Movies

The French influence on the language and presentation of modern cinema is enormous. Several key aspects of cinema politiques and camera techniques have been introduced by the French schools of film studies. Camera-stylo or camera-pen refers to an innovative camera positioning technique that enables the audience to view the cinema from the perspective of an author involved in writing with a pen. This paper is going to illustrate two scenes from the 2001 film Moulin Rouge in the light of this particular theory.

    In camera-stylo, the narrative becomes subordinate to the suggestiveness implied by the language of the film. In essence, the director holds the position of the writer who invests motion into the plot by documenting subjective points of cinematic vision (Harris and Ezra 147). It engages the audience from the viewpoint of not just as external observers, but also as critiques of the ornamental aspects of production. The Spectacular Spectacular show that features in Moulin Rogue is a perfect manifestation of this technique because the scene itself is richly designed, much in keeping with the ambience of the cabaret concept. Director Baz Luhrmann introduces this particular scene with precise cuts and camera angles so that the following shot (of mistaken identity) gives a striking effect of being out of place for the audience.

    The second scene based on camera-stylo in Moulin Rogue occurs when Christian sings Your Song before Satine. This scene is presented from a long shot approaching closer with occasional sparks of fantastical lighting and a glimpse of night sky. Moreover, a light wheel revolves in the background, which is framed in blurred shots.