SPP: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

We watched 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' (1919) in last tuesday's lecture, it was an interesting film, and although at the start of it I wasn't entirely sure of its relevence to Multimedia, as it progressed certain aspects became apparant.

It seems to have been a heavy influence on the likes of Tim Burton, in the lecture it was linked to 'Sleepy Hollow', but a last night I watched 'Sweeney Todd', and there were clear links between the two. For example, the main characters wear heavy make-up, which I would see as a visual decleration of emotion and mood. There are other ways in which both films accomplish setting mood - they both show certain scenes in different tints of colour, i.e. Sweeney Todd has scenes set in the past where the screen is much brighter and colourful than compared to the consistent grey and dim colour throughout the rest of the film. Dr Caligary has scenes where the screen is tinted a certain colour or tone to help establish mood - i.e. some of the flashbacks were in a sepia tone rather than the standard black and white used throughout the film.

Of course, there were links to other Tim Burton films, the likes of 'Corpse Bride' could be related because of the abstract theme, in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari many objects such as roofs form pathways, which clearly happens in Corpse Bride also.

There were some other techniques that I noted down; the film is shot from a first person narrative which for it's time would have been something else. It was the first film ever to start with a flashback, it seems to have been quite the trend setter as it used a lot of brand new techniques for its time. It is a German expressionism film - because of the mise-en-scene; so the sets and decor, also the light, shadows and patterns of object are all painted onto the sets. There were a few more techniques that were noticable, such as authority figures being seated higher than the general public, which i felt was an effective way of showing stature. The frame was controlled very well, it was clear where the audeince should have been looking at all times, which was important as the shots didn't move, they had to be framed perfectly.