Cameron Panhans: In La J'etee, Chris Marker utilizes still images to tell the story of a man who is taken prisoner after the bombing of Paris. Marker captures the viewer's attention from the very beginning of the short by placing audio over a black slate that draws the audience into the film by focusing them on the sound they are hearing rather than images they could be seeing. This technique of using sound over black is repeated throughout the film, placing emphasis on the words being said rather than the events going on. Further, mumbling inaudible French voices can be heard throughout the short, which adds to its element of suspense. At the 2 minute 45 second mark, the image of the woman's face is the first real close up of a recognizable human being in the work. This close up features heavy light on the left side of the woman's face that portrays a false sense of hope that is immediately taken from the audience as the bombing of the city soon follows. Long shots throughout the montage of ruins following the bombing show the range of the devastation throughout the city. The close ups shown of those taken prisoners and the lighting used in those close ups displays their horror and dismay at the tests being conducted. These same tactics are used throughout the remainder of the film to emphasize the most important aspects of the story, including the close up on the man's necklace at the 15 minute 34 second mark. Through this compilation of still images, composed thoughtfully with different techniques in mind to express the desired emotion, Chris Marker tells a moving and emotional story.
Sarah Clarke: La J'etee and Chris Marker's ability to express the emotions of the characters through the portraiture of his subject makes for a very poetic story. The pictures, no matter how long or short they are featured on screen effects the film in a way comparable to the moving pictures we see now. The raw emotion captured in the shot makes the viewer's heart ache and feel empathetic towards the characters and their various struggles. When the man goes back in time and starts remembering the way France used to be, the audience is happy for the brief moment that we see how in bliss the man is.Through this shared emotion, the aesthetics of the film are made. The appeal of this film is through how the story is seamless, even with the sole narrator and lack of seen movement. The story is told through pictures, and if the audience didn't necessarily read the dialogue, they could still understand the man's pain, joy, and everything in between.
Molly Hochwalt: In La J’etee, Chris Marker constructs an extremely intriguing and emotionally charged story from black and white still images. The single narrator in this short film tells the story of a young man who was taken prisoner and experimented on after the bombings in Paris. The camera seems to effortlessly follow the progression of events to the point where it feels like you are watching moving scenes rather than just still shots. The fading transitions from photo to photo add even more to the over all motion like quality of the film. The camera captures minute changes in expression and body position in the close up shots, which makes the film feel life like and intimate. This is especially true in sections of the film such as the two scenes of the girl from the past sleeping. These scenes develop the character, allowing for her to be portrayed as the man’s soft and fragile tether to the past. I find it astounding that the still shots could so well capture the qualities and developments of the characters throughout the short film. This intimacy of the photos with the characters and use of close ups, allows for an emotional connection to the characters to be formed. Overall, this films elements mold seamlessly into an emotionally stimulating story and I am glad to have watched it.
Meg Magee: In La J'etee, Chris Marker builds a fascinating story through the use of carefully placed still images. In the beginning of the short film the narrator was talking about how, "the cries of the crowd we're blurred by fear". I thought it was intriguing that while the narrator was saying this, Marker made the choice to make the image blurry. It added more significance to the what the narrator was saying and made the viewer pay attention to what was being said more. Another thing I found interesting was that whenever the narrator was talking about something bad for example, the destruction of paris, people dying ect. the screen would be black. I thought this was smart because it made the viewer stop and pay attention to what the narrator was talking about and it also lets the audience come up with their own mental images. The whispering in the background of the scenes when the prisoners were being experimented on added another level of creepiness and I thought that it was extremely clever. Additionally, I thought it was interesting that the camera was looking up at the experimenter in a few parts. This gave the illusion that we were the prisoner being experimenter on. All in all, the camera angles and sounds added to the plot of the film and pulled together the whole story line.
Ryanne Whyte: La J'etee by Chris Marker is an intriguing film in many ways. Mainly the first thing one notices is that it's shot almost completely in still images. This is interesting because if they had shot in the traditional way, they probably would have achieved the same general understanding from their audience. With the film using the format of single shots, it gives a feeling of detachment. This makes sense because the protagonist is forced into his situation. The only moment in the film that uses actual motion is for a couple seconds when the main character is feeling complete bliss. This bliss is swiftly cut off for him and for us as the audience as it goes straight back to still images. This film also relies heavily on close ups. It uses close ups in various ways for various characters to convey a feeling of peace or concentration or suffering or madness. Angles are also used carefully and precisely in this film. The camera often was looking upward at characters to portray them as menacing and powerful. When the camera was looking downwards, it was often at a peaceful memory or a victim. The images in this film had a lot to convey and Marker's use of angles, lighting, sound, and design overall helped to bring the story together and elicit the right emotions.
Louis Lartigue: The 1962 film La J’ette by Chris Marker tells the story of a man who is the subject of time traveling experiments that take place underground the aftermath of a nuclear war. The film focuses around the theme of understanding one’s own memories and in doing this understanding one’s self. In the very beginning of the film, Marker makes the point that “nothing distinguishes memories from ordinary moments [and] only later do they become memorable by the scars they leave”. Throughout the course of the film, the protagonist is perusing a woman who he has a vivid memory of from the day the war started. The protagonist has obsessed over this memory ever since that day and it is because of the strength of this obsession that the man is successful in time travel when all other candidates before him either died or went insane. Marker is able to communicate to the audience the condition of characters and direction of the narrative with only still shots. When the setting of the film takes place in the present, shots are often sporadic and give a feeling of unease with audio elements complimenting this feeling. For example in the early trials of the experiments Dutch angles of the man’s tortured face and an eerie indistinct whisper in the background creates a shared disorienting and unpleasant experience for both the character and the audience. In contrast, when the protagonist is experiencing happiness with the woman the shots are at balanced angles with the timing of the cuts at a calm pace and when he is taken out of the time loophole it is done with a more sudden cut. The woman’s influence on the behavior of the shot is very important throughout the film, the only instance of a moving image occurs as the audience looks at a series of shots of the woman’s face that leads to a few seconds of actual motion. One sequence that stood out to me in particular taxidermy museum and this is because it draws parallels to the story. At this point in the story the protagonist can move freely throughout time and stay however long he wants, much like the way the two meander around and observe the “ageless animals” without care, but it is cut short much like perfect moments in life do not last forever. The theme of obtaining an understanding one’s self through the processing of moments over time is a major theme in the film and it is reiterated in the closing sequence of the film. As the protagonist goes back in time to the location of his memory of the woman, “he realized there was no escape from time, and that moment he’d been granted to see as a child and that had obsessed him forever was the moment of his death”.
Dustin Bennett: The French piece La J'etee is a wonderful short film with some very interesting direction. The most obvious is that its visuals are comprised of only black screens or still images. This means we can only see fragments of the story, an excellent parallel to how our unnamed protagonist is, once the experiments have begun, also experiencing the story in fragments, constantly being thrust into and out of the past. Other parts of the direction handle the job of informing the viewer on how the protagonist is feeling. Most of the storytelling is handled by the narrator, who remains mostly distant and clinical, describing the experiments as extremely painful instead of describing the agony the character feels going through them. Instead, that's illustrated with brutal chiaroscuro close-ups of his strained face. Similarly, while the narrator never says that the main character loves the girl he meets in the past, they're always framed closely together in pleasant and happy medium shots. This is subverted at the very end though, when the male is much closer to the frame and is running towards her, which illustrates how they can't be together, considering the event that follows.
La J'etee also has a truly unique story that feels really new, which is especially amazing considering it came out in 1962 and time travel as a plot device has been done in many different ways since. Its influence can be seen in many modern films (Donnie Darko, Looper, etc.) but it still showcases itself as a standout in a crowded genre.
Zach Andry: In this French film La J'etee about a post-world war III research facility the director choice of shot composition helps set the tone of the film. Through out the film the protagonist is being sent back in time. One aesthetic choice I found that worked really well was the contrasting shots. More specifically the contrast between the post-war and pre-war shots. All of the post war shots have backgrounds that are dark sometimes you can only see a face lit up. They are almost always set inside it what appears to be some sort of bunker. They never contain more than 2 or 3 people max. Shots are typically very close on some ones face and the subject is rarely smiling. This in contrast to the pre-war which are often out side much wider and more open shots often contain many people who seem happy and the lighting is always much brighter than post-war.
