Movement: Run Lola Run

Filmmaking is movement. Movies themselves are simply pictures capturing movement. In film, the way in which movement is captured is a vary important dynamic in the flow of a film. It can allow you to feel certain emotions and capture themes, just in the way movement is captured. Movement can be very stylized and larger than life, as well as very subdued and more true to life. In class, we learned the importance of how movement is displayed for the audience.

Kinetics is the study of motion and it's causes. In film, there are both realistic and formalistic kinetics used to attach a certain style to a film. The kinetics in a film are determined by the themes of the film, vision of the director or sometimes the style of the actor. Charlie Chaplin is a great example of a formalist actor. His films were silent, so the story was carried by the movements. The way Chaplin moved was larger than life. You wouldn't see someone acting like him in public, so it's as if he is truly seperating himself from reality just in his movements. The audience accepts this as a symbolic expression of his feelings, emotions and ideas.

Some movements are lyrical. We can appreciate them for their beauty without picking up the ideas behind them. Some actions are slowed down for dramatic effect, some spead up to convey excitement or frenzy. Some shots have the character walking away from the camera, some towards it. Walking away from the camera displays distance with the audience. Walking towards the camera can give us a friendly welcoming from a hero or an invasion of space from a villain. Lateral movement can also be used to much effect. It can make the audience feel as though there is no end to the characters journey. Wide-angle lens can also be used to exaggerate distance. They can allow the shot to seem disoriented and distorted. These are many tools directors and cinematographers can use to allow their vision to come to life.

In "Run Lola Run", we watched many scenes dealing with specific movement. As the title suggests, there was a lot of running in the film. The director tweaks the images and films from certain angles to allow us to feel a certain way about the situation. For example, some shots were going left to right. These shots implied that she was in a desperate situation with no set plans made. The shots where the actress was running in front of the camera gave off a different feeling. It seems like she is more determined. She has the situation planned out and is closer to the destination. The manipulation of speed and the angle really enhanced the experience and added much emotional depth to the running scenes. The director properly utilized movement to create an exciting film.

Every shot in a film is planned a certain way to fit the mood of the film. As we learned in class, movements can be true to life or they can have more formalistic type movements. It is interesting to study a scene that has a strong focus on the movement. It raises many questions as to what the director is wanting you to feel while watching the scene. In "Run Lola Run", every single scene was shot a certain way to convey certain feelings. The movement in the film is what truly brought it to life.