Film Studies Blow-Up

Film Studies Blow-Up

This essay will analyze a seven minute sequence from Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film, Blow-Up. This sequence takes place around the middle of the movie when the protagonist, Thomas, is in his studio analyzing the photographs that he had taken that morning in the park. The photographs taken in the park display a woman, Jane, and her older companion hugging and frolicking. As Thomas is taking these photographs, he believes that they symbolize something “very - peaceful, very still,” when in actuality, as the audience finds out in this sequence, the pictures Thomas is analyzing, actually document what he thinks is a murder scene (Tomasulo 15). The cinematography and editing in this sequence as well as some elements of the mise-en-scene, will help the audience understand Thomas’ feeling of being trapped in his thoughts and the frustration he expresses throughout the sequence.

Immediately, from the first shot in this sequence, the audience can see that Thomas feels trapped in his thoughts, and can not escape. This is shown through various elements in the shot as well as the sequence. Firstly, as this sequence begins, the camera is positioned in between two photographs that are being analyzed by Thomas, framing and trapping him. The audience is able to see that Thomas feels trapped in his thoughts and unable to escape, due to the confused look on his face and the minimal actions he makes. Later in the sequence, there is a shot where Thomas is placed in between two lamp posts that frame him. Similarly to the first shot, minimal actions are made by Thomas, yet his body language clearly depicts that he is frustrated. The second element that helps the viewer notice that Thomas is trapped, is the main use of static shots in the sequence. Although there are multiple panning, tilting and tracking shots visible in the sequence, static shots are seen in most of the shots. The reason Antonioni would add many static...