Phillip Spain: La J'etee, a short film by Chris Marker, derives its style and tone from the fact that the story is told almost solely through still images and voice-over, with no dialogue between characters. Not only does this give the piece its stunted and jarring tone that parallels the experience that the protagonist is enduring throughout the film, but it also works to give the one moving scene where the woman awakens a heightened sense of importance and impact, marking a turning point for the protagonist's motivations. This moment could be seen as the point that ultimately leads to his demise at the end of the film. Most of the shots in the film have only one or two subjects as the focus, which is important to the film's tone as it adds a sense of isolation and discomfort, and helps the viewer connect further with the protagonist by making you feel as alone and isolated as he is. Because of the nature of this style of film, the viewer is enticed to pay attention to every single shot due to how quickly they switch from one to another, and each and every shot is impactful in its own way, making La J'etee a powerful experience from beginning to end.
Jesse Tollison: La J'etee expresses a time-travelling phenomenon that is often told, but in a very unique way. Chris Marker, the auteur, poses many questions with his film surrounding the nature of reality and human connection. His close to exclusive use of still images to tell the story has a disorienting effect on the viewer, causing us to doubt even the things we are told are reality. The clever use of voice-over also contributes to this feeling, because every line is written to strategically hide what could be going on within the universe. To add to that, we never get to see or understand what the protagonist is thinking, forcing us to project our own feelings onto him. With the combined audiovisual style, we really only get a retelling of the events that transpire in an elegant way, leaving any and all conclusions of this closed-loop plot entirely up to the viewer.
Alex Smith: La J'etee, a short film made by Chris Marker, is a tale about a man from a post-apocalyptic France where the surface world has been destroyed by war. The tale focuses on the man's story as he returns to the image he saw as a child, the woman at the airport. The movie itself is told in a silent photo slide show of sorts with noises and narration playing in the background. Marker does an excellent job of conveying the emotion felt throughout the movie with the lighting. One particular instance where the lighting affected emotions was where the protagonist was sent to the world of the future. The future people had half shadowed faces, a trick to make the viewer uneasy just like most people are naturally about the world to come. Another unique style that the film had was the way it was shot. Nearly each and every scene was just a progressing story being told by pictures. The stillness of each of these images gives the viewer a moment to take it all in. The pace at which the pictures change also affect this as well, such as the scene where the man is running to the woman. Each picture was shown in rapid succession, showing the hurried pace he ran. La J'etee is a wonderfully strong film with the way it was shot and the message about the inevitability of time.
In La J'etee, a film created by Chris Marker, we learn about the effects of war in France. It is filmed using still imagery and narration to give a more bone chilling affect, Marker is able to take different images from many angles and present it in such a way that the viewer feels entitled to react to the images. Anything from watching the women's face reaction at the airport to seeing the prisoners of war being experimented on, it all comes full circle. I think the narrator does a good job explaining the scenarios in which time and place seem inactive. All the tilts of images where buildings are completely crushed and destroyed creates a scene of horror and disarray within the images. One of the best features of this short film included the emotions of characters through different scenes. I think by far the most horrifying photo's in the short film had too be the man who was being experimented on mentioning that there is no hope in future. You are then shown images from several angles where it looks to be this man in great pain struggling after being injected with some fluid. It sends a strong message of courage that he went through this and that the narrator explains his thoughts and feelings. The brief flashes of photos of a man in his boat and cows in the field bring hope to the film and give insight into a new day. Photo's of women with the lighting so that only the one part of their face is showing create the ultimate scene for which the viewer feels impacted. These are all the things that I think the photographer was trying to portray and goes to show that images can really depict emotion in someone, especially during a time of war.
Alex Cherry: In La’Jetee, sound is utilized as one of the primary forms of expression, namely through sound effects and musical cues. As the film lacks dialogue and the only true words in the film are spoken by an unnamed narrator, the director utilizes sound to create tone in the film and direct the viewer as to how they should be feeling. Music is used in an ebb and flow pattern, becoming louder and more frantic during climaxes in action, and becoming more subdued and peaceful during scenes where the viewer should feel more relaxed, such as when the main character meets the woman he has been looking for. Too add a layer of emotion through sound, heartbeats, the frantic chattering of insects or birds, and indistinguishable whispering add a layer of mystery and anxiety. Whenever the focus of the film is on the main character undergoing experimentation, eerie whispering without music layered under it is used to make the viewer wonder what is happening and to add suspense to the scene. At one of the high points of the film, the sound of insects or birds chattering builds and crescendos to cause the viewer to experience anxiety along with the main character. The heart beat sound tells us how our main character is feeling and how we should be feeling, too, as it speeds up or slows down, sometimes on its own and sometimes under the narration. Through these sound cues and the use of music, the director makes up for the lack of moving pictures and varied dialogue.
Virginia Nobles: La J'etee, created by Chris Marker is a short film made up of still images combined with voice over in order to portray a story of a man taken hostage after the bombings in France. Marker tries to captivate the audience by using various images depicting dramatic scenes that either get closer or further from the subject, with some continuous stills as if to make the picture sequence "move". In order to better tell the story, french spoken voice over is added with translated English subtitles.
Kierra Wright La Jette by Chris Marker 1962 Is using still images to tell a story. For each picture there is a story behind it. The black & white makes the film more dramatic. Especially with he music added to it, kind of gives it a somber feeling. In one of the scenes where they have some man in a chair with his eyes covered & men are around him they have whispering going on at the same time. i love how he did this because it made the scene so dramatic. I like how in some of the pictures he has it where the lighting kind of overcomes the picture so the eyes & the mouth are dark but every thing else is lit. i feel this gives the picture a bloodcurdling effect. Also, how he re-uses some photos & keeps referencing back, for example the close-up of the man w/ light eyes & a mustache. Overall this was a very interesting film & i enjoyed it.
Evan Price: La J'etee is a marvelous work of science fiction I'm ashamed I had never known of before now. Combining still black and white images with lovely narration, Chris Marker creates an engrossing mystery and an intriguing world of sci fi. The detail of every frame (the time each picture lasts, their framing, the shadows) creates a fake documentary as timeless as the story itself. The story tells an alternate history that is well made to the point that I was wondering if it was true in the first five minutes or so. The old sounding audio and the frames made it seem like an uncovered story. This style of story telling does not lend itself to any particular time period; for all I knew, this could have been made just a few years ago. In an odd sense, this short film travels through time with the same detached feeling as the protagonist. This detached feeling is achieved through an eerie form of storytelling. The silence is everything. The strongest parts of the film for me were the extended shots of still images and complete silence.
La Jetée is a short film directed by Frenchman Chris Marker, and is a science-fiction dystopian montage, composed nearly entirely of still images. The first scene is a telling one of a Parisian airport, with opera music in the background. The main character only sees clearly a woman's face, before a man dies. Never do we see the man die, only stills of others reactions. Following next is among the most impressive shots of the film: one comparing pre-war Paris to the rubble that the great city has become after World War III. At this point, "the victors stood guard over a kingdom of rats," though never do we find out who exactly the "victors" are. Multiple subjects are tortured, and they either die or go mad, with the wide-eyed expression of one madman being among the most memorable shots. Our main character is chosen for the experiments, with the aim being time travel to save humanity. The next minute or two are laborious shots of the man being tortured, with thumping intensifying in the background. After finding the woman from the airport and developing a romantic relationship, stills begin showing of the woman sleeping with bugs chirping during. At this point, we see the only moving picture of the entire movie, as the woman opens her eyes. After successfully saving the human race, the man goes back in time, and in some of the best, most heart-pounding cinema I've ever seen, the man reconnects with the woman at the airport, before it turns out that the man killed was him all along. The film, told through haunting, dark, still images, created a perfect atmosphere for the plot, and Marker did a fantastic job creating this unique picture.
