The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman - Movie Review Example

Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal effectively explored the concepts of death and the existence of God through skillful manipulation of cinematic devices such as cinematography, narrative, staging, sound and editing. In this film, he emphasized the character’s anguish about of life through the use of photography and camera framing. The natural editing style and use of sound effects all contributed to film’s overall success in conveying its message to the audience. This essay will attempt to analyze the short sequence in the film beginning with the performance of the three clowns, Jof, his wife Mia, and Skat, in the village and ending with a procession of penitents. In this brief sequence, we see cinematic devices that illustrate the conflict between life and death, and the existence of God. All these devices and symbolisms contribute towards bringing out the director’s point of view. The short sequence opens with a shot of Jof and his wife Mia, performing on stage in the village. The natural lighting used in this sequence gives the impression that the weather is good, thus, the villagers are able to come out and watch the performance. The camera takes a wide shot on the stage where Jof and Mia are performing and pans to the left to show the audiences. This shot shows the scale of the village and give the viewers an idea of the kind of audiences that watch the performance of Jof and Mia. Although some soldiers can be seen among the crowd, most of the people who gathered to watch the performance are peasants. This shot also give us the idea that the audiences do not seen to enjoy the performance and some of them look really bored. The camera then changes to a medium shot of three clowns. Skat is now playing a flute, Mia is dancing, and Jof is playing the drums. All three clowns wear excessive make up, their white and black clothes look ragged and they look like they have not been financially well off lately. Bergman, the director, probably chose the black and white colors for the clothes since these represents life and death. White stands for life while black represents death. The back ground sound comes out with WALLA, which is definitely not laughter but rather more like jeering. The people are definitely not amused with the performance of the clowns. In the next shot, Skat has a close up shot. He is playing a flute then he suddenly turns his head to camera. It looks like he found something. The camera then cuts to medium close-up of a woman, Lisa, and back ground medium shot of man, Plog. In this shot, Lisa seems to be trying to read her husband Plog’s face but Plog seems to be preoccupied with other thing. Lisa looks very cunning while Plog looks very dull. Lisa wears big earrings and beautiful clothes which portrays here as a materialistic person. On the other hand, Plog wears dirty clothes and drape an axe on his shoulder which gives us an idea of what he does for a living. Then camera cuts back and focus on Skat’s face. He tried to sign Lisa by turning his head. This shot gives is an idea that something is about to happen between Plog and Lisa. The next shot exemplifies the good use of staging position, which helps viewers understand the character better. It is a medium shot of Lisa in the back of stage. She is hiding from her husband. The low key lighting puts Lisa in the dark with her dirty deeds. The camera then changes to a wide low angle shot of the three clowns who are about to finish their performance. This scene shows how the stage looks like in detail. The back ground image shows time lapse. After the clowns’ performance, the camera cuts back to a wide angle of audiences. The audiences look very bored and they seem to want other performance. The high key lighting in this scene makes people look dispassionate and innocent. The film then shifts to a medium eye-level shot of the soldiers. The low key lighting seems to contrast with previous shot. The villagers bathe in bright light which represents life while the soldiers placed in darker perspective represent death. In the next scene, one of the soldiers throws an apple which hits Skat’s face. At this point, the medium shot of Skat is taken at eye- level. He looks angry but he controls his anger and goes backstage. From this scene, the viewers can recognize Skat’s personality easily. He seems to understand his role in society, thus, he conforms to what society wants him to be. At this point, the back ground sound, WALLA, is filled with mockery. The audience seems to have more fun mocking and humiliating the clowns rather than enjoying their performance. As the camera zooms in on Skat while he makes his way back stage, we can see in his eyes that he is not happy with the situation. In the next shot, the low angle camera follows Jof and Mia as they sing and play musical instruments. Jof is supposed to know how to play his instrument which looks like a guitar, but his hands do not synchronize with instrument’s sound. This scene can be a fly in the ointment of this film. Jof and Mia’s song seems to imply a raging epidemic of the bubonic plaque. The camera then cuts to a low angle shot of Skat in the coach. He looks into a mirror and wipes his face with a towel. While looking at the mirror, he noticed Liza in the background. As this point, Skat’s pent-up emotions finally erupted. The scene cuts to a wide shot of Lisa sitting on the ground. Her voluptuous figure and seductive smile looks inviting. A burst of natural lighting helps Lisa look more attractive. Then, Skat approaches her and they whisper to each other. While Skat and Liza commited adultery, Jof and Mia’s satirical song serves as background music. The lyric of this song seems to mock Skat and Lisa’s sinful act. The camera turns to a wide shot of Jof and Mia who are singing on stage. The two of them look as if they are enjoying their performance. In the same scene, they take a step forward; as a result, shot is automatically changed to medium shot. The angle from which is shot is taken took advantage of the depth of the field to make it appear that the people are still in the right angle even if they are moving. While Jof and Mia are singing, a sound of people singing a hymn intrudes into their performance. Jof and Mia froze simultaneously and their face takes on a set expression. The camera zooms in on Jof and Mia’s face. In this scene, their facial expressions clearly express fear at the sight in front of them. The back ground music makes this scene take on a heavy atmosphere, and the light which shines directly in front of the characters make them look more terrified. The film then shifts to a medium, low- level shot of the procession. With the penitents singing a hymn, this scene takes on a dismal atmosphere. All of the penitents entered the village with tottering steps which shows that they have been through some difficult times. The priests accompanying the procession wear clothes that look exactly like the clothes of the angel of death. The priests walk into the village with burning incenses. The smoke makes them appear as if they are gloomy angels of death. After the priests pass through the village, the penitents walk into the scene. They all seem to be either afflicted with the plague, blind, or deaf. This scene tries to depict the priests as angels of death that come for people who are already near death. The penitents’ facial expressions are gloomy and set which show that they are getting ready as death approaches. Some penitents whip their body in order to repent. Unlike the previous scenes with the clowns which show merriment, this scene represents the death. The camera then changes to a close shot of the knight, Block, his squire, Jons, and a young girl named Tyan. The camera takes them from a straight angle so they appear to be side by side. By taking advantage of the depth of the field, this shot successfully focused on the characters and capture their facial expressions while they gaze at the procession of penitents. Their bland and disinterested expressions give us the idea that they do not actually care about procession. In striking contrast to this shot, the next shot shows some villagers bending their knees to pray. The camera pans right to show the villager’s facial expression; they seem to be awed. The low key lighting also makes heavy atmosphere. In The Seventh Seal, Bergman explores the existence of God, and the boundary between life and death. His metaphysical ideas in the film are too fragmented and inconsistent, thus it is hard to decide this film’s genre. Although this film’s main idea is too complicated, the unique style and approach to cinematography demonstrate Bergman’s qualification as a great director. Read More

