A cinematographic narrative with a deep social message projected primarily through art direction

Abstract

In November 1965 journalist Pierre Billard while interviewing Michelangelo Antonioniasks “’Can the choice of locations or actors influence the scenario, and if so how?’ Antonioni replies: “’In general I decide upon the outdoor locations before writing the shooting script. In order to be able to write, I need to have the surroundings of the film clearly in mind. There are times too when an idea for a film comes to me from a particular place. Or more precisely, when certain locales come to mind because of the themes or characters running through my head. It’s sometimes rather odd series of coincidences.’” Locations are crucial in film, whether real, setup or computer generated; locations set the ambience of the narrative in relation to the plot and eventually to the characters. Every film somehow or other starts with the placing of the story in a particular location which in turn defines the era and the relationship of the protagonists with the place. Soone can easily understand why the setting or rather the location is a key factor of storytelling. Analysing film in general one can be quite correct to argue that similarly to the actors who play a particular character, locations also have to play a role. If a plot is set in an iconic city such as New York, London, Paris, places which have bold identity and architecture which is world-known, it would be relatively easy to suggest on screen what place it is. If a scene requires to be set in Paris, a skyline shot showing the Eiffel Tower at a distance would immediately hint that the plot takes part in Paris. On the other hand, if a scene is shoot at ground level in a streetscape with no particular key architecture the location can become any other place. This though to a certain extent as a streetscape in Manhattan can never become a small village in the Mediterranean, but can easily take the resemblance of a streetscape in Detroit.