Savannah Stanley: In the establishing shot of La J'etee, Chris Maker sets up not only the location of the film but also the style that the movie will follow; throughout the credits, the picture remains still- a contrast to most films of the current day- and shows how the rest of the film will be constructed of still images as well. At first, it felt awkward to see a story told in this manner, but it really helped to isolate each image as its own, unique thought in the course of the story and allowed the alien-ness of a post-apocalyptic Paris to be felt. This also allowed the one shot that actually contained motion- the one with the woman, blinking her eyes- to stand out incredibly well against the stills that surrounded it, giving her the sensation of life and beauty when everything else was fixed and cold. The use of sound was also very powerful in terms of how volume and tones were used at more crucial parts of the story, and how the main characters' heartbeat gave a sense of his emotions when the camera wasn't showing his face. Lighting was an incredible symbol in this film as well-- the profile shots gave a sense of mystery and longing, and the dim light of the experimentation room and on the faces of the experiments themselves gave them a gaunt, skeletal look. It truly conveyed the feeling of death and despair without having to be overly grotesque. Light also gave a sense of time in terms of giving the past that the main character chose to be a part of more sunlight and thereby more light, whereas the present and future were shrouded in shadow. Marker gave a very interesting view of time travel in the 60's through his use of stills, sound, and lighting, that gave a life to the story without the use of cliche'd special effects and created a world that felt whole in only still images.
John Oldani- La Jetée is a short film with interesting plot and character developments. The story is told through still images, music, and a narrator. The narrator explains the story and what is going on, the images then show in further detail what exactly is going on in each scene. The viewer is able to put the ideas they have just heard, and then see more detail with the images of the characters and their surroundings. Also the music and sound effects add intensity to the important parts of the story. The film effectively combines these elements to tell a thorough and clear story. The speed of the images picks up with intensity and slows down when the story gets slow. This allows the viewer to know that something big is happening. I think this had an interesting plot and I think that it was made well. For such simple building blocks, this movie is interesting and easy to understand.
Magdalene Kennedy: I was surprised by just how compelling a movie composed solely of still images could be--I found myself pulled into this dystopian black and white world. It was even more impressive that it was sci-fi; Chris Marker created an entire cohesive story set in three different times with pretty much no special effects. It really speaks to the power of simple images and stories. But it's the arrangement of these spare elements that really captures the artfulness of Chris Marker's direction. Variations in the length the images are shown, as well as in the transitions, give the film a sense of momentum. Augmenting this are the subtle sound effects: gentle music and urgent heartbeats. Although I found the ending somewhat predictable, particularly for a time travel film, it remained emotionally powerful. This may have also had to do with the grim graininess of the black and white stills. Far from being detrimental to the story, the fact that the movie was told in images endowed it with an understated energy.
Nathan Carras- La J'etee by Chris Marker is a science fiction film comprised of image stills. The images tell a story of time travel between three different time periods, the past, the present, and the future. Each time period is marked by a distinct styles. The present is dark with a very high contrast, lighting is very intense and focused, highlighting the features of the characters. The past is significantly brighter, with a higher emphasis on natural light. The future is distorted slightly, with one light source illuminating all the characters. The main character, known simply as "the man," is distinct from characters in the past and the future. In the past, he stands out by his clothing, his tattered jacket and shirt stand out from the plain wardrobe of the past, as well as his demeanor, overall being more serious looking than his female counterpart, "the woman." In the future, he is significantly less well-lit than the denizens of Future Paris. Even in his own time, the present, he doesn't fit in with the experimentors or other test subjects, really driving home the feeling of isolation the man must feel. Sound plays a major role in this film, as all plot development is driven by narration. Not only that, but the musical score and sound effects rely heavily on volume changes and pitch changes, stirring emotions in audiences. Overall, La J'etee is a masterpiece of sight and sound, telling a moving story without any moving pictures.
McKenzie Miller: LaJetee by Chris Marker is a different type of short film, composed of many techniques that bring in the viewer emotionally even though it is only a compilation of pictures. Early on in the film, the director uses extreme long shots to frame the post-war scene. Marker then used many close up frame shots to portray emotions and faces of terror and shock after the war broke out. These close up shots made the emotion more relatable and real to the viewer and allowed them to experience what it may have been like to see that first hand. Although they were still images, the progression of the images portrayed it to be like a full moving scene. For example, in the scene when the main character was undergoing experimentation, the close up images were one after another and showed his every expression. At the end of the film, the main character was seen running to the women that was watching the planes before he was killed. The quick transitions in between the still shots made it look like he was physically being filmed running. What also helped with the film was the use of sound. Marker’s choice of music and mysterious mumbling and whispers created another dynamic element of depth to the film. Every piece was well thought out and gave the viewer the realistic idea of war in that time period.
Holly Hundsdorfer- La J'etee by Chris Marker was a very thought provoking film made almost completely of photos. The music is used as a tool to foreshadow each instance where the drama gets more and more intense. The heart beating faster and faster as he switches time zones is a perfect way to grab the viewer in wondering what is about to happen in the plot next. The music also easily gives away the next time something is about to happen. Every detail of the stills gave more details as to what time period it was in. You could look at the clothing and social norms that reflect where he was traveling to. I really enjoyed the wide range of angles used. Sometime the camera would be right on their face and sometimes they would do more obvious shots like the one of them standing behind the stingray in the museum. This film was very different and Marker surely explored a lot of techniques to crafter this short film.
Katy Hale: La J'etee by Chris Marker is based on a man who is marked by an image from his childhood. It is taken place a few years prior to the outbreak of World War III. The images in the film are very surreal. Although it is strictly narrative, and shows clips from this strict time period, as well as old photos, it explains the destruction of WW3 perfectly. What made this film so surreal was the detailed images the narrator gave us about certain aspects these people remembered during this time, such as "those who long remembered the frozen sun, the setting at the end of the deck, and a womans face." One thing I noticed was the strict close-ups of the characters faces and their real reactions of this disastrous time. Towards the middle of the movie, it began to mellow down and speak more about the "peacefulness" and "realness" of everything. At the end, he asked to be renewed to the world of his childhood and that the woman who might be waiting for him would be there. He began to watch the planes and saw the woman at the end of the deck. With this being said, it helped me visualize the distance between the two characters and how they finally came together in the end. Each piece shown in the film told an extremely realistic story of the aftermath of this horrific time period, and gave me more understanding of this particular period. In conclusion, Chris Marker did an amazing job of telling an intense story, just by using still images. With this being said, it helped me come up with more ideas on our upcoming still image assignment.
Christian Lundin: Aside from the stunning and unconventional use of still photography in La J'etee, the most alluring and mind-boggling part about this short was the development of the story. In combination with the gorgeous stills and anxiety-inducing sound and music, the plot develops and unravels smoothly and gradually enough to allow the viewer to understand what's happening with limited resources, but it also keeps the viewer guessing and wondering throughout. The plot is enough to glue any pair of eyes to their screen, but the poetic narration in juxtaposition with a decently horrifying circumstance for the main character, create am experience that most films can't seem to accomplish. Fear and anxiety are a major piece of this story, but the soothing French voice of the narrator, reading a script that sounds like a classic novel, makes the viewer want to feel that anxiety and fear. On top of that, the composition of every shot was meticulously crafted to serve many different purposes throughout, such as the low-angle shots of the experimenter and the harsh lighting of the "others" from the future. Additionally, the use of the sound of the heart beating adds on to the sense of anxiety that the director conveys throughout the entire short. An interesting sound choice was the use of the quiet whispering at different points in the film, which can be presumed to be the voice of the experimenters. The mysterious whispers created an ominous tone to the scenes when the viewer sees the main character being tested. Overall, gorgeous film, and absolutely masterful storytelling.
