City of God movie has received numerous accolades and has been in existence with pomp and praise. It is among the astounding movies that I have watched recently. The movie’s flow creates a lot of suspense and therefore is very entertaining. It’s a great Brazilian movie that navigates instances of gangster acts. The city of God depicts daily life in the slums and the brutality caused by remorseless criminals(Diken, 2005). City of God movie shows how authentic amateur actors can be. Kids get to enjoy their little time with fellow kids. Though it gets a little messy at times while watching this movie, it is indisputable that the cinematography is terrific. Other forms of narrative structure that have been considered while shooting the movie include video editing and acting.
First and foremost, City of God has been one of the movies on my wishlist. I was advised to watch the City of God due to its unique cinematography. The camera captures exact moments that create great memories. Moreover, the twists and camera angles are put into perfect use. It stuns me when the Lil Ze’ character begins to take the show. The pictures are taken at very low angles, perhaps to reiterate that Lil Ze is powerful and dominant. At first sight of Lil Ze’ the shot is unclear or rather blurry. The blurry nature of the camera shot helps show how unstable Lil Ze’ is. Second, lighting has been considered to create various effects of cinematography. For instance, we do not see their faces when the children run around to catch the chicken. While running around the favela, the light increases, and the silhouettes of the children become very visible. From an interpretation point of view, this might show how devalued the children are.
Furthermore, as the lighting continues to be deemed around the favelas, it shows how insecure the place might be and how life in favelas has been reduced to mere existence(Diken, 2005). Life in favelas offers very tough conditions that need high coping mechanisms. Therefore, the cinematography in City of God movies has been used to create emphasis and long-lasting effects in the viewer’s mind. It is worth pinpointing various symbolisms and hidden facts that arise due to how angles the camera shifts. Cinematography explains why the City of God movie has piqued my interest.
Alongside cinematography, we experience great video edits. For instance, in the slum, a single chicken escapes upon noticing the danger around. This idea is hardly captivating as the chicken breaks from sight and sound. Through astute video editing, great audiovisual effects are created. Such video editing techniques come in the form of instant splicing of a movie which triggers visual frenzy to ensure that the viewer is always engaged watching the movie. Furthermore, there are over 40 visual cuts in the film opening when Fernando Meirelles comes into view. These visual cuts bring great sound effects to the extent that it’s noticeable before the actual scene is framed.
At the movie’s commencement, the black screen appears with an intense L-cut. The sound of the metal precedes the appearance of a knife. The knife disappears from the frame, and the screen turns black. In this sequence, the screen also turns from black to image and then black again. All these events happen in a flash of a second. This repeat of the sequences is achieved through great mastery of video editing skills in the City of God. In a similar instance, the editor repeatedly cuts the chicken face and meal. The cutting is done by applying the Kuleshov effect in editing(Baranowski & Hecht, 2017). The close-up and edits in this scenario show how endangered and petrified the chicken feels.
In my further analysis of this scene, the time has been greatly compressed via a video technique called elliptical editing. Elliptical technique in filming making has been used to avoid unnecessary scenes, thus making the film more interesting(Rickert & Eibl, 2014). In a broader context, elliptical editing creates room for changing the clips’ order. In the City of God, sharpening a knife and preparing a chicken meal is briefly communicated, which would otherwise take long hours. Audiovisual editing is very dominant in the City of God movie. The edited audiovisual effects last from the escape of the chicken to the children running after the chicken in favelas. Therefore, the tremendous use of effects has helped entertain the viewer and helped win several awards.
The City of God movie captivates the audience with the immensely styled and acted introduction. The introduction has been acted in a very beautiful manner by depicting tender years of favela and Trio. The story arrives in the form of flashbacks that allow the story to sink in and create beautiful memories. While creating this memory, the narration has been widely used and persistent. In Rocket’s depiction of tender years of Trio and favela, he recounts the story, which then dissolves in his strong desire to become a reporter. The Rocket’s youthful eye memories create a playful tone in the narration. Meirelle’s high-key lighting deliberately enhances this playful tone from Rocket. Besides, the use of drugs in the City of God movie is evident. The actors use drugs for enjoyment and transgression(Diken, 2005). However, the drugs are later commercialized, and they start implicating money. The use of drug trading increases in the favela, and some parts of the favela have now become more strong. In a greater look and context of acting, Miami Motel creates a significant place to develop the character and the overall story.
In conclusion, the general movie depicts how the poor people have faced isolation from the city center. Breathtaking it is and has used the above narrative techniques to show how passionate and gifted Fernando Meirelles is.
References
Rickert, M., & Eibl, M. (2014, October). A proposal for a taxonomy of semantic editing devices to support semantic classification. In Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Research in Adaptive and Convergent Systems (pp. 34-39).
Baranowski, A. M., & Hecht, H. (2017). The auditory Kuleshov effect: multisensory integration in movie editing. Perception, 46(5), 624-631.
Diken, B. (2005). City of god. City, 9(3), 307-320.
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