Playtime by Jacques Tati Shot Analysis - 1265 Words

PLAYTIME by Jacques Tati Shot from 03:12 – 04:48 / Airport waiting room __________________________________________________________________________ Jacques Tati’s 1967 film, Playtime, captures a cascading series of events through the sterile architecture of Paris, in which few familiar characters inhabit. Tati’s infamous alter ego, Monsieur Hulot, haphazardly occupies many scenes as he stumbles through Paris after trying to contact an American official. The film is confined to no genre, nor does it necessarily form a new one – it simply exists in its own right as an exploration of societal function. Originally shot on 70mm, the film carries†¦show more content†¦The off centre position of the camera in relation to the furniture also allow for the chairs to act as depth cues and show the enormous length of the room. Everything in the frame is in focus, which in a cinema viewing is a lot to take in, especially considering the films aspect ratio of 1.85:1. However, the audiences’ eyes are cleverly guided around the frame by almost unnaturally loud sounds, some of which are accentuated in post-production by Tati. The sounds against the floors create a reverbing echo, highlighting the absurd impracticality of the building. A man and a woman sit in the bottom left hand corner of the frame in what appears to be a waiting area. They are dressed identically in their monotonous grey colours, as if they are enslaved to the colours surrounding them. During the shot’s beginning, the audience is drawn to the nuns and their rhythmic footsteps as they enter the frame. Then, through a combination of actor gestures and dialogue, this gaze shifts to the two c haracters anchored in the foreground of the image. The rattling of a table being wheeled out by a man in white into the frame moves our eyes, as well as the couples own attention, to