Thursday, December 8, 2016

Final Assignment Anthology - Revised Eat Drink Man Woman Analysis



        The film clip, Eat Drink Man Woman, starts off with no background music, just the sounds of someone cooking feverishly in a kitchen. This generates a very tense environment, almost as if the cook is in a rush. Immediately, I felt as if the cook were planning an extravagant dinner or holding an important event for a large sum of people. All the movements the cook makes are quick and efficient while, the body language of the actor is portrayed as strict, serious and deep in concentration. Almost 35-40 seconds go by until the music finally starts to fade in. The music in the background is considered upbeat, chipper and relaxing, suggesting that, instead the cook is passionately cooking the food and going through the motions almost effortlessly. It is almost as if the cook seems to be cooking to the beat of the song playing.
Throughout the film the lighting of the scene was mostly dark with lots of shadows and dim lighting in the background. The only points when light was really displayed is when there had just been a scene/ clip of food being prepared or completed. Another scene, that was very bright in the background was when the cook went outside to collect a chicken. The scene starts off very bright and airy because the cook is outside, but as it gets closer to the cook killing the chicken the scene backgrounds get darker and, immediately, as the chicken dies, the lighting is dark and we, the viewers, can only see the outline of the cook and the chicken.
        The camera angles and extra sound effects are important to take into consideration as well. Everything in the film is close-framed not, wide-framed views. The camera zooms in on the food, the live animals, the man cooking, the knives, and the pots on the stove. The camera also captures the preparation process of each dish at the rate they are being prepared. The extra sound effects include chopping of vegetables, breaking bones, and the sizzling of the boiling water. These effects help the viewer to relate to being in a kitchen and cooking for all of those sounds are very normal sounds to have while cooking.   
In summary, for me, as I watched this clip I felt almost as an outsider to the situation due to the music, setting, and the way in which the man was cooking his food. The dark scene also seemed uninviting to me. One of the reasons I felt like an outsider is through the way in which the food was prepared. Live chickens, frogs, and fish were killed immediately before being cooked. In America, I feel this would be strange to the typical American because, our food is usually dead before it reaches the kitchen. If I were in this situation, I would feel awkward at first because, everything that is presented in the opening scene is very Asian oriented. Plus, the types of food being cooked are not typical foods I would eat or am accustomed to.




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