Blake Hudson: Chris Marker's choice to tell this story through the use of mainly still images was definitely an interesting one. I think that this method in La J'etee works in some ways because the story is told through glimpses of moments in time: a childhood memory, a devastating war, a love affair with a mysterious woman, etc.. A shot's length is so important along with the overall timing and pace of a film, and it's interesting to watch these images and how they can effectively use that. We see images that flash quicker during more intense moments (like the final scene) and images that change, but stay on the same subject to pull the audience's focus more (like the woman's face). I also thought that the decision to stay on the opening image throughout the entire title sequence was interesting, just because it was such a long shot that it made you curious about the importance of the airport. Ultimately, the most important use of the still images was the buildup to the one moving scene in the film: it leaves you longing for more of that one moment, just as it left the main character longing for it. Once it gets to that scene, it gives you a sense of comfort, and once it moves past it, you just want to go back. Overall this was an interesting method and, if used the correct way, can have a great emotional impact on the audience.
Joshua Perkins: La J'etee is a cinematic masterpiece told mainly through the use of still images. The film itself is a journey through life in a way many other movies cannot pull off. This film is done so well that it sparks feelings in every scene that gets the viewer engulfed in the story. Chris Marker uses voice overs to give the story more life. It was a great film that took me on a 30 minute journey into my inner feelings.
Tess Dillon: In Chris Marker's transcendent photo-novel, La J'etee, the audience is moved by a series of profoundly beautiful still-frames taken with black and white film. Part of what makes the story so hauntingly enthralling is Marker's use of lighting and sound. Like Marker's main character, we become marked by images and feel a sense of attachment to them just as he does. Marker's choice of framing becomes a huge influence on the tone of each photograph in the montage. For example, the photos on the pier of the man running to the camera without the woman in sight is foreshadowing their unrequited love. Marker's technique was full of power, emotion and dread. After completing my still frame assignment earlier this morning and then sitting down to watch this, I feel like I understand the tension filmmakers must create in and between each shot in a montage like this.
Hannah Bynum: La J'etee by Chris Marker is a beautifully constructed science fiction film made up entirely of still images. The films storyline revolves around the idea of time travel in Paris during a time when the city has almost been completely destroyed due to World War III. People don't normally think of works like this one when they think of traditional films, however, I believe Marker's approach strictly using still images worked very well for this story. The length of each photo helped develop a sense of importance for whatever was happening within that shot. The angles at which photos were shot and the shadowing of the characters helps elicit desired emotions from the audience. For example, around 24:40 in the film the close up shots of the characters along with the shadows on their face and the music playing in the background, an eerie atmosphere is developed along with a sense of unease. Marker's work with this film is very inspiring due to how beautifully the story came together and was delivered simply through the use of still images.
Taylor Hendrix: In La J'etee, Chris Marker uses a mixture of dramatic lighting and dramatic music to help make the short film more interesting as well as more dramatic. For example, when the "guineua pig" was being introduced into the experiment, it had two different shots of his face. First, you see him from the shoulders up and then from the side. This creates a more dynamic character than a just head on angle would. Also, his face is in the shadows creating a more dramatic character. Adding onto this dramatization is the sound of his heart beat as he realizes he is about to be the victim of "Dr. Frankenstein." Marker's use of still images to tell this story is a bold choice; however, very effective because it gets the story of what the victim endured being experimented on.
Hayley LaGrone: I was pleasantly surprised that La J'etee by Chris Marker captured my attention, as it was composed only of still images and was not in english. I was mostly impressed with his audio choices, however. In the beginning, for example, when he used gothic style choir music. I know it was only for the credits, but it set a dramatic and creepy tone to the whole film. This feeling was later matched by the whispering of the experimenters, as well as the heartbeats, which left an unsettling feeling in my stomach. The way this was shot was incredible, including the way he used severe black and white contrast to invoke power and emotion. He really has a way of moving audiences with his use of close-ups that portray raw emotions, like when the main character is suffering while being experimented on or the peacefulness the woman during their meetings.
Mario Cirinese: In La J'etee, Chris Marker transcends the audience to a new dimension crafted in his image. In this war-ridden world a compelling story unfolds cohesively joining the use of imagery and audio to explain a remarkable tale. Marker expressed a magnificent use of still image photography and videography around the time stamp of 19:49 where the leading lady sleeping in bed seems to miraculously come to life. The director using a short video clip almost as a special effect to convey this powerful scene is only one example of interesting choices made by Chris Marker. The well-orchestrated music added throughout the film constructed emotions that intensify at clearly indicated moments while the audience witness war torn imagery. La J’etee gave a feeling of isolation through the use of images letting the audience fully indulge in every separate frame. Overall I rather enjoyed the black and white piece, it was a new experience and shed light on a film that deserves to be seen.
Anthony Reed: Chris Maker made a unique choice by creating a film using nothing but stills. The extreme black and white color contrast adds to the emotion of the world that seems like the life has been taken out of it due to war and destruction. The choice and order of the stills in addition to the narration still made it a story that was still easy to follow along. Even though this isn't a traditional style film its elements and the way it was put together still holds the attention of the viewer. It's not the type of genre film i'm into but I can respect it for its creative properties.
In the short film Chris Maker, uses black and white still images and a voice over to create an amazing video that captures the emotions that come behind being captured. The life is dull and the film portrays that with the black and white images. From the close up shots to the the transition of each picture it develops very nicely. The shots showed multiple things in each image. The film built up to the climax perfectly
Macy Posey: Chris Marker's aspect of only using still images in his film was truly compelling. HIs filming techniques such as using close-ups, framing, and dramatic music retained my attention throughout the film. Although it was a little weird to see films through still photography, I feel that Marker illustrated the plot extremely well. His use of emotion through using black and white photography along with music allowed the film to maintain it's dramatic feel. Overall, I feel that this film was well put together and it was definitely interesting to see a different filming technique being used.
Victoria Walker: In La J’etee, Chris Marker does an impeccable job of using still images and sound to convey an emotionally charged story about a young man captured in the Paris bombing. I was especially intrigued by the opening of the film. Marker successfully captured the audience’s attention by opening with images of a lady appearing shocked as a man falls to the ground. Marker doesn’t necessarily show the full body image of a man falling, but he shows a low, wide angled shot of a body off balanced. He also strategically placed the hand at the top of the shot and the woman at the back of the shot. Marker proceeds to end the opener by fading the screen to black and leaving the audience to hear nothing but the narrator. Throughout the film, Marker does a good job of consistently using words only when he needs to emphasize an image. When the narrator doesn’t speak, Marker successfully used sound to keep the audience engaged. All throughout the film he inserts sounds like heartbeats and whispers to create a sense of urgency and grave danger. Also, he uses music from the Romanticism and Baroque period to emphasize love. I also found it interesting how Marker used more contrast for the more serious and emotional images. All in all this film was very well structured. I especially liked the ending because he constructed the story so well that it tied back in with the opening image. Essentially, explaining why the man was falling to what appeared to be his death.
Krystyna Kridos: La J'ettee, a short film by Chris Maker, is a great rendering of stills cohesively coming together to tell the story along with the narrator's voice. I think the decision to use black and white stills is more aesthetically pleasing to his overall concept than if he would have used color. The music and sound effects portion of the film is astounding. It fits so well it's almost like they were made to be in this film. Every photo has a raw emotion behind it that, by itself I feel wouldn't work, but when he brings everything together yo can really feel the emotions jumping out of the photo.
Jack Beuckman: In La J'ettee, the short film by Chris Marker, Marker uses still images to tell the story of a man who is experimented on after Paris is destroyed in a war. His choice to use still pictures over video did not affect my experience while watching the film. Mainly because the story was communicated well by the use of music and narration. The emotions were easy to feel. the black and white help the viewer perceive the story as dark and gloomy. Marker's conveyed the emotions very well throughout the film. He utilized music and lighting to grab the attention of the viewer. He used a lot of dissolves to transition between picture along with fades and made the pictures flow together.