He looks angry but he controls his anger and goes backstage. From this scene, the viewers can recognize Skat’s personality easily. He seems to understand his role in society, thus, he conforms to what society wants him to be. At this point, the background sound, WALLA, is filled with mockery. The audience seems to have more fun mocking and humiliating the clowns rather than enjoying their performance. As the camera zooms in on Skat while he makes his way backstage, we can see in his eyes that he is not happy with the situation.

In the next shot, the low-angle camera follows Jof and Mia as they sing and play musical instruments. Jof is supposed to know how to play his instrument which looks like a guitar, but his hands do not synchronize with the instrument’s sound. This scene can be a fly in the ointment of this film. Jof and Mia’s song seems to imply a raging epidemic of bubonic plaque.The camera then cuts to a low-angle shot of Skat in the coach. He looks into a mirror and wipes his face with a towel. While looking at the mirror, he noticed Liza in the background.

At this point, Skat’s pent-up emotions finally erupted. The scene cuts to a wide shot of Lisa sitting on the ground. Her voluptuous figure and seductive smile look inviting. A burst of natural lighting helps Lisa look more attractive. Then, Skat approaches her and they whisper to each other. While Skat and Liza committed adultery, Jof and Mia’s satirical song serves as background music. The lyric of this song seems to mock Skat and Lisa’s sinful act.The camera turns to a wide shot of Jof and Mia who are singing on stage.

The two of them look as if they are enjoying their performance. In the same scene, they take a step forward; as a result, a shot is automatically changed to a medium shot. The angle from which is shot is taken took advantage of the depth of the field to make it appear that the people are still at the right angle even if they are moving.While Jof and Mia are singing, a sound of people singing a hymn intrudes into their performance. Jof and Mia froze simultaneously and their face takes on a set expression.

The camera zooms in on Jof and Mia’s face. In this scene, their facial expressions clearly express fear at the sight in front of them. The background music makes this scene take on a heavy atmosphere, and the light which shines directly in front of the characters makes them look more terrified.The film then shifts to a medium, low-level shot of the procession. With the penitents singing a hymn, this scene takes on a dismal atmosphere. All of the penitents entered the village with tottering steps which shows that they have been through some difficult times.

The priests accompanying the procession wear clothes that look exactly like the clothes of the angel of death. The priests walk into the village with burning incenses. The smoke makes them appear as if they are gloomy angels of death. After the priests pass through the village, the penitents walk into the scene. They all seem to be either afflicted with the plague, blind, or deaf. This scene tries to depict the priests as angels of death that come for people who are already near death. The penitents’ facial expressions are gloomy and set which shows that they are getting ready as death approaches.

Some penitents whip their body in order to repent. Unlike the previous scenes with the clowns which show merriment, this scene represents death.The camera then changes to a close shot of the knight, Block, his squire, Jons, and a young girl named Tyan. The camera takes them from a straight angle so they appear to be side by side. By taking advantage of the depth of the field, this shot successfully focused on the characters and capture their facial expressions while they gaze at the procession of penitents.

Their bland and disinterested expressions give us the idea that they do not actually care about procession.

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