The film evaluation of Sunrise

Commenting on this film inevitably involves the production background of the film. This is Murnau's first work when he came to Hollywood from Europe, and it is also his first talking film (actually, it is a semi-silent film). Its theme is temptation and conflict: the resistance of silent films to audio films whose artistic level was still at a disadvantage at that time, the temptation of commercial Hollywood to Molnau, the confrontation between city and country, day and night, chastity VS debauchery.

The hero and heroine of the film are named after the man, the woman (hereinafter referred to as husband and wife) and their universality (which can also be understood as Adam and Eve), while the city slut/snake as a symbol of depravity and temptation is named after the city woman. The opposition between the two women is obvious, which is manifested in clothes, hairstyles and other aspects. The city is a completely artificial scene, and the countryside is a real-life shooting. The theme of conflict was established from the beginning of the film. In the first shot, the railway station is first represented by painting, and then a moving model. In the second shot, a train runs diagonally to the right and crosses another train to form an X-shape. This diagonal composition is also common in the scene of premeditated wife killing in the middle of the river.

Two women's clothes have opposite hairstyles. Wives' clothes and hats are all light (pure), while city girls' clothes and hats are all black (evil). City girls are lace corsets, stockings and high heels (hidden by her in the picture). The mirror never leaves her hand, the smoke never leaves her mouth, and the temptation is everywhere. And the wife is a flower (naive) and an apron (simple). Hairstyles also have specific meanings. The audience can compare the hairstyles of the following two people. In addition, the film later cut her hair (referring to her husband's repentance and reform). When the barber tried to cut his wife's hair, she ran away (unwilling to change her hairstyle).

In terms of audio-visual techniques, this film summarizes the achievements of silent films and actively develops the expressive force of sound.

Let's talk about the achievements of the so-called silent films, which are first manifested in the inheritance of various genres of European avant-garde films in the 1920s.

1, French impressionism. It is quite common in the first half of the film. Use overlapping paintings, virtual shadows and other methods to express subjective feelings, thoughts, etc. Left: A rather long solvent is used here for editing. The overlapping rivers are turbulent, and the ripples imply the turmoil of people's hearts, so is the scene in the middle of the river. Right: The imaginary shadow of fictional characters is also a typical impressionist technique.

2. German expressionism. Murnau was once a member of the expressionist movement (but his problem is actually more complicated). The film's lighting, composition and the use of word cards all reflect the characteristics of expressionism.

Two important techniques involved in this film are also related to German expressionism. One is mobile phone photography. The popularity of tracking photography in the mid-1920s, and the subsequent Last Smile (Murnau's own work) and variety show (also produced by Ufa) made the fashion of mobile phone photography reach its peak. Another point is to use fake perspectives and models. The emphasis on scenery in the early stage of expressionism should have an impact on this, and Molnau used these techniques in his previous works, The Last Laughter and Faust.

3. Soviet Montage School. The film doesn't necessarily have many typical Soviet-style clips, but some shots undoubtedly reflect montage thinking, such as the X-shape of the second shot, which is half-split and half-folded, and typically reflects Eisenstein's conflict btw/within shot.

The above emphasizes the influence of several schools on all aspects of film language. Taken together, this is a smooth visual story. How to tell a story with lens language (editing and scene scheduling) may be the most important part of silent film aesthetics. For example, the following technique of montage in the mirror.

The city girl comes to the hero's home from her own residence, and the whole process is completed with a moving lens, which can be divided into four sections. The first paragraph has two performance areas. The background is a girl walking out of her residence, and the foreground is a pair of villagers talking. Contact the last shot: the girl is dressing up (see the first screenshot). This shot can easily give people the feeling of talking about the girl (the advantage of silent film is that you don't know what they are talking about, everything is your own imagination). Then in the second paragraph, the girl was walking on the road, and a man came up behind her with a horse. In the third paragraph, the girl passed by a family and looked at it. Finally, in the fourth paragraph, the girl came to the hero's house and whistled at the hero. The whole process is completed by one shot, and each part can be divided into two performance areas. Through her whistle, her glance at strangers (which may be related to her breaking into the hero's family) vividly shows the girl's character. I'm not sure about the meaning of the horse, but I don't think it's an unnecessary event. I hope the official can give me some advice.

With Murnau coming to Hollywood, he also brought various skills of German school (especially mobile phone photography and false perspective) to the United States. Some American directors (such as Ford and Hawks) were also deeply influenced by Sunrise.

All the dialogues in the film use titles instead of sounds, so I call it a semi-silent film. The advantage of not using dialogue is that it retains the aesthetics of visual narrative of silent films; At the same time, due to this selective/restrictive use of sound, all the overlapping sounds in the film have certain significance, so you should pay special attention when watching.

The reduplication in the film can be roughly divided into two types:

The performance of a city's noise includes crazy brass music, street traffic (especially in a plot, a couple walks in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic, and then vehicles from all directions come to them with obvious threats), the noise of entertainment places and so on.

The other is the church clock, which is very symbolic. The first sound in the film is dawn, which points out the theme of sunrise-the song of human nature. Then it sounded when the husband tried to push his wife into the river, with the meaning of condemnation and vigilance, and finally awakened his conscience. The third time was when the couple were in town, and the wife was still crying. The bell rang because of a couple's wedding, as if it were some kind of call. The two went into the church and listened to the priest's teaching: in the sacred marriage relationship, God gave you trust ... she was young and inexperienced. Guide her and love her. Protect her from any harm. When the husband heard this, he was already in tears, crying and burying his head in his wife's arms, and his mouth trembled,' Forgive me! His wife forgave him, and they lived alone. The bell rang again and the couple walked out of the church like lovers. At this time, the bell became a blessing. In the film, this kind of voice is always connected with human nature and constitutes a pair of contradictions with the noise of the city.

There are many wonderful passages in this film. At first, the husband met a witch, and the country road he walked was foggy, symbolizing his hesitation and ideological struggle. The sound effect here is excellent, one meal at a time, like heavy footsteps, symbolizing that her husband stepped into the abyss step by step and fell into the fog of human nature. Later, the husband found the witch and they embraced each other. Murnau made a clever parallel splicing, and then his wife took care of the children. Similar images are sad and happy. After that, the witch said, come to town! Lying on the grass, they imagined the scene of the city: dazzling neon lights, split screens of crazy brass bands playing/dancing, dazzling translation and dazzling sound. Murnau combines two kinds of music to form a sound depth focus (robert altman likes this thing). In addition, this camera movement is also an important example of unmotivated camera movement, and it is also quite ingenious in technical realization, which was praised by people at that time.