Cameron Panhans: In La J'etee, Chris Marker utilizes still images to tell the story of a man who is taken prisoner after the bombing of Paris. Marker captures the viewer's attention from the very beginning of the short by placing audio over a black slate that draws the audience into the film by focusing them on the sound they are hearing rather than images they could be seeing. This technique of using sound over black is repeated throughout the film, placing emphasis on the words being said rather than the events going on. Further, mumbling inaudible French voices can be heard throughout the short, which adds to its element of suspense. At the 2 minute 45 second mark, the image of the woman's face is the first real close up of a recognizable human being in the work. This close up features heavy light on the left side of the woman's face that portrays a false sense of hope that is immediately taken from the audience as the bombing of the city soon follows. Long shots throughout the montage of ruins following the bombing show the range of the devastation throughout the city. The close ups shown of those taken prisoners and the lighting used in those close ups displays their horror and dismay at the tests being conducted. These same tactics are used throughout the remainder of the film to emphasize the most important aspects of the story, including the close up on the man's necklace at the 15 minute 34 second mark. Through this compilation of still images, composed thoughtfully with different techniques in mind to express the desired emotion, Chris Marker tells a moving and emotional story.
ReplyDeleteSarah Clarke: La J'etee and Chris Marker's ability to express the emotions of the characters through the portraiture of his subject makes for a very poetic story. The pictures, no matter how long or short they are featured on screen effects the film in a way comparable to the moving pictures we see now. The raw emotion captured in the shot makes the viewer's heart ache and feel empathetic towards the characters and their various struggles. When the man goes back in time and starts remembering the way France used to be, the audience is happy for the brief moment that we see how in bliss the man is.Through this shared emotion, the aesthetics of the film are made. The appeal of this film is through how the story is seamless, even with the sole narrator and lack of seen movement. The story is told through pictures, and if the audience didn't necessarily read the dialogue, they could still understand the man's pain, joy, and everything in between.
ReplyDeleteMolly Hochwalt: In La J’etee, Chris Marker constructs an extremely intriguing and emotionally charged story from black and white still images. The single narrator in this short film tells the story of a young man who was taken prisoner and experimented on after the bombings in Paris. The camera seems to effortlessly follow the progression of events to the point where it feels like you are watching moving scenes rather than just still shots. The fading transitions from photo to photo add even more to the over all motion like quality of the film. The camera captures minute changes in expression and body position in the close up shots, which makes the film feel life like and intimate. This is especially true in sections of the film such as the two scenes of the girl from the past sleeping. These scenes develop the character, allowing for her to be portrayed as the man’s soft and fragile tether to the past. I find it astounding that the still shots could so well capture the qualities and developments of the characters throughout the short film. This intimacy of the photos with the characters and use of close ups, allows for an emotional connection to the characters to be formed. Overall, this films elements mold seamlessly into an emotionally stimulating story and I am glad to have watched it.
ReplyDeleteMeg Magee: In La J'etee, Chris Marker builds a fascinating story through the use of carefully placed still images. In the beginning of the short film the narrator was talking about how, "the cries of the crowd we're blurred by fear". I thought it was intriguing that while the narrator was saying this, Marker made the choice to make the image blurry. It added more significance to the what the narrator was saying and made the viewer pay attention to what was being said more. Another thing I found interesting was that whenever the narrator was talking about something bad for example, the destruction of paris, people dying ect. the screen would be black. I thought this was smart because it made the viewer stop and pay attention to what the narrator was talking about and it also lets the audience come up with their own mental images. The whispering in the background of the scenes when the prisoners were being experimented on added another level of creepiness and I thought that it was extremely clever. Additionally, I thought it was interesting that the camera was looking up at the experimenter in a few parts. This gave the illusion that we were the prisoner being experimenter on. All in all, the camera angles and sounds added to the plot of the film and pulled together the whole story line.
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ReplyDeleteRyanne Whyte: La J'etee by Chris Marker is an intriguing film in many ways. Mainly the first thing one notices is that it's shot almost completely in still images. This is interesting because if they had shot in the traditional way, they probably would have achieved the same general understanding from their audience. With the film using the format of single shots, it gives a feeling of detachment. This makes sense because the protagonist is forced into his situation. The only moment in the film that uses actual motion is for a couple seconds when the main character is feeling complete bliss. This bliss is swiftly cut off for him and for us as the audience as it goes straight back to still images. This film also relies heavily on close ups. It uses close ups in various ways for various characters to convey a feeling of peace or concentration or suffering or madness. Angles are also used carefully and precisely in this film. The camera often was looking upward at characters to portray them as menacing and powerful. When the camera was looking downwards, it was often at a peaceful memory or a victim. The images in this film had a lot to convey and Marker's use of angles, lighting, sound, and design overall helped to bring the story together and elicit the right emotions.
ReplyDeleteLouis Lartigue: The 1962 film La J’ette by Chris Marker tells the story of a man who is the subject of time traveling experiments that take place underground the aftermath of a nuclear war. The film focuses around the theme of understanding one’s own memories and in doing this understanding one’s self. In the very beginning of the film, Marker makes the point that “nothing distinguishes memories from ordinary moments [and] only later do they become memorable by the scars they leave”. Throughout the course of the film, the protagonist is perusing a woman who he has a vivid memory of from the day the war started. The protagonist has obsessed over this memory ever since that day and it is because of the strength of this obsession that the man is successful in time travel when all other candidates before him either died or went insane. Marker is able to communicate to the audience the condition of characters and direction of the narrative with only still shots. When the setting of the film takes place in the present, shots are often sporadic and give a feeling of unease with audio elements complimenting this feeling. For example in the early trials of the experiments Dutch angles of the man’s tortured face and an eerie indistinct whisper in the background creates a shared disorienting and unpleasant experience for both the character and the audience. In contrast, when the protagonist is experiencing happiness with the woman the shots are at balanced angles with the timing of the cuts at a calm pace and when he is taken out of the time loophole it is done with a more sudden cut. The woman’s influence on the behavior of the shot is very important throughout the film, the only instance of a moving image occurs as the audience looks at a series of shots of the woman’s face that leads to a few seconds of actual motion. One sequence that stood out to me in particular taxidermy museum and this is because it draws parallels to the story. At this point in the story the protagonist can move freely throughout time and stay however long he wants, much like the way the two meander around and observe the “ageless animals” without care, but it is cut short much like perfect moments in life do not last forever. The theme of obtaining an understanding one’s self through the processing of moments over time is a major theme in the film and it is reiterated in the closing sequence of the film. As the protagonist goes back in time to the location of his memory of the woman, “he realized there was no escape from time, and that moment he’d been granted to see as a child and that had obsessed him forever was the moment of his death”.
ReplyDeleteDustin Bennett: The French piece La J'etee is a wonderful short film with some very interesting direction. The most obvious is that its visuals are comprised of only black screens or still images. This means we can only see fragments of the story, an excellent parallel to how our unnamed protagonist is, once the experiments have begun, also experiencing the story in fragments, constantly being thrust into and out of the past. Other parts of the direction handle the job of informing the viewer on how the protagonist is feeling. Most of the storytelling is handled by the narrator, who remains mostly distant and clinical, describing the experiments as extremely painful instead of describing the agony the character feels going through them. Instead, that's illustrated with brutal chiaroscuro close-ups of his strained face. Similarly, while the narrator never says that the main character loves the girl he meets in the past, they're always framed closely together in pleasant and happy medium shots. This is subverted at the very end though, when the male is much closer to the frame and is running towards her, which illustrates how they can't be together, considering the event that follows.
ReplyDeleteLa J'etee also has a truly unique story that feels really new, which is especially amazing considering it came out in 1962 and time travel as a plot device has been done in many different ways since. Its influence can be seen in many modern films (Donnie Darko, Looper, etc.) but it still showcases itself as a standout in a crowded genre.
Zach Andry: In this French film La J'etee about a post-world war III research facility the director choice of shot composition helps set the tone of the film. Through out the film the protagonist is being sent back in time. One aesthetic choice I found that worked really well was the contrasting shots. More specifically the contrast between the post-war and pre-war shots. All of the post war shots have backgrounds that are dark sometimes you can only see a face lit up. They are almost always set inside it what appears to be some sort of bunker. They never contain more than 2 or 3 people max. Shots are typically very close on some ones face and the subject is rarely smiling. This in contrast to the pre-war which are often out side much wider and more open shots often contain many people who seem happy and the lighting is always much brighter than post-war.
