Fringe and Pillow talk
comparison
How are the sequences from
Pillow Talk´ and Fringe´ different? Discuss the differences in pace and
style of editing as well as the effect the editing has on meaning/the
audience’s reception of the extracts.´
The sequences used in Fringe and
Pillow are both very different, although they have some similarities. This
essay will explore these differences and similarities, focusing on the visual
style, the mood, the narrative sequence, the construction of the ‘illusion of
reality’, the passage of time, the representation of simultaneous reality, the
disruption and challenge of the viewers expectations, the pace and rhythm, the
different types of edit, the ‘flow’ of the editing, the sound and image and the
devices and effects used.
‘Pillow Talk’ is a very popular
romantic comedy that was released in the late 1950’s, this was an era that
exploited the genre, it was host of iconic romantic films such as ‘Some like it
hot’ and ‘Singing in the rain’, these films established the genre successfully,
setting the scene for films such as ‘Pillow Talk’, which features two leading
actors of this ‘Romance boom’ Doris Day and Rock Hudson. The film had a lot of
competition from many films, including ‘Calamity Jane’ and ‘High Society’,
competition also came from actors such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and
Marilyn Monroe. The 50’s was a host to many dramatic, romantic films and noble,
landmark celebrities. Doris Day is best known for her dramatic performance in
‘Calamity Jane’, an extremely successful film from the early 50’s. Rock Hudson
is best known for his dynasty as a heartthrob of Hollywood, who secretly
engaged in homosexual behaviour, which cause him to catch HIV, he died of AIDS
at age 60, he pioneered the movement of awareness of his disease, Morgan
Fairchild said "Rock Hudson's death gave AIDS a face" Hudson and Day
were a successful pair in Hollywood, they starred in several films together,
all of them were very successful.
Fringe is a futuristic television
series which is set around the FBI in the future, the main character, Olivia
Dunham, is an agent working for the FBI, the other main characters are Peter
Bishop and Agent Phillip Broyles, the clip only shows Peter Bishop and Agent
Phillip Broyles. These characters are played by Joshua Jackson and Lance
Reddick, two fairly ‘low brow’ unknown actors, not mainstream, well known
actors, they have some experience in popular films but no experience in
blockbusters or major television programmes, this is a popular pattern in
television series’. Fringe started in 2008 and is still running, it is a
popular programme in both America and England, attracting lovers of sci fi and
action. The show is inspired by sci fi shows such as ‘The x files’ and ‘The
Twilight Zone’.
The two extracts are extremely
different, both contextually and technically.
The Fringe extract uses several quick
modern editing techniques such as clean cuts, tracking shots and a few
individual shots that Fringe has created, such as an interesting shot used at
the start of the interview, the camera goes from an interviewer’s face, to the
reflection of Peter Bishop’s face, then tracks upwards to Bishop’s face. This
shows the distraction of the interviewer’s eyes, and conveys his opinion on the
‘point’ of the conversation, he may think that he can predict what’s going to
happen.
The first discussion we see is
between Agent Phillip Broyles and another man, the other man is connected
through webcam, on a computer, the emotion shown is that Broyles finds the
conversation tedious and the other party does not want to put forward any
emotion or information, the man is curious as to what Broyles has to say, until
he asks him an obviously sensitive question, this causes the other man to end
the discussion abruptly, by turning off the webcam connection, we then go back
to Broyles, the camera is tilted, showing the man in a distorted fashion, this
makes the viewer look at the shot differently, as it’s abnormal, they then
presume something is not right, this tilted angle is shown throughout the short
scene. The final show is of Broyles with a tired facial expression, he rolls
his eyes and leans back, there is a clean, fast cut to a medium close up of
Broyles sitting in his office chair overlooking a busy office, the office is
futuristic, the shot shows his dominance and hierarchy over the workplace, and
his relaxed mindset over the situation, even though it has not been very
successful.
The next shot is of a cityscape,
it is what looks like a mixture of the white house and another tourist attraction
in Washington. The shot establishes that it is in Washington, the capital of
the USA, a very important city, it is host to a lot of decisions which take
affect worldwide. There is a large, futuristic style blimp hovering behind the
buildings, it disappears with an explosion, surprising the viewer, the camera
shakes and zooms with a flash of light, there is a quick zoom and the blimp
disappears. This clip conveys surprise to the viewer, but when the camera pans
a bit further, we see bystanders, they do not seem to find this blimp, or it’s
disappearance abnormal, this shows the time in which the show is set.
We now see a man writing on a
sheet of paper, he has clearly written a lot, they are presumably notes as it
is hand written, the sound of the pen or pencil is making a distinctive
scribbling noise, we then follow what could be the scribe’s line of sight, to a
reflection of the interviewee’s face, which is then followed and we are shown
Peter Bishop, he looks extenuated and bored, he clearly does not want to be in
this situation. As we progress, we see another shot, it is a medium long shot
showing everyone on this long conference table, we see three people, mainly
their silhouettes, because the windows are letting in a lot of light, but some
detail can be seen. This is an interesting shot because it shows the emotion of
the room, it is tense, and very ‘black and white’ we can see the emotion
clearly and the foundations of the personality of Peter Bishop, he is being
asked to detail an event he clearly did not enjoy reliving.
Pillow Talk begins with two men,
in their apartment, one of them addresses the other, telling him about a woman
he has met, he tells Brad Allan about her, it turns out she’s met a “stupid
cowboy from Texas of all places”, which is actually Brad Allan’s alter ego,
which he has made up to seduce Jan, the shot shows both the men, when Brad
Allan hears that his friend knows about Jan and the Texan, he has a very
surprised look on his face, which only the audience see, he does not convey
this emotion to his friend, this shows the tension there is between the
friends, even though Brad Allan’s friend does not know Brad is the Texan.
There is a fade between the first
scene and the second, this shows time passing and the fact it’s in a different
place. The next significant edit is when Jan answers the phone, the screen is
now split in half, with Brad Allan’s side of the phone conversation sliding in,
we can now see the emotion and reaction on both character’s faces. This is an
interesting edit because it is rarely used in modern film, this is because
recent editing is usually minimalistic and simple, although some television
still use this kind of phone call technique.
The restaurant scene has
background music, there is vocals and piano, this music is a guide for the
cuts, the cuts are done on, not only the end of a part of speech, but the
music, when the end of a beat, the shot changes, and when the singing starts, a
moment of interest is started, when the woman sings, Brad kisses Jan.
The foreshadowed events, such as
Brad’s alter ego having a feminine side and a strong attachment to his mother,
show a clear and dramatic reaction on Jan’s face, the editing shows her facial
expressions by cutting to a shot where her face is more visible when she
reacts.
The pace of cutting speeds up when
Jan asks Brad about the situation between them, the camera angle changes every
time any of the pair speak, this portrays excitement to the viewer, this is a
very popular technique to add drama to a situation, or take it away. This is a
technique used in both extracts, they both result in the same effect, a fast
paced, witty effect is produced.
In conclusion, Pillow Talk is very
different from Fringe, it has different context, different shots, different
cuts and different emotions and opinions, yet there are some similarities in
the traditional shots, angles and edits. Fringe is a modern sci fi drama,
whereas Pillow Talk is an old fashioned romantic comedy, old style editing and
camera angles are used, but the similarities show that popular techniques have
lasted through 50 years as a very popular method of editing.
1,533 words
