The film begins with an old sepia image of Paris, as the
camera moves in we are greeted with weary, menacing music. The photo then
becomes alive and reveals and old city, shown with huge grand buildings, old
cars and smartly dressed people, the colours used are browns, blacks and greys
to portray the mood of the area. As the camera pans in we can clearly see the
city, it looks dismal, dirty and messy. The ground is littered and there are pigeons
flying around. We can now see the detail on the buildings and it looks very
worn out and dusty. Old fashioned cars and shown as well as little children
dressed smartly running around playing, this clearly sets the scene and we are
able to recognise what century we are in.
The camera zooms into a royal car, and we are shown only the
bottom of a wheelchair, it is made from wood, the sound begins to fade and we
greeted with the noise of men moving around. We can still only see the feet of
the man but it portrays he may be a rich man as he shoes are formal looking and
polished well. As the man is wheeled into a grand building the mood changes and
the air begins to blow leaves around, this creates tension as we know something
is not right. Furthermore we have still not seen the faces of any of the
characters, this could portray that there is a mystery with this as we are not
too sure who anyone is or what they are up to.
The scene change to reveal the insides of an auction house,
the camera does a 360 pan to set the scene. We can clearly see the building is
ancient looking, it is run down, full of dust and cob webs and does not contain
much light, there are statues placed around the area like in a grand castle.
This detail makes the audience feel like the building is haunted and full of
dark (hence the light) secrets.
The only section of lighting in this opening scene is on the
seller, here is shown to be the centre of attention in this part so the
lighting use is used to portray this. The other characters are light only from
one side and the other is in darkness explaining that there is a dark side to
them, we are just not sure yet what it is. The rest of the huge building is in
complete darkness around the edges as no one dares to enter there.
The music begins to build up as a man buys an item; we sense
that something is going to happen. Before the next item is sold the atmosphere
is calm and quiet and we can only hear the man speak. Then as he announces it
every character turns to face the chandelier. Music begins to play, opera
sounds are heard and the atmosphere is left only build up the suspense. As the
item is revealed the camera angle changes on the seller and we are now looking
up at him as if he knows something that we don’t, his tone of voice changes and
becomes more powerful.
Suddenly as the item’s cloth is taken off the sound lifts
right up and becoming deep and low pitched. Bright lights are shown as the area
begins to lighten up, the mood changes as the colours become modern and every
prop is given life. The room becomes instantly cleaner and royal as the use of
red is portrayed with rich colours like deep purples and gold’s. The camera
moves around quickly trying to show everything change, the piano music begins
to play in repetitious motif and speeds up with a backing sound added. We begin
to hear organs, as the lights are lifted like a sign of commemoration.
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