ReplyDeletePhillip Spain: La J'etee, a short film by Chris Marker, derives its style and tone from the fact that the story is told almost solely through still images and voice-over, with no dialogue between characters. Not only does this give the piece its stunted and jarring tone that parallels the experience that the protagonist is enduring throughout the film, but it also works to give the one moving scene where the woman awakens a heightened sense of importance and impact, marking a turning point for the protagonist's motivations. This moment could be seen as the point that ultimately leads to his demise at the end of the film. Most of the shots in the film have only one or two subjects as the focus, which is important to the film's tone as it adds a sense of isolation and discomfort, and helps the viewer connect further with the protagonist by making you feel as alone and isolated as he is. Because of the nature of this style of film, the viewer is enticed to pay attention to every single shot due to how quickly they switch from one to another, and each and every shot is impactful in its own way, making La J'etee a powerful experience from beginning to end.
ReplyDeleteJesse Tollison:
ReplyDeleteLa J'etee expresses a time-travelling phenomenon that is often told, but in a very unique way. Chris Marker, the auteur, poses many questions with his film surrounding the nature of reality and human connection. His close to exclusive use of still images to tell the story has a disorienting effect on the viewer, causing us to doubt even the things we are told are reality. The clever use of voice-over also contributes to this feeling, because every line is written to strategically hide what could be going on within the universe. To add to that, we never get to see or understand what the protagonist is thinking, forcing us to project our own feelings onto him. With the combined audiovisual style, we really only get a retelling of the events that transpire in an elegant way, leaving any and all conclusions of this closed-loop plot entirely up to the viewer.
Alex Smith: La J'etee, a short film made by Chris Marker, is a tale about a man from a post-apocalyptic France where the surface world has been destroyed by war. The tale focuses on the man's story as he returns to the image he saw as a child, the woman at the airport. The movie itself is told in a silent photo slide show of sorts with noises and narration playing in the background. Marker does an excellent job of conveying the emotion felt throughout the movie with the lighting. One particular instance where the lighting affected emotions was where the protagonist was sent to the world of the future. The future people had half shadowed faces, a trick to make the viewer uneasy just like most people are naturally about the world to come. Another unique style that the film had was the way it was shot. Nearly each and every scene was just a progressing story being told by pictures. The stillness of each of these images gives the viewer a moment to take it all in. The pace at which the pictures change also affect this as well, such as the scene where the man is running to the woman. Each picture was shown in rapid succession, showing the hurried pace he ran. La J'etee is a wonderfully strong film with the way it was shot and the message about the inevitability of time.
ReplyDeleteIn La J'etee, a film created by Chris Marker, we learn about the effects of war in France. It is filmed using still imagery and narration to give a more bone chilling affect, Marker is able to take different images from many angles and present it in such a way that the viewer feels entitled to react to the images. Anything from watching the women's face reaction at the airport to seeing the prisoners of war being experimented on, it all comes full circle. I think the narrator does a good job explaining the scenarios in which time and place seem inactive. All the tilts of images where buildings are completely crushed and destroyed creates a scene of horror and disarray within the images. One of the best features of this short film included the emotions of characters through different scenes. I think by far the most horrifying photo's in the short film had too be the man who was being experimented on mentioning that there is no hope in future. You are then shown images from several angles where it looks to be this man in great pain struggling after being injected with some fluid. It sends a strong message of courage that he went through this and that the narrator explains his thoughts and feelings. The brief flashes of photos of a man in his boat and cows in the field bring hope to the film and give insight into a new day. Photo's of women with the lighting so that only the one part of their face is showing create the ultimate scene for which the viewer feels impacted. These are all the things that I think the photographer was trying to portray and goes to show that images can really depict emotion in someone, especially during a time of war.
ReplyDeleteAlex Cherry:
ReplyDeleteIn La’Jetee, sound is utilized as one of the primary forms of expression, namely through sound effects and musical cues. As the film lacks dialogue and the only true words in the film are spoken by an unnamed narrator, the director utilizes sound to create tone in the film and direct the viewer as to how they should be feeling. Music is used in an ebb and flow pattern, becoming louder and more frantic during climaxes in action, and becoming more subdued and peaceful during scenes where the viewer should feel more relaxed, such as when the main character meets the woman he has been looking for. Too add a layer of emotion through sound, heartbeats, the frantic chattering of insects or birds, and indistinguishable whispering add a layer of mystery and anxiety. Whenever the focus of the film is on the main character undergoing experimentation, eerie whispering without music layered under it is used to make the viewer wonder what is happening and to add suspense to the scene. At one of the high points of the film, the sound of insects or birds chattering builds and crescendos to cause the viewer to experience anxiety along with the main character. The heart beat sound tells us how our main character is feeling and how we should be feeling, too, as it speeds up or slows down, sometimes on its own and sometimes under the narration. Through these sound cues and the use of music, the director makes up for the lack of moving pictures and varied dialogue.
Virginia Nobles: La J'etee, created by Chris Marker is a short film made up of still images combined with voice over in order to portray a story of a man taken hostage after the bombings in France. Marker tries to captivate the audience by using various images depicting dramatic scenes that either get closer or further from the subject, with some continuous stills as if to make the picture sequence "move". In order to better tell the story, french spoken voice over is added with translated English subtitles.
ReplyDeleteKierra Wright
ReplyDeleteLa Jette by Chris Marker 1962
Is using still images to tell a story. For each picture there is a story behind it. The black & white makes the film more dramatic. Especially with he music added to it, kind of gives it a somber feeling. In one of the scenes where they have some man in a chair with his eyes covered & men are around him they have whispering going on at the same time. i love how he did this because it made the scene so dramatic. I like how in some of the pictures he has it where the lighting kind of overcomes the picture so the eyes & the mouth are dark but every thing else is lit. i feel this gives the picture a bloodcurdling effect. Also, how he re-uses some photos & keeps referencing back, for example the close-up of the man w/ light eyes & a mustache. Overall this was a very interesting film & i enjoyed it.
Evan Price: La J'etee is a marvelous work of science fiction I'm ashamed I had never known of before now. Combining still black and white images with lovely narration, Chris Marker creates an engrossing mystery and an intriguing world of sci fi. The detail of every frame (the time each picture lasts, their framing, the shadows) creates a fake documentary as timeless as the story itself. The story tells an alternate history that is well made to the point that I was wondering if it was true in the first five minutes or so. The old sounding audio and the frames made it seem like an uncovered story. This style of story telling does not lend itself to any particular time period; for all I knew, this could have been made just a few years ago. In an odd sense, this short film travels through time with the same detached feeling as the protagonist. This detached feeling is achieved through an eerie form of storytelling. The silence is everything. The strongest parts of the film for me were the extended shots of still images and complete silence.
ReplyDeleteLa Jetée is a short film directed by Frenchman Chris Marker, and is a science-fiction dystopian montage, composed nearly entirely of still images. The first scene is a telling one of a Parisian airport, with opera music in the background. The main character only sees clearly a woman's face, before a man dies. Never do we see the man die, only stills of others reactions. Following next is among the most impressive shots of the film: one comparing pre-war Paris to the rubble that the great city has become after World War III. At this point, "the victors stood guard over a kingdom of rats," though never do we find out who exactly the "victors" are. Multiple subjects are tortured, and they either die or go mad, with the wide-eyed expression of one madman being among the most memorable shots. Our main character is chosen for the experiments, with the aim being time travel to save humanity. The next minute or two are laborious shots of the man being tortured, with thumping intensifying in the background. After finding the woman from the airport and developing a romantic relationship, stills begin showing of the woman sleeping with bugs chirping during. At this point, we see the only moving picture of the entire movie, as the woman opens her eyes. After successfully saving the human race, the man goes back in time, and in some of the best, most heart-pounding cinema I've ever seen, the man reconnects with the woman at the airport, before it turns out that the man killed was him all along. The film, told through haunting, dark, still images, created a perfect atmosphere for the plot, and Marker did a fantastic job creating this unique picture.
