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Releasing emotions is essential to human existence. Art is one of the best ways to release emotions. Art universally ties people together and allows for a release of emotions known as Catharsis. Art helps to best release emotions when it becomes real, when it touches real people and represents real groups of people known as mimesis. Mimesis and Catharsis are important factors in film, having them are what make a film great and personal. Film techniques help bring Mimesis and Catharsis into the films. Catharsis and Mimesis are exemplified through Photography, mis en scene, movement, editing, and sound in the films American Beauty, Almost famous, and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.

Using the Five film Techniques American Beauty is an exemplar of Mimesis and Catharsis. 

In The scene with Lester and Angela in the Bathroom, with Lester Lusting after Angela Photography is used to convey Mimesis. The red of the flower petals symbolize the lust and love Lester has for Angela. The red is dominant and contrasting to the surrounding colors making his lusting intense and uncomfortable. Dominant contrast within the frame bring in Mis en Scen to the scene and the power of the lust Lester has for Angela. Sound is also used. Atonal music plays in the background creating uncomfortable feelings about a 50 year old man lusting after a 17 year old girl. The unsettling feelings brought on by the atonal music creates Catharsis for the audience. It allows for the audience to experience that with the characters and know not to live that way.  

The birds eye view shot of Angela with Lester puts her in a place of complete vulnerability. The vulnerability she shows is completely different from the highly sexually active image she shows to the world. Her movement in this is lyrical adding the her vulnerability. Vulnerability allows for Catharsis of her character. It allows for the releasing of emotions that an audience might relate to her in. 

The establishing shot of the scene with Frank shows him in a place of complete vulnerability as well, where as he is a shell the rest of the film. The cool colors of the rain in contrast with the dominant red car put him in a very empty space. He is shot in a long shot with the rain pouring down him. The rain as background noise drown him out almost. He is barely there. Mimesis in this shot represent the group of people he represents. He represents the people in the world who repress themselves and don't allow for vulnerability and openness with anyone, and he represents how that can break a person.  

Almost Famous uses the five film techniques to exemplify Mimesis and Catharsis. 

Penny is seen dancing around a floor after a concert holding a red rose. The floor is covered by trash and she is completely alone. She is mostly being watched and filmed through extreme long shots and loose frames to show he isolation and emotions through movement. This allows for Catharsis, for the audience to purge emotions of isolation through the relation of Penny feeling that as well. Her movements are a metaphor for how she s feeling. They represent her as a character and shine light into her inner character. She isn't sad, just alone. The music represents that, there is a high emotional appeal of the music showing her appeal as a character. 

Rustle goes through an emotional roller coaster and when he falls apart he turns to drugs. He then finds himself on the top of the roof and he puts his arms up in triumph announcing that he's on drugs. With his arms up though he is allowing himself to be crucified as he is in cross position. He is shown in a low angle representing that even though he seems to be on the top of the world, he's really falling apart inside. His dialogue shows the same thing, he's just shouting to the world and he just wants to say the thing that will get the biggest cheer from his audience. That's where his worth starts to come from. This representation of Rustle is a mimesis of rock stars, and how they, like all people, fall apart too. It is a representation of the bad choices people can turn to due to problems in life. This allows for a Catharsis of the audience and an understanding that emotions are not saved for the average person, and that even idols get them too.  It creates an ability for people to release similar emotions to his. 

The scene where Williams sister leaves is a symbolic one that sets up the rest of the film. She puts on a song explaining that the song explains why she is leaving. This is very blatant sound symbolism. The song sets up the rest of the film and establishes the genre. In the shot where she first plays the song there is very blatant mis en scene within the frame. She is separated from her brother and her mother by a space created between them. There is literal space between her mother and her brother, with her brother closer than heir mother, but also with the fact she is standing up. She is stating very clearly that she doesn't belong and she defies them by standing rather than sitting. The scene has a deep focus allowing everyone to still be in the shot, however it lengthens the distance between her and her mother. 

Mimesis and Catharsis are exemplified through the five film techniques in the film Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. 

The movie Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind starts off with a flashforward out of past times into present day Joel with no memories of Clementine, where as the rest of the movie is a flashback to the memories with her. In this establishing shot there is a huge space between Joel and Clementine represented by an extreme long shot in deep focus. Clementine is incredibly far from him on a completely different part of the beach. The scene shows the distance between them that they created through erasing each others memories, however it also shows his interest in her, and though there is a lot of space between them they're still connected, still on the same beach. The shot is parallel editing to a different scene shown later in the film but taking place earlier in their relationship. They are on the same beach they first met on and Clementine is in the same bright orange sweatshirt she was wearing. It's also still a long shot with Joel close looking at the far away Clementine. 

