Amelie

Chapter 5 refers to the director's interpretive point of view. This is very evident in the movie "Amelie." I feel like the director is manipulating the audience's viewpoint in many different ways. He uses the camera to be the "eye" in this film. His work is very captivating because he uses multiple composition techniques. The camera angles he uses include over the shoulder shots, objects that are in sharp focus in the background, and he also focuses attention on specific objects and their movement such as in the scene when the fish escaped from its fishbowl. In addition, he pays attention to visual composition by incorporating vertical and diagonal lines. An example of this is when he uses leading lines and unusual perspectives to draw our attention to buildings, streets, the swimming pool scene, etc. This is a great method to draw viewers in. Color is another technique that the director makes strong use of. I did some research on the meaning and symbolism of colors. Going back to the fish scene, the color orange was vibrant. Orange is said to be a power color, as well as one of vitality and endurance. That poor little flopping fish was just that. As in the movie, "American Beauty", red was by far the most dominant color displayed. According to my research, on the positive side, red is a warm color and symbolizes passion, vitality, energy, and prosperity. On the negative side, it could mean anger and danger. I think the director's intended use of red was positive. He wanted to illustrate the energy and passion of Amelie, as well as some of the people in her life. Red pops out in so many scenes where other colors were neutral or dark, and the settings were backlit or softly lit. When you see Amelie's mother at the beginning of the movie, she's wearing red. Amelie, herself, wears red throughout the movie. Her home is decorated with a lot of red accessories. I interpret this as symbolic of her passion to change people's lives in her own unique way. I have never seen a movie quite like this. Until, the movie was nearing the end, I didn't anticipate a love story evolving. I thought the director was very creative in how he established the love interest in Amelie's life and the storyline unraveled. I've never seen a movie quite like this where this approach had been used. I can understand why there might be some people who would be critical of it because they don't take the time to decipher any of the details and symbolism that the director laced into the movie. I have a new appreciation for foreign films. I think the program objective of this film is that anyone can do anything that they really desire, sometimes they just need a little help from someone else, and I think that was Amelie's role in this film.