Film manipulation: director's dangerous tricks against the audience

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It all starts with the awareness of insignificant things. Covert advertising is easier to understand than propaganda, although they are made using the same technology. But the consciousness of many resists studying materials about propaganda, because they simply cannot believe that this is possible. It is easier with hidden advertising, because it is officially recognized that it exists, even some scanty objective information on it can be found.

But even information about hidden advertising causes rejection for many - "it is accidental", "it cannot be", "it does not work." Then you need to start dealing with even simpler things. A typical person has no level of competence in latent influences in the media, but there are activities that will help to advance in this. It is necessary to gradually analyze various materials, watch how hidden advertising is made in films and programs, as well as pay attention to other influences that are not perceived by the viewer. To begin with, let's take a look at some of the simplest manipulations that many do not realize.

Examples of unconscious influences

Lighting

In films, it is always light - all important details are clearly visible, many do not think why this is, because they do not even notice the unnaturalness. And the reason is that they use special lighting. This is so important that it is often possible to set the lighting for one small scene for hours. There is a special profession - a light source.

Voice acting

Required sounds. If you see a mouse or a rat in the film, then you will definitely hear how it squeaks, even if it did not squeak during the shooting. The reason is that it is necessary to increase the realism, to immerse the viewer in the illusion created by the film. For this, many techniques are used, this is one of them. There is a paradox when a hamster may appear in the frame, making a squeak, although in reality hamsters do not squeak. But to increase the "realism", this sound is applied to the editing so that the viewer, due to the sounds from the environment, "feels like in the film." You can also say that if a cat appears in the film, then with a high degree of probability it will meow, the owl will wheeze, and the crow that has taken off will certainly croak. When you know many of the techniques, it is quite difficult to watch some films, because you see the "training manual" and templates.

Translation features

Translators choose words so that dubbing articulation is similar to the original. The task of the translator is quite difficult, you need not only to translate a phrase with the exact meaning, but also to keep within the number of syllables. For example, in Russian the words are longer than in English, and this affects some games when you do not have time to read the subtitles due to the fact that the translator accurately conveys the meaning, without hesitation doubling the amount of text. But the task of a translator for dubbing a movie is even more difficult, because in addition to accurate translation and the formation of a phrase that is suitable in size, you also need to get into articulation. As a result, a well-done translation during dubbing is not striking, and it seems that some of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" in the original spoke in Russian, not English.

By the way, this explains the presence of strange words and a little stupid / crooked formulations of thoughts in the mouths of some characters - it is important enough to get into articulation so that the viewer does not get dissonance, and a little less important that the phrase will not be ideal in meaning and construction. If you are revisiting Pirates of the Caribbean, be sure to keep an eye on what the characters are saying, and if this is due to articulation difficulties. And one more thing - do not confuse translators and voice-overs. For example, some people say "bad translation of the film" when they mean the voice acting. The translators work with the text, translating from one language to another, and those who speak, do not translate anything, they speak for the characters.

What the viewer does not see, the character does not see. Sometimes in films, a character sees something only when it appears in the frame, although from his position everything should be perfectly visible. Most viewers do not think about it, and the less conscious the viewer, the less likely they are to notice such details. Often people pay attention to this in movie sinners.

Makeup in the cinema

Makeup in the movies. In films, they try to make the images as bright as possible, and the faces more expressive, but the viewer gradually gets used to this. And since he gets used to it, you have to make an even stronger impact. As a result, in the film, the girl in 1964 looks overly made up, but many do not notice this, since they usually do not critically perceive what is shown on the screen. When watching some films, just mentally remove the color correction and effects in order to adequately perceive what is shown, and you will be horrified - I put on makeup like on a panel. And then the thought - how did I not notice this before? And the fact is that we treat what is happening on the screen in the film differently than we would treat the usual shooting of an ordinary person on an amateur camera. The filmmakers are doing their best to create the "magic" of cinema with a special attitude from the viewer, while it is possible.

