The Third Man

Carol Reed's The Third Man is a film with an excellent example of how cinematography can affect its audience. I don't think I have ever as uncomfortable and uneasy watching a movie, yet still very intrigued and involved. The first thing one notices when watching the film is how hash the black and white contrast really is. At points, characters faces are so vivid by bright white light that a small mouth movement replaces a line of dialague. At the same time, the background and all of the character's surrounding are extremely dark and distorted. In other instances, the darkness of night hides the identity of characters, but the bight street lights reveal important shadows that can't remain hidden in the night. This makes the film extremely dramatic for the viewer because the bright white light focuses the audiences attention while the darkness confuses and pushes them away. Camera angles also give the audience a sense of disconnection and almost foreign from the city of Vienna. Sideways allies, angled shots of complexed, geometric buildings, and huge, ominous urban portraits makes one feel almost cautious to watch. The location of Vienna is that of a grim, desolate city that has lost any flair or culture. Definetly not a welcoming city, the viewer definetly feels like a fish out of water. Each shot and scene from the film is very picture-like in the sense that when the frame is freezed the image looks something like a still-life painting of some kind. Finaly, closeups definetly play a large role in the film revealing character emotions and thoughts as well as objects and different identities.