City of god

Themes
- Power
- Corruption
- Conflict/ war
- Crime/murder
- Violence
- Romance
- Patriarchy



Introduction

Themes: power conflict corruption crime patriarchy violence

Paragraph one:
pans labyrinth - feast scene - Vidal head of table
Vidal as a villain; patriarchy and power
Irony - rationing cards for peasants while feast is laid

Paragraph 2:
PL- pale man- how this relates to Vidal (framing and blocking, Mise en scene, cinematography) similarity of framing

Themes - Vidal and pale man both in control - power structures
Del Toros fascination with monsters - Vidal = monster

{additional
poacher scene
violence}

Paragraph 3:
cog

Benny's death scene


quick cuts, fast paced to show the whole of the party
when lil Ze comes in is slows down focusing on him and his face there are few cuts
but when it switches back to benny the cuts sped up again and you see lots of other people in the shots
rocket has fast cuts with long shots and you can see all of them whereas lil Ze is only close ups so he is taking up the majority of thee shot
POV of benny
lots of cuts when he gets ned to undress
frantic camera movements

Diagetic audience

cross cutting between all the spheres of action

cross cutting from benny to lil Ze

repressed homosexuality

Cinematography



Prolepsis - flash forward

Opening sequence

Cinematography

mainly close ups
extreme close ups of the chicken
camera always moving
camera does not stay still not allowing the spectre to relax
extreme close up
jump cut
trackback freeze frame establishing him as main character
low angle dutch shot


Editing

quick shots
fast movement
shots at half a second
graphic matching

Sound 

hyper realism of there knife
hyperrealism of the camera
the music gives the exotic vibe
Contrapuntal music
samba music
diegetic music
Sound of clock when going back in time camera also moving anti clockwise to show going back
narration to help follow shows he is main character

Mise-en-scene 

sandals
diegetic audience
the match lighting the pan
colour palette is over saturated with natural lighting
harsh on your eyes



Ken Burns effect = still image panning of zooming across it
freeze-frames to establish central characters then it zooms across it creating the ken burns effect



Sutare = the way the spectator gets sucked into the plot


Runt foot shooting scene

Editing

- there is fast editing to show the quick movement and rush and panic
- long cuts when they are talking keeping it all in one scene giving an intimate feeling
- when lil Ze approaches the kids the cuts speed up with all of the kids running away this shows the rush and need to escape the danger
-  graphic matching of the kid to the dog eating the bone suggesting how worthless life is in the slums

Sound
- all the runts showing over each other at the start to show there is no power
- When lil Ze slaps one of the kids there is hyper real sound to show how violent he is
- Hyper real sound with the gunshot
- All diegetic sound
- sounds of the kids crying

Performance
- Lil ze at front to assert his dominance in the group
- the other followers are scared of lil ze so they are further away from him
-  they are acting like normal kids but with the favela influence
- The whole scene with the child crying and his facial expressions shows fear

Mise en scene
- the small circular are allows them to show the kids as equal
- the runt's have mutual respect for each other
- the gun prop in a shallow depth of field
- Lil ze appearance mimics shaggy from earlier in the film



Knock-out Ned scene

Editing -

The editing is fast paced with lots of close ups - this shows the confusion and fast pace confusion
together with the shouting the editing creates the feel of a robbery

Jump cuts - to go from one cut to another from the same scene to show the quick movements over a period of time

Dissolve transitions - smooth transitions with mixing up making it seem more fast paced

elliptical editing - montage deliberately leave something off

jump cuts in supermarket

dissolves

Fade to black at the end

slo-mo editing when lil ze is shooting

frenetic - quick movements

Anaesthetised - numb


Mise-en-scene 

Shots of Copacabana beach with shallow depth of field representing how the gangsters can see what they want but its far away both metaphorically and literally

Broken glass

Guns showing the violence of the slums

Evolution of the guns through out the films shows how it has gotten more intense

Colour palette represents

race of the actors when they are in printing room it is full of white people making knock-out ned

Christ the redeemer in a shallow depth of field

Cinematography

Close shots adding to confusion with handheld camera creating documentary film

Claustrophobic effect

Whip pans and whip zooms

canted angles

Lots of spheres of actions

shallow depth of field with christ the redeemer in the background

Shallow depth of field with the woman walking past the guys with guns


Sound

Non-diagetic sound of the samba music to the robbery this is to contrast the violence as it does not match the actions further emphasising it = Contrapuntal sound

Sounds of the = gun clicks, glass shattering,

Throughout there is a = narration by rocket giving it the documentary film

Sound bridge with the prayers to the thrilling music when the fighting starts

Minor music for the fighting


To what extent do aesthetic qualities contribute to the impact of City of God

Opening scene

City of God General Points on Themes from Naamah Hill