Features of animation

In cartoons, the characters have big heads. The reason is that it is necessary to demonstrate emotions, and if you make them proportional, then it will be difficult to see. But the situation with the eyes is much worse - they keep increasing. It is clear that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, and in order to better influence the viewer in the movies, the eyes fail, and in cartoons they do a little more. Remember the glance of the famous cat from "Shrek". Here is just one problem - people gradually get used to it, and for them it becomes the norm, and if this eye size is already the norm, then what should be done? That's right, to do even more. As a result, we have ugly characters who seem beautiful to the "blurry" eye. Now imagine this girl in reality - also scared?

The more cute or “beautiful” a character needs to be made, the more his eyes will make him (of course, here, as in hidden advertising, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the person will notice the manipulation technique, and this will cause rejection). Therefore, the girl in this picture has much larger eyes than the guy. But without a doubt, it is terrible here that in cartoons the image of beauty is laid for children, that is, the ideal to which the child in adulthood will strive. No, this is not genetically inherent, it is influenced by upbringing. I recommend watching the video "Influence of cartoons on the minds of children."

Color correction

The "magic" of cinema is also created with the help of color correction, which is also not realized by many. If an ordinary person finds a frame from a film on the Internet, he will instantly determine that this is a frame from a film, and not just a photograph. But not everyone will be able to say why he understood this right away, some will have to creak their brains to realize. Many will not even be able to articulate plainly - they will say something like “too beautiful”, “some kind of professional”. But a frame from a film has very specific differences from ordinary photography. As we found out above, there will be additional lighting - all the details will be without unnecessary shadows, but these are trifles. In addition, there will be color correction - this is when not only the white balance changes, but many other effects are applied.

On the Internet, you can even find video tutorials on how to make your video or photo with flowers, like from a movie. Although the color correction is different even during the same film. For example, in the film "Burnt by the Sun 2" the first scene with Stalin was shown in warm and bright colors, there was even a specially made overexposure. Approximately the same (but without overexposure) showed scenes with a bridge that was blown up. And the winter scene of the battle of the Kremlin company was shown in cold colors. Changing tones is a manipulation technique that many do not realize, but it conveys the appropriate "mood". Sometimes film critics even evaluate color correction in their reviews, for example, Yevgeny Bazhenov in his video review said about Bondarchuk's Stalingrad film “good color correction” (the film itself is bad, of course).

Conscious falsehood

Often directors deliberately go for a lie in a film to make it look more like "the truth." For example, in "Star Wars" they deliberately made the sounds of explosions in space audible, although the vacuum does not transmit sound. The reason is simple - you need to influence the viewer, and the sound allows you to make the "wow" effect, without it an explosion is not an explosion.

They can show a deliberate lie only because the viewer has such a stereotype. For example, in reality, mufflers do not make the sound of a shot look like a click or a short, quiet whistle, the noise from a shot is not reduced so much, the main thing that mufflers do is that the sound does not look like a shot. But if you shoot a film, then you will not give the viewer a lecture about mufflers first, but simply show it as he expects to see, otherwise he will think that the filmmakers have "screwed up". This can distract the viewer from watching the movie and break them out of their trance.

Although I hope that someday the films will really become useful, for example, a mini-lecture about mufflers is easy to add to the film, for example, one character teaches another to handle weapons, and tells him. A lot of useful things can be told in the cinema, but so far this is extremely rare, usually in films they "teach" only to drink and smoke. By the way, if you are versed in any area, then you have probably noticed what kind of nonsense they show about it in the movies, for example, the work of the police will not be shown as it really is, but the way the audience thinks about it.

On the question of sounds - if the character takes out a cold weapon, then the sound people can add his ringing, as if he had been removed from a metal scabbard, although they may be leather, or they may not exist at all, as happened in Mikhalkov's film "12". Light in elongated rooms is switched on sequentially. If the characters are in a long tunnel, then when the lights are turned on, we will see how the lights turn on slowly, gradually illuminating more and more space.

Conclusion

These things are not realized, and they directly affect the subconscious. Due to these and many other hidden influences, the viewer is immersed in the film, falling into a trance. You need to understand dozens of such techniques in order to understand how much is included in the films.