Phantom of the Paradise: A Close Look at One Scene

i've selected a scene from brian de palma's 1974 film phantom of the paradise the film follows winslow a talented artist whose music is stolen by swann a music mogul that seemingly controls the industry after being horribly disfigured winslow occupies the paradise swan's new concert venue and sabotages any attempt that's made to perform his songs that swan now claims as his own in the scene that i've selected winslow performs his music for the first time since his accident while he sings swann reconstructs his voice using studio filters to return it to its original state after giving winslow back his voice swan strikes a deal with winslow he will let winslow rewrite his cantata to be performed by phoenix and only phoenix a singer that winslow likes in return winslow must stop terrorizing the paradise winslow and swan sign a contract in blood and the deal is made the song that winslow performs faust is a reoccurring musical motif throughout the film performed by multiple characters in this instance the song gains new meaning when paired with what occurs in the scene for when's those voices fully restored he begins to sing a line in the song the complete lyric goes and as i lost control i swore i'd sell my soul for one love the losing control can be read as a reaction to winslow's violent and erratic behavior after his transformation into the phantom but when he reaches i'd sell my soul the plug is ripped from the wall by swann the man who winslow sells his soul to in this very scene even though he isn't aware of it yet the first section of major dialogue comes when winslow speaks for the first time with his synthesized voice winslow's first words repeated three times is phoenix the name of the woman who has become both his muse and obsession he is protective of her telling swan that she is too good for him swan confident as always simply responds i'll hire her anyway as soon as swan has winslow where he wants him he launches into a spiel which can be seen as a list of demands what swan tells winslow here is key he promises that phoenix will star in the live recording of the cantata at the paradise swan knows that this is the only thing that winslow desires and sets up a major conflict down the line when swann breaks his promise and replaces phoenix with the male singer beef winslow however doesn't buy swan's proposal but swan has seen this coming and produces a contract letting winslow peruse it at his leisure the wording of the contract is both confusing and ominous for example the first clause reads party of the first part gives the party of the second part and his associates full power to do with him at their pleasure to rule to send to fetch or carry him or his be either body soul flesh he agrees to swan's conditions and swan makes winslow sign the contract in blood after saying ink isn't worth anything to me the entire time swann was in control of the situation and he won winslow believing that he has one will eventually meet a tragic end due to his deal with swan for the majority of the scene swan appears to be smaller than winslow this is in part due to paul williams being five foot two while william finley is six foot four but swann is positioned further back from the camera making him look tiny compared to winslow looming in the foreground it's when swann moves into shadow in the foreground of the image that he then looks big signaling his power over the situation when winslow and swann sign the contract they're positioned eye to eye signifying that they appear to be on equal playing fields it should be noted here that swann has positioned himself to winslow's blind eye winslow is blind to what is transpiring and what will happen in the future during the performance segment of the scene winslow is positioned facing the right of the frame while swann faces the left this gives the viewer a sense of the configuration of the room however that layout is broken when we get an over-the-shoulder view behind swan swan faces a carpeted room with no side of the control board he was working on winslow is still facing to the right but swan now exists in a nowhere space this is emphasized further by not allowing the viewer to see swan enter winslow's room he just appears there and begins his conversation with winslow once swann is in the room with winslow they assume positions mirrored in the beginning of the scene winslow is on the left of the screen and swan is on the right even in the shot reverse shot patterns this is broken part way through when swan switches sides and moves to the left side of the frame forcing winslow to now be on the right there are two distinct points where swann the villain of the film is put in shadow while winslow remains in light the first time is here as swann watches winslow play from the studio the second time is here as swan butters up winslow and lays down the deadline for rewriting the cantata both examples play swan as the manipulator a man working in the shadows the fact that his face is covered reflects the importance of swan's image and swan's own deal with the devil which is revealed later in the film winslow being kept in the light might signify his innocence to what's going on in this particular situation however this can also be attributed to the fact that winslow's the protagonist of the story and therefore must be kept in light to oppose the darkness that is swan this particular scene follows a fairly basic editing pattern that deviates slightly from the shot reverse shot pattern in the first half the scene there are three main subjects winslow swann and the control board after a lingering opening shot that moves between the two locations with a possible hidden cut located here we enter the pattern of winslow control panel swan lots of swan in the panel almost serve as reaction shots to win those singing during the discussion of the contract that follows the singing everything is done in hard cuts with no drastic leap in time there are few insert shots of the contract in order to illustrate what winslow is reading there's a nice moment of constructive editing during the signing and when swann pricks winslow's finger followed by a shot of the drop of blood hitting the page then back to swan handing winslow the pen the scene ends with a fade into another scene set some time after what we've witnessed indicated by swan having a new outfit sound in my opinion is one of the most important factors in the scene not only is the film a musical whose music is almost completely diegetic because the scene features the rebuilding of winslow's voice through digital manipulation the scene begins with winslow singing his song fast his voice is scratchy like someone speaking through a bad voice changer [Music] there are also high frequency tones that warble back and forth and echoes that demonstrate how flawed winslow sounds in contrast to his voice winslow's piano playing is strong and comes through to support his voice the scene then takes us to swan who slowly tries to rebuild winslow's original voice through the use of the sound board he cuts back frequency adds filters and resurrects winslow's voice consider the sound design process that this segment must have gone through layers upon layers of effects had to be laid upon william finley's singing and then stripped away one by one we also get to hear winslow's speaking voice once he's unplugged from the console how's that try it phoenix it's robotic and human suggesting that winslow is one step removed from humanity he's a ghost of a man a phantom

Channel: Marc-Alain Bertoni

Views: 13,163

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Id: GRmhD9ZWGbE

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021