Very formalistic cinima is used when Joel is running through his memories trying to prevent Clementine from being erased. Rain starts to fall when they move from a more recent memory with Clementine to a earlier memory with him as a child. It then makes a fading cut, a flashback to his childhood memory. This shot is an action shot of remembering, creating a reaction shot of going into his childhood memories. Off screen sound is played before they even get to the memory. The row row row your boat song brings them back into Joel's childhood. This song creates a Catharsis of childhood and nostalgic memories. Its easy to repress the feeling of nostalgic but this scene brings those emotions into the light.  

Love is found again in the Medium shot of Joel of Clementine in the hallway. This follows right after a tracking shot of Joel rushing after Clementine to see if things will work out. They face eachother in the hallway, the space of the hallway between them, a symbolic barrier, but through talking and arguing Joel breaks this space and leans towards Clementine breaking the space between them. This is a mimesis of lovers who have space between them and problems between them but need to break it and make it work out. The lack of density of texture represents the clean slate they have to start a new relationship with yet still be able to learn from past problems. The open form allows for an opportunity and openness of possibility for their relationship together. They have survived problems in the past and they will survive in the future. 

Mimesis and Catharsis are exemplified through the film techniques of photography, mis en scene, movement, editing, and sound through in the movie American Beauty, Almost Famous, and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Mimesis is essential to film to convey a message, to create Catharsis. Catharsis is essential to the human condition, without a release people explode, or implode and die inside. Art helps create a release and improve the human condition, if even only a little bit. 

Love of Music

Sound in Almost Famous brings about the love the characters have for music. The Tiny Dancers scene in Almost famous acts as a glue between the characters. The on thing that brings all of the characters together is music. And this scene through the use of background music, conveys a sense of unity. The single song brings the people together through the repeating lyrics and familiarity playing through each shot. The lack of dialogue allows for a visual understanding of each characters struggles and the relaxation as they all fall into the music and can put their differences aside and love music together. 


When it all begins is an important part in the Movie. This moment is a time of excitement and adventure, an experience completely new and exciting. The music Played in the background of this scene Brings about the feeling of excitement and brings together the Love of music the characters share. The love of music is about to bring the characters together and the excitement in the characters voices and the music both convey that. The emotional appeal of the music brings the viewers along to feel the excitement. The music makes the future look exciting and fun. it brings about a promise of connections and a shared love and lots of adventure, not only shared by the characters but by the viewers as well through the use of background music.  

The scene where William gets to experience their rock concert for the first time is an important to creating the shared love the characters have. The music brings about a connection between the characters shown in each shot. The music unifies the experience and brings them to life. It brings out a sense of life and fulfillment between the characters.

The plane scene in Almost Famous uses techniques of disruptive, shaky sound effects acting as background music, and shouting dialogue acting as spoken language complexity adds to the moods of the scene. The shaky, plane crashing sound effects act as a symbol of the shaky state of the band. The band goes through troubles and drama like all groups of people, and in this moment the lack of stability they have in their relationships with each other are prevalent. The dialogue adds effect to not only the physical situation but the emotional one. The shouting voices are shouting at the top of their lungs however the voices aren't all that loud to the viewer, this symbolizes the complexity of emotions and the extremity that everyone is hurting, but how little their emotions are being heard and how little they listen to each other as people. The uses of background noise and dialogue shape the characters in the scene.

In an emotional scene with William fighting with Penny about the drama and love problems of the band there is a lack of background music to put more emphasis on the dialogue. The dialogue in this scene is very important to convey the emotions and problems of these two characters. William has a few short monologues that William shouts to convey the emotions he is feeling towards penny and the band. The whole scene is filled with the complexity of spoken language to convey all the emotions being felt as there is a lack of music to help it along. Background music comes in right after the intense part of William yelling at Penny and she is brought to tears. The music changes the tone of the story to a more gentle forgiving atmosphere and it helps bring the characters together as they now have shared a part of themselves with each other.

