but a day of mourning and reflection on who I am, and how I got here. No longer did we wear red shirts, put temporary tattoos on each other and sing Oh Canada. This feeling of disconnectedness grew f
Read more

Recent Hardcore Show Images

Image
I recently read Screaming Life by Charles Peterson and had a revelation about the concerts that I have been shooting here in Lethbridge. Charles in his foreword describes how he considers traditional photographer’s when doing shows. He references many greats such as Gary Winogrand and Robert Frank and how they contributed to the photos he was making. I had never considered the photos I was making for these shows art until I read this book and it totally changed my outlook on this type of photography. This most recent show I focused on the people and space and how they interact with one another. In the past I was caught up in the bands and how could I make them look cool. I traded this idea with caring more about the documentation element of these shows and how I could visually describe the culture at these events.
Read more

Projection Research: Avant Garde Horror

Image
Here is what I am interested in doing. I love the tenseness of these sequences and specifically how the audio pairs with the visuals to make you uncomfortable.  I am working on creating an audio track to pair with this and the visuals a sense of confusion. I want to experiment with how space and sound illicit fear and how confusion on where to look screws with that even farther. 
Read more