“Ratcatcher”
00:41:31-00:42:00
This shot took place in the new home that James longed for and the field behind the new home. This place is very different from James’ real life: unlike the city’s streets full of rubbish and rats, there is no bullying of his older children, no parents’ incomprehension, and no companion Lean who has a great connection with him. Only by himself, he can do whatever he wants. Through the rectangular window frames, we can see the blue sky and golden fields. This is the place he yearns for. The place that can give him freedom, and the best place to wash a child's soul.
This is a dolly lens. The camera slowly advances towards the window frame of a?place far away from the window frame. When the camera first started moving, James did not enter the lens. The photographer used the frame to compose the picture, using the window frame as the frame to capture the scenery outside the window. As the subject, this composition allows the audience to more directly understanding?what director Lynn wants to express in this lens, which is the scenery outside the window. This composition is very smooth, horizontal and vertical, giving a sense of harmony and calm. The environment outside the window under the lens is brighter and the colors are brighter, forming a sharp contrast?to?the dim shades of urban life. The frame composition of this lens makes the wheat field outside the window and the sky is?similar to a painting. Be?akin to a dream.
?With the continuous advancement of the camera, James also slowly entered the picture. At this time, the camera captured James and the scenery behind him at the same time, which more clearly expressed that this is a naive child, the "dream" that James longed for, but this time James was still in the darkness of the house.
?James continued to walk to the window. When he crossed the window and sat by the window, he was in an awkward position: between darkness and light. Finally, he jumped down from the window and ran to the vast wheat field to welcome his own light. As James moved forward, the camera was slowly advancing. A simple trolley tracking lens used light and shadow to cooperate with the frame to create the light he had longed for. Following the movement away?the camera, James completed the process from appreciating "painting" to entering "painting".?
The slow forward movement away?the camera also aroused the emotions of the audience. Before the window frame of the critical point of the two worlds, the camera moved forward slowly. When James stayed on the window frame, the camera stopped moving. When James ran towards the wheat field, the camera starts to move again. This makes the audience's mood from low to stable. The camera stops moving when James is sitting by the window, as if it is giving James and the audience an opportunity to choose the life the want, in the face of the dreamland and the real society, how people will choose. In many cases, an adult’s choice contains too much rationality, and cannot follow their true inner will. It is better to allow James choose the life. People can see that James hardly have?any hesitation. Run towards his free land. The finishing touch is at the place where the camera is gently lifted up at the end. This ingenious design makes the audience's emotions reach a climax. There is a feeling of liberation from the dark and enjoying the light when people look up.
Following the direction of the camera lens, people can see that James can run freely outside the window. In this wheat field, he can do whatever he wants. Even if he stumbles, he can stand up once again and continue to run into the distance. Not only the composition, the mirroring, and the scheduling of the actors constitute this "dream".
?The color combination of this clip is also of great benefit of?the creation of the "dream". Baldwin and Meunier (1999) expanded that: "when people see a certain color in a certain environment. They will unconsciously associate the color with the specific environment and affect their psychological activities". James is wrapped in a blue sky and a yellow wheat field Among them. The complementary colors of the sky and the wheat field outside the window have an impact on people's vision and give people a sense of freshness.
At the same time, the sound effect of this clip brought the audience into the environment where the protagonist James was at that time. The music in this segment is not static, whether it is the rhythm, volume, and type of music. The music began to sound when James walked into the room where you can see the wheat field. At the beginning, the music was slow in rhythm, the volume was relatively small, and only the sound of one instrument appeared. As James walked forward slowly, sat down by the window, and ran towards the wheat field. The rhythm of the music kept became faster and the volume became louder, and the sounds of more kinds of instruments appeared in the music. Push the process of entering dreams to a climax. With the movement away?the camera, there is no need for James to say anything or the intervention in?narration. The music itself is the best explanation of this plot. When the music is played, in conjunction with the picture, even if the audience may not be able to empathize with James’s previous experience, they will think that this is the world that a child should truly live in. The audience knows that James is escaping, but the whole film shows the darkness of society also makes the audience want to escape, especially the social darkness that the audience sees are?presented through a child's perspective. Director Lynn seems to be saying through this clip: The real society is so dark and ugly, but the film will create a desirable spiritual world for people.
Reference list:
Baldwin, M. W., &Meunier, J. (1999). The cued activation of attachment relational schemas. Reference Services Review, (17),?pp.?209-227.