In the title sequence is a full screen shot of a cultural signifier with a zither (Austrian instrument) straight away showing its in Austria, The opening theme is an instrumental written and performed by Antos Karas, The producers wanted a theme which would be appropriate for Viena. The theme is called 'The Harry Lime Theme' while the main character is called harry lime, so the music connotes the type of person harry lime is, sharp, sophisticated, and attractive, that is what the music connotes harry lime to be like.
The film starts off with the main character, Holly Martin, arriving in Viena trying to find his friend Harry, who wrote to him. He starts off walking to find the hotel where Harry was staying and walked under a ladder, which was a great use of black comedy, as walking under ladders is seen as bad luck, and at the beginning of the film, it shows how much bad luck will unfold through out the rest of the film. 
Then when Holly gets to the building he is walking up the stairs with a big shadow behind him, with un natural light, as if he is being followed, then a caretaker man, starts talking to him in a different language, but there is no sub titles, to show that Holly doesn't understand what the man is saying eather, leaving you in the shoes of Holly. In a country which seems very strange to him, where he cant understand what anyone is saying. With the Stair case scene, it shows Holly at a high angle shot, while the man was speaking, which puts Holly in a position which is making him look small and insignificant. It also represents the post war Vienna, with lots of different nations came together, as it was split into 4 sections, speaking many different languages.
This film is based around wet shiny streets, connoting a sense of a nightmare/unreality with lots of winding streets, and darkness. with the wet shiny streets its also use full for reflecting low levels of chiaroscuro lighting, which is correlating surrealism whilst adding aesthetic interest to the mise en scene.
How characters are introduced in this film, is done amazingly, as Holly and the caretaker are arguing a ball bounces into the room, without it being noticed by Holly or the care taker, and a hand comes out from behind a door, and then slowly a face of a small child comes out from around the door, this little kid later on in the film becomes an annoyance and says it is Holly who has murdered a man, so a mob chases him. Using more black comedy, as two adults are running away from a child and eventually the child's shadow looking like a very large man chasing them.
At the near end of the film Holly is standing in the street, where he see's a man in the shadow, where you cant see the rest of his body apart from his shoes, and a cat is sitting next to it, when he starts yelling "step out in the light and let me look at ya" and some more black comedy saying "cat got your tongue?" because he cant see any of his body except his feet with a cat next to him, which gets the attention of an austrian woman who turns on a light and then 'the Harry Lime Theme' starts playing and the light shows you Harry lime's face, as he shows a smug look which is connotative to the music in the background to go along to his personality.
Harry Lime is running from the police and living in the sewers because he has been selling hospitals watered down drugs which has led to the death of many children, him living in the sewers is connotative to him being a rat, but the sewers is also a very dark place with lots of winding passages and narrow path ways. But its in the sewer where Harry Lime eventually gets shot by Holly.
Beautiful shot of Holly walking into nothingness
You have posted key photo shots from the film which have helped to illustrate your points about how Carol Reed utilises generic conventions in aspects of mise-en-scene.
ReplyDeleteYour comments reflect enthusiasm and basic understanding of elements of film language.
You say....."At the end of the film it goes back to Harry's funeral which shows a repetition where Holly hasn't got any were since the begging of the film"........Note carelessness re "begging of the film"!!! Could you correct this.
Also Holly has gone a long way in the film in that he has found out the criminal activities of his friend and shot him!!! That is surely something!!! Could you revise your inaccurate comment.
Re Holly walking into nothingness (note the vanishing point) you could endeavour to explain how Holly's rather simplistic view of the world (evident in his naive often rash behaviour at the beginning of the film) has changed since coming to Vienna.
Most importantly Corrie you need to interpret specific camera angles and lighting; you could analyse the first shot of Harry Lime and explain why Reed uses the tilt shot.
Where is the rest of your research Corrie, you have had 12 weeks to post analysis of clips from at least 4 other films!!!