Essay Draft

Drama Film and Epic Historical Film genres are two main film genres that can be at times incorporated into the same film. A film about a serious topic, portraying realistic characters in life situations and showing a characters development and interactions can, at the same time, give the audience a bit of cheer with some slight comedy with fully costumed dramas portraying that it is historical. In addition, filled with extravagant settings and lavish costumes as they perform professional spectacles. A short film from the movie, Memoirs of a Geisha, of when becoming Sayuri, clearly portrayed the genres above. This is a film directed by Rob Marshall, this film can also be more or less categorized in a sub-genre instead, as a Biographical Film as it is of the larger drama and epic film genres. In every scene of this short film from the movie portray that it is of these genres through from every shot to edit can then be explained through cinematography, Mis En Scene, sound and editing.

The mise-en-scene in this film illustrates the quality and depicts the effectiveness of belonging to the epic and drama genre. The lighting in the Memoirs of Geisha was achieved the result in developing a deeper sense of surrounding and emotion. In this film, during the time of training to becoming a geisha, the lighting was dark, highlighting the main character, her actions and the objects in use. Most rooms were warmly lit, especially during times of learning and performance, creating a sense of professionalism and serious learning experiences. Effective props and costuming is essential especially in the Memoirs of Geisha as a historical film. It also added meaning and enhanced characterization. In the Memoirs of Geisha, it had small-scale props like the fans and make up equipment that were all entirely realistic and other large-scale props that accurately depicted the period of time that it was set in. In addition, it was filmed in traditional Japanese buildings, it used specific transport and they reconstructed the town that was imperative to the narrative to show its time and helped depict realism. In this film, the acting style is basically focused on the culture and becoming a geisha. The acting was very accomplished in the Memoirs of Geisha as throughout the film the characters keep their air of traditional practice as if they were from that time, the dances were also well practiced and taught as it could be seen as a professional dance. The film wouldn’t have been nearly as successful if it weren’t for the mastered mise-en-scene.

Cinematography is used to insinuate the skilful mise-en-scene used in the Memoirs of Geisha. Without it, the narrative would be disjointed and less meaningful. An important part of any movie is perspective. In this film, the perspectives are captivating and insightful, which increases the films impact on the audience and the audiences understanding. Effectively, the tearoom shot, in the beginning, uses a continuous over the shoulder shot; this technique enables the audience to see what the characters see and notice. It has several close up shots of their hand movement to show clearly of their procedures and skills being taught in a way that even the audience can learn. Many parts of this film is filmed as if the camera was yours eyes, not a characters but yours and this is what the director wants you to see, know and understand. There are shots that come back and forth between two different scenes. This is very smartly done as it is like killing two birds with one stone, they show shots of her preparations just before she leaves for her debut and shots of her final lesson and at the end of both they are linked by her teachers words of ‘ you are ready.’ this is really effective as just watching her getting dressed would be boring and by incorporating it into her last lesson, the audience notices it but is not bored by it. The use of perspective can be very powerful. Exposure is an element of lighting; The Memoirs of Geisha mainly has high exposure. It utilizes high exposure to clearly see the environment that many of the audience have rarely seen before. Camera movement and speed were used efficiently in the film. For instance, throughout this scene the camera movement is slow, giving us a sense that it is a long process even though they are showing the whole process in just a few shots. Epic movies are generally fast paced but combined as a drama film makes it a different story. The Memoirs of Geisha show a lot clearly in a short amount of time but it is still gives a feeling as a slow processing drama.

Sound and editing are important elements in all films as it enables the director to manipulate scenes to create a desired feel. The passing of time in the Memoirs of Geisha, jump cuts were used in editing to speed up the process and shorten the amount of time lasted. Sound effects are crucial for epics, as they create a sense of surrounding and depth in the narrative. Throughout the film music was played as a sense of time passing and in the foreground of the sound would always the sound of movements and speech, for example, the opening of the fan when in practice of dancing and the teachings that are being spoken. Despite saying that, the beginning and end did not have music as it was moving the normal time. Being able to manipulate all elements of sound and editing makes a wonderful movie.

The Memoirs of Geisha is a very good example of the genres recognised and also has its own uniqueness in the style. The style of acting, props and setting majorly increases the films believability and historic accuracy. The mis en scene was definitely an extremely important part to the overall film as it is in a different time and not many of the audience would have a full understanding of everything in that time. The wisely planned lighting and colour, contributes significantly to the tone created. Sound and editing enhanced the meaning within the film and the learning experience that can be explored by the audience. It’s due to the mastered sound and editing that allows the film to induce and captivate the audience into the scene as though they were there. The cinematography further used visual elements to elicit interest from the audience. The film, the Memoirs of a Geisha is well planned and organised film, that portrays its meanings and storyline clearly despite being an unknown culture to many.