Script+for+Documentary


 * INTRO**

A few people that have inspired Woody Allen are Georgie S. Kaufman and Ingmar Berman. He also brings some ideas of psychoanalysis to his films, which ends up making his movies rather sexual. Not to mention, his life is a source of inspiration, particularly the Mia Farrow/Soon-Yi scandal. Woody Allen was in a long relationship with Mia Farrow, who had 6 kids of her own. He later had an affair with one of her daughters, Soon-Yi, who was adopted from Korea at the age of 8. This gives some background as to why a lot of Allen’s movies involve a relationship with a woman much younger than him. An example is Manhattan, where Allen says “I’m dating a girl who has homework!”

Woody Allen’s films are usually romantic comedies. One interesting comment by a critic says, “He scripts predicaments that would be disasters in life and gives them outrageously happy movie endings.”

The tone of Allen’s films generally have a light-hearted tone, and are un-suspenseful.

Additionally, his themes usually revolve around relationships and romantic complications, and finding stability in those relationships. A major motif in his films is also psychoanalysis.

**BODY**

In terms of Performance, the protogonist in Woody Allen’s films tend to talk awkwardly and ramble a lot. The purpose behind this is to show how socially awkward the character is, and adds to the theme of the character not having stable relationships.

Woody Allen’s cinematographic choices are considered rather old fashion. He avoids closeups and usually has a lot of establishing and long shots and tends to have very long takes. This again gives the awkward feel of not being able to get a closer view of the characters’ faces. By doing this, the camera guides our emotional approach of the character, One critic comments on Gordon Willis’ cinematography in Manhattan, and says he makes the city look magical in black and white.

Allen doesn’t seem to have much of specialized lighting other than natural lighting. The one time where he has some sort of specific lighting is in the purple rose of cairo where we see the two men fighting. In this shot, it is the lighting that helps us differentiate between the two figures. Although I didn’t watch this movie for any of my assignments, I can already guess that the man on the left who is more brightly lit is the good guy, and the man who is more darkly lit is the bad guy.

The lack of cuts in editing also slows down the pace of the movie, which adds to the light-hearted tone of Allen’s films. Not only that, but Allen himself explains to Time’s magazine that “he seldom cuts within a scene because a sustained master is faster and cheaper to shoot, actors prefer it, and he doesn’t have to worry about matching shots. This shows that Allen’s main focus is not in editing, cinematography, but rather the actors and their performance, and telling the story as a whole.

For sound, Allen often has jazz music playing in the opening sequences, and other parts of his films. This again supports the light-hearted tone that Allen has in most of his films. Being a clarinet player, and jazz lover himself, its no wonder he makes such choices for sound. Other than that he avoids any background music, mainly to put more focus on the dialogue. Allen doesn’t seem to count on music to set the mood, but rather the actors performances

One of the most significant examples of sound in Allen’s films is in the What’s up tiger lily. The film was originally a japanese spy movie. Allen took off the sound, put in his own dialogue, and changed the sequence of the scenes to make a completely new story out of it. So that’s why, sound plays a big role in this particular movie.

The setting for most of Allen’s movies is primarily New York City. One critic talks about Allen’s Mise-en-scene “Allen tries hard-perhaps too hard-to keep his settings from becoming as cluttered or static has his language, staging crucial scenes at the dining table and in the bedroom, then in an empty church and at a beach house in an attempt to exile the everyday domestic world.”

Additionally, one important Woody Allen trademark is the use of non-diegetic elements in his movies. One prime example of the use of non-diegetic elements is Annie Hall. Alvy jumps through time, talks to the audience, and even has subtitles that show what he is really thinking. Kind of like this

This is mainly to provide more insight into the character’s inner thoughts, and it contrasts with what the character is really saying.

**CONCLUSION** Woody Allen brings his stories to life through the use of the film medium. In cinematography he uses long shots with long takes and most of the time uses natural lighting. He uses simple editing and jazz music for specific scenes. Things that make him stand out are his use of non-diegetic elements, and his strange characters, and the fact that he stars in a lot of his movies.