ReplyDeleteSavannah Stanley: In the establishing shot of La J'etee, Chris Maker sets up not only the location of the film but also the style that the movie will follow; throughout the credits, the picture remains still- a contrast to most films of the current day- and shows how the rest of the film will be constructed of still images as well. At first, it felt awkward to see a story told in this manner, but it really helped to isolate each image as its own, unique thought in the course of the story and allowed the alien-ness of a post-apocalyptic Paris to be felt. This also allowed the one shot that actually contained motion- the one with the woman, blinking her eyes- to stand out incredibly well against the stills that surrounded it, giving her the sensation of life and beauty when everything else was fixed and cold. The use of sound was also very powerful in terms of how volume and tones were used at more crucial parts of the story, and how the main characters' heartbeat gave a sense of his emotions when the camera wasn't showing his face. Lighting was an incredible symbol in this film as well-- the profile shots gave a sense of mystery and longing, and the dim light of the experimentation room and on the faces of the experiments themselves gave them a gaunt, skeletal look. It truly conveyed the feeling of death and despair without having to be overly grotesque. Light also gave a sense of time in terms of giving the past that the main character chose to be a part of more sunlight and thereby more light, whereas the present and future were shrouded in shadow.
ReplyDeleteMarker gave a very interesting view of time travel in the 60's through his use of stills, sound, and lighting, that gave a life to the story without the use of cliche'd special effects and created a world that felt whole in only still images.
John Oldani- La Jetée is a short film with interesting plot and character developments. The story is told through still images, music, and a narrator. The narrator explains the story and what is going on, the images then show in further detail what exactly is going on in each scene. The viewer is able to put the ideas they have just heard, and then see more detail with the images of the characters and their surroundings. Also the music and sound effects add intensity to the important parts of the story. The film effectively combines these elements to tell a thorough and clear story. The speed of the images picks up with intensity and slows down when the story gets slow. This allows the viewer to know that something big is happening. I think this had an interesting plot and I think that it was made well. For such simple building blocks, this movie is interesting and easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteMagdalene Kennedy: I was surprised by just how compelling a movie composed solely of still images could be--I found myself pulled into this dystopian black and white world. It was even more impressive that it was sci-fi; Chris Marker created an entire cohesive story set in three different times with pretty much no special effects. It really speaks to the power of simple images and stories. But it's the arrangement of these spare elements that really captures the artfulness of Chris Marker's direction. Variations in the length the images are shown, as well as in the transitions, give the film a sense of momentum. Augmenting this are the subtle sound effects: gentle music and urgent heartbeats. Although I found the ending somewhat predictable, particularly for a time travel film, it remained emotionally powerful. This may have also had to do with the grim graininess of the black and white stills. Far from being detrimental to the story, the fact that the movie was told in images endowed it with an understated energy.
ReplyDeleteNathan Carras- La J'etee by Chris Marker is a science fiction film comprised of image stills. The images tell a story of time travel between three different time periods, the past, the present, and the future. Each time period is marked by a distinct styles. The present is dark with a very high contrast, lighting is very intense and focused, highlighting the features of the characters. The past is significantly brighter, with a higher emphasis on natural light. The future is distorted slightly, with one light source illuminating all the characters. The main character, known simply as "the man," is distinct from characters in the past and the future. In the past, he stands out by his clothing, his tattered jacket and shirt stand out from the plain wardrobe of the past, as well as his demeanor, overall being more serious looking than his female counterpart, "the woman." In the future, he is significantly less well-lit than the denizens of Future Paris. Even in his own time, the present, he doesn't fit in with the experimentors or other test subjects, really driving home the feeling of isolation the man must feel. Sound plays a major role in this film, as all plot development is driven by narration. Not only that, but the musical score and sound effects rely heavily on volume changes and pitch changes, stirring emotions in audiences. Overall, La J'etee is a masterpiece of sight and sound, telling a moving story without any moving pictures.
ReplyDeleteMcKenzie Miller: LaJetee by Chris Marker is a different type of short film, composed of many techniques that bring in the viewer emotionally even though it is only a compilation of pictures. Early on in the film, the director uses extreme long shots to frame the post-war scene. Marker then used many close up frame shots to portray emotions and faces of terror and shock after the war broke out. These close up shots made the emotion more relatable and real to the viewer and allowed them to experience what it may have been like to see that first hand.
ReplyDeleteAlthough they were still images, the progression of the images portrayed it to be like a full moving scene. For example, in the scene when the main character was undergoing experimentation, the close up images were one after another and showed his every expression. At the end of the film, the main character was seen running to the women that was watching the planes before he was killed. The quick transitions in between the still shots made it look like he was physically being filmed running. What also helped with the film was the use of sound. Marker’s choice of music and mysterious mumbling and whispers created another dynamic element of depth to the film. Every piece was well thought out and gave the viewer the realistic idea of war in that time period.
Holly Hundsdorfer- La J'etee by Chris Marker was a very thought provoking film made almost completely of photos. The music is used as a tool to foreshadow each instance where the drama gets more and more intense. The heart beating faster and faster as he switches time zones is a perfect way to grab the viewer in wondering what is about to happen in the plot next. The music also easily gives away the next time something is about to happen. Every detail of the stills gave more details as to what time period it was in. You could look at the clothing and social norms that reflect where he was traveling to. I really enjoyed the wide range of angles used. Sometime the camera would be right on their face and sometimes they would do more obvious shots like the one of them standing behind the stingray in the museum. This film was very different and Marker surely explored a lot of techniques to crafter this short film.
ReplyDeleteKaty Hale: La J'etee by Chris Marker is based on a man who is marked by an image from his childhood. It is taken place a few years prior to the outbreak of World War III. The images in the film are very surreal. Although it is strictly narrative, and shows clips from this strict time period, as well as old photos, it explains the destruction of WW3 perfectly. What made this film so surreal was the detailed images the narrator gave us about certain aspects these people remembered during this time, such as "those who long remembered the frozen sun, the setting at the end of the deck, and a womans face." One thing I noticed was the strict close-ups of the characters faces and their real reactions of this disastrous time. Towards the middle of the movie, it began to mellow down and speak more about the "peacefulness" and "realness" of everything. At the end, he asked to be renewed to the world of his childhood and that the woman who might be waiting for him would be there. He began to watch the planes and saw the woman at the end of the deck. With this being said, it helped me visualize the distance between the two characters and how they finally came together in the end. Each piece shown in the film told an extremely realistic story of the aftermath of this horrific time period, and gave me more understanding of this particular period. In conclusion, Chris Marker did an amazing job of telling an intense story, just by using still images. With this being said, it helped me come up with more ideas on our upcoming still image assignment.
ReplyDeleteChristian Lundin: Aside from the stunning and unconventional use of still photography in La J'etee, the most alluring and mind-boggling part about this short was the development of the story. In combination with the gorgeous stills and anxiety-inducing sound and music, the plot develops and unravels smoothly and gradually enough to allow the viewer to understand what's happening with limited resources, but it also keeps the viewer guessing and wondering throughout. The plot is enough to glue any pair of eyes to their screen, but the poetic narration in juxtaposition with a decently horrifying circumstance for the main character, create am experience that most films can't seem to accomplish. Fear and anxiety are a major piece of this story, but the soothing French voice of the narrator, reading a script that sounds like a classic novel, makes the viewer want to feel that anxiety and fear. On top of that, the composition of every shot was meticulously crafted to serve many different purposes throughout, such as the low-angle shots of the experimenter and the harsh lighting of the "others" from the future. Additionally, the use of the sound of the heart beating adds on to the sense of anxiety that the director conveys throughout the entire short. An interesting sound choice was the use of the quiet whispering at different points in the film, which can be presumed to be the voice of the experimenters. The mysterious whispers created an ominous tone to the scenes when the viewer sees the main character being tested. Overall, gorgeous film, and absolutely masterful storytelling.