The emotional appeal of the Background music in the Scene when William is chasing down Penny to be sure she's ok and safe Shows the deep love he has for her. The Music in this scene connect the Characters. The emotional appeal of the music shows the emotional appeal and beautiful, innocent love he has for her. He innocently chases her down the street, blind to all the other world around him, and then the music fades to a stop when he realizes what a non innocent position her finds her in. The fading music doesn't snap him out of his love but instead snaps him into reality and makes him realize what he needs to do. The fading music symbolizes his realization and brings him to the reality of his situation.

movement and editing

Life is full of movement, the moving cars the moving people wind in the trees, everywhere in the world there is movement. Each little movement of anything creates a different effect than before and film can use this to create meaning and life. Editing in a film is necessary, however it can jerk a viewer out out of a film or create distortions as it isn't something experienced in realty. However, these editing techniques can create a film into something with more meaning than something with no editing. Editing is necessary in films, as is movement, but They can also be used t create meanings and emotions in a film. Movement and editing techniques bring a movie to life. The techniques of movement of editing are used in all films but the correct use of them can alter and create the feel of a film. The films Snatch, Amelie, Across the Universe, Memento, Vanilla Sky and Donnie Darko all use the techniques of movement and editing to create the story, feel and emotions of the film.

Movement in the films Snatch, Amelie, and Across the Universe increases understanding of the characters and brings the audience closer to the characters, and gives an understanding of thematic ideas.

In the film Snatch movement is used to convey themes of masculinity versus femininity. The movie's movement argues that these traits aren't defined by gender. In Mikey's last fight he is portrayed as a weak feminine character, but the movement shows otherwise and lets the audience into the strong feminine aspects of his character. The pans and lateral movements of the camera follow Mikey giving a sense of entrapment. Anticipating shots give the audience anxiety and leaves them anxious for the outcome of each punch of the scene, but the movement keeps the audience from seeing the actual violence. Mickey is expected to show a lack of respect for human life, just as everyone else in the film acts, but his power shows through in his femininity when he waits for the right time to fight back and save the lives of his friends and family. His characterization of femininity and power express that femininity and masculinity can be expressed in both genders. The movement in Amelie expresses love and freedom. In the very last shot the shaky hand held camera and the speeded up time give the characters a sense of freedom. The speed of the world around them burrs the world making it so its like its just the two characters leaving out the world and keeping them in a happy bubble of love. The fast movement is freedom in the characters allowing them to zoom through the world and life without things tying them down. The movement in  Across the Universe in the song Strawberry fields 

parallels the death and emotion Jude is feeling to the pain of the soldiers in Vietnam. The lateral movement of the camera panning across the row of strawberries represents the endless death of people. The shaky camera holding in the TV showing the faces of the soldiers represents the shaky ground their lives are on, and the possibility of their own death.
movement in Snatch, Amelie and Across the Universe add to the emotional aspect of the films and brings the audience closer to the characters.

Editing in Memento turns the story into a puzzle. The alternating black and white clips and colored clips create an effect on the audience and creates confusion and problem solving, forcing the audience to "solve" the movie. The editing technique creates a bond between the audience and the main character with the similarity of trying to understand the main characters life. With his memory problem his own life is a puzzle and a series of notes, the same evidence the audience has to understand the film. This puzzle piece order of the story makes memento the story it is. Editing is used in the same way in Vanilla sky to express the confusion of the subconscious. The editing of little things into the scene gives a dream like feel, everything is normal and the same but a few things aren't quite right. His passing in the mirror before he crosses into view creates confusion and disorientation. The flash forward disorients the audience in time. This particular flash forward was more dream like and surreal with everything else happening around it. With jump shots to his confused face we understand just how unusual the situation is. The empty times square is his subconscious leaking into his reality. The editing in Donnie Darko deals with the same confusion of reality. As the interactions with Frank, the rabbit, get stranger and stranger the understanding of reality gets skewed. Donnie has to wrestle with whats real and the reality everyone else perceives. The editing and effects of the film give a creepy feel to everything, which is the feeling given from the prospect of time travel. Donnie has to learn to trust Frank, even though he shows up in the shadows, waiting creepily for him. The jump shots from Donnie to Frank gives a strange, surreal connection to them that Donnie has to trust to be the hero he needs to in the story.



The films Snatch, Amelie, Across the Universe, Memento, Vanilla Sky and Donnie Darko all use editing and movement to tell their stories. Movement and editing are important and powerful tools in creating a powerful films and all of these films create a powerful theme using movement and editing.