Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder A Movie Description

The Thematic Intentions of Sunset Boulevard The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder and staring the main characters of Norma Desmond, Joe Gillis, and Max Von Mayerling is ideal example of how important film making techniques help depict a movies core theme intentions with vivid clarity. Classic Hollywood is the first thing that comes to mind when one speaks about this films style. This signature category combined with the visual style of realism and its continuity editing; detailed mise-en-scene and all of its characteristics; and lastly the use of reoccurring motifs with formalistic qualities make the audience grasp the central theme of just how vicious the actual motion industry can be to the individuals that keep its†¦show more content†¦The mise-en-scene does a lot for this scene and it starts as soon as he settles in. When we first come to the setting of his new room the usage of high contrast lighting in his quarters followed by low lighting in the old and decaying backyard is important. It is ju st so because it sets up the tone for just how this house is going to be to live in and how that directly will reflect on the characters who live in it. It also ties in to exactly what the theme tries to depict about the larger picture: a dark and sullen image of the life in general. When Joe first looks outside of his room one of the first things he sees is shown through an eyeline match to a close shot of some scurrying rats. This here more than likely foreshadows the death coming later in the film, which is one of the three times it does this in the scene. The next time is the burial of the monkey, which also shows a correlation to him replacing it in Normas life, just as Norma was replaced in the industry when her time was up. The third time death is used also goes hand in hand with another appearance of the dream motif. As soon as the monkeys burial is done there is a fade out to Joe having this dream with a voice over of him describing it. The description is only important because he envisions a dancing monkey. This is more or less aShow MoreRelated Sunset Blvd. Essay2137 Words   |  9 Pages The Thematic Intentions of Sunset Boulevard nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder and staring the main characters of Norma Desmond, Joe Gillis, and Max Von Mayerling is ideal example of how important film making techniques help depict a movie’s core theme intentions with vivid clarity. Classic Hollywood is the first thing that comes to mind when one speaks about this film’s style. This signature category combined with the visual style of realism and it’s