ReplyDeleteBlake Hudson: Chris Marker's choice to tell this story through the use of mainly still images was definitely an interesting one. I think that this method in La J'etee works in some ways because the story is told through glimpses of moments in time: a childhood memory, a devastating war, a love affair with a mysterious woman, etc.. A shot's length is so important along with the overall timing and pace of a film, and it's interesting to watch these images and how they can effectively use that. We see images that flash quicker during more intense moments (like the final scene) and images that change, but stay on the same subject to pull the audience's focus more (like the woman's face). I also thought that the decision to stay on the opening image throughout the entire title sequence was interesting, just because it was such a long shot that it made you curious about the importance of the airport. Ultimately, the most important use of the still images was the buildup to the one moving scene in the film: it leaves you longing for more of that one moment, just as it left the main character longing for it. Once it gets to that scene, it gives you a sense of comfort, and once it moves past it, you just want to go back. Overall this was an interesting method and, if used the correct way, can have a great emotional impact on the audience.
ReplyDeleteJoshua Perkins: La J'etee is a cinematic masterpiece told mainly through the use of still images. The film itself is a journey through life in a way many other movies cannot pull off. This film is done so well that it sparks feelings in every scene that gets the viewer engulfed in the story. Chris Marker uses voice overs to give the story more life. It was a great film that took me on a 30 minute journey into my inner feelings.
ReplyDeleteTess Dillon:
ReplyDeleteIn Chris Marker's transcendent photo-novel, La J'etee, the audience is moved by a series of profoundly beautiful still-frames taken with black and white film. Part of what makes the story so hauntingly enthralling is Marker's use of lighting and sound. Like Marker's main character, we become marked by images and feel a sense of attachment to them just as he does. Marker's choice of framing becomes a huge influence on the tone of each photograph in the montage. For example, the photos on the pier of the man running to the camera without the woman in sight is foreshadowing their unrequited love. Marker's technique was full of power, emotion and dread. After completing my still frame assignment earlier this morning and then sitting down to watch this, I feel like I understand the tension filmmakers must create in and between each shot in a montage like this.
Hannah Bynum: La J'etee by Chris Marker is a beautifully constructed science fiction film made up entirely of still images. The films storyline revolves around the idea of time travel in Paris during a time when the city has almost been completely destroyed due to World War III. People don't normally think of works like this one when they think of traditional films, however, I believe Marker's approach strictly using still images worked very well for this story. The length of each photo helped develop a sense of importance for whatever was happening within that shot. The angles at which photos were shot and the shadowing of the characters helps elicit desired emotions from the audience. For example, around 24:40 in the film the close up shots of the characters along with the shadows on their face and the music playing in the background, an eerie atmosphere is developed along with a sense of unease. Marker's work with this film is very inspiring due to how beautifully the story came together and was delivered simply through the use of still images.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Hendrix: In La J'etee, Chris Marker uses a mixture of dramatic lighting and dramatic music to help make the short film more interesting as well as more dramatic. For example, when the "guineua pig" was being introduced into the experiment, it had two different shots of his face. First, you see him from the shoulders up and then from the side. This creates a more dynamic character than a just head on angle would. Also, his face is in the shadows creating a more dramatic character. Adding onto this dramatization is the sound of his heart beat as he realizes he is about to be the victim of "Dr. Frankenstein." Marker's use of still images to tell this story is a bold choice; however, very effective because it gets the story of what the victim endured being experimented on.
ReplyDeleteHayley LaGrone: I was pleasantly surprised that La J'etee by Chris Marker captured my attention, as it was composed only of still images and was not in english. I was mostly impressed with his audio choices, however. In the beginning, for example, when he used gothic style choir music. I know it was only for the credits, but it set a dramatic and creepy tone to the whole film. This feeling was later matched by the whispering of the experimenters, as well as the heartbeats, which left an unsettling feeling in my stomach. The way this was shot was incredible, including the way he used severe black and white contrast to invoke power and emotion. He really has a way of moving audiences with his use of close-ups that portray raw emotions, like when the main character is suffering while being experimented on or the peacefulness the woman during their meetings.
ReplyDeleteMario Cirinese: In La J'etee, Chris Marker transcends the audience to a new dimension crafted in his image. In this war-ridden world a compelling story unfolds cohesively joining the use of imagery and audio to explain a remarkable tale. Marker expressed a magnificent use of still image photography and videography around the time stamp of 19:49 where the leading lady sleeping in bed seems to miraculously come to life. The director using a short video clip almost as a special effect to convey this powerful scene is only one example of interesting choices made by Chris Marker. The well-orchestrated music added throughout the film constructed emotions that intensify at clearly indicated moments while the audience witness war torn imagery. La J’etee gave a feeling of isolation through the use of images letting the audience fully indulge in every separate frame. Overall I rather enjoyed the black and white piece, it was a new experience and shed light on a film that deserves to be seen.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Reed: Chris Maker made a unique choice by creating a film using nothing but stills. The extreme black and white color contrast adds to the emotion of the world that seems like the life has been taken out of it due to war and destruction. The choice and order of the stills in addition to the narration still made it a story that was still easy to follow along. Even though this isn't a traditional style film its elements and the way it was put together still holds the attention of the viewer. It's not the type of genre film i'm into but I can respect it for its creative properties.
ReplyDeleteIn the short film Chris Maker, uses black and white still images and a voice over to create an amazing video that captures the emotions that come behind being captured. The life is dull and the film portrays that with the black and white images. From the close up shots to the the transition of each picture it develops very nicely. The shots showed multiple things in each image. The film built up to the climax perfectly
ReplyDeleteMacy Posey: Chris Marker's aspect of only using still images in his film was truly compelling. HIs filming techniques such as using close-ups, framing, and dramatic music retained my attention throughout the film. Although it was a little weird to see films through still photography, I feel that Marker illustrated the plot extremely well. His use of emotion through using black and white photography along with music allowed the film to maintain it's dramatic feel. Overall, I feel that this film was well put together and it was definitely interesting to see a different filming technique being used.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Walker: In La J’etee, Chris Marker does an impeccable job of using still images and sound to convey an emotionally charged story about a young man captured in the Paris bombing. I was especially intrigued by the opening of the film. Marker successfully captured the audience’s attention by opening with images of a lady appearing shocked as a man falls to the ground. Marker doesn’t necessarily show the full body image of a man falling, but he shows a low, wide angled shot of a body off balanced. He also strategically placed the hand at the top of the shot and the woman at the back of the shot. Marker proceeds to end the opener by fading the screen to black and leaving the audience to hear nothing but the narrator. Throughout the film, Marker does a good job of consistently using words only when he needs to emphasize an image. When the narrator doesn’t speak, Marker successfully used sound to keep the audience engaged. All throughout the film he inserts sounds like heartbeats and whispers to create a sense of urgency and grave danger. Also, he uses music from the Romanticism and Baroque period to emphasize love. I also found it interesting how Marker used more contrast for the more serious and emotional images. All in all this film was very well structured. I especially liked the ending because he constructed the story so well that it tied back in with the opening image. Essentially, explaining why the man was falling to what appeared to be his death.
ReplyDeleteKrystyna Kridos: La J'ettee, a short film by Chris Maker, is a great rendering of stills cohesively coming together to tell the story along with the narrator's voice. I think the decision to use black and white stills is more aesthetically pleasing to his overall concept than if he would have used color. The music and sound effects portion of the film is astounding. It fits so well it's almost like they were made to be in this film. Every photo has a raw emotion behind it that, by itself I feel wouldn't work, but when he brings everything together yo can really feel the emotions jumping out of the photo.
ReplyDeleteJack Beuckman: In La J'ettee, the short film by Chris Marker, Marker uses still images to tell the story of a man who is experimented on after Paris is destroyed in a war. His choice to use still pictures over video did not affect my experience while watching the film. Mainly because the story was communicated well by the use of music and narration. The emotions were easy to feel. the black and white help the viewer perceive the story as dark and gloomy. Marker's conveyed the emotions very well throughout the film. He utilized music and lighting to grab the attention of the viewer. He used a lot of dissolves to transition between picture along with fades and made the pictures flow together.
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