Hazy and Clear

--Visual effects of The Fall of the House of Usher and Variations

In The Fall of the House of Usher, Jean Epstein produces a series of hazy shots by setting mist or smoke in front of the camera. These hazy images appear at many scenes from the beginning to the end of this film generating a supernatural atmosphere. On the contrary, in Nathaniel Dorsky’s Variations, texture-rich and color-saturate images present objects in a clearly and naturally. However, both of images subordinate to the emotions of films functioning well.

Epstein’s work is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem which tells a story about Usher’s illness and his wife’s death. He made the picture to serve the story telling in a cinematic way. All the mise-en-scene is to help to achieve this goal. In my opinion, adding the mist in the frame is to create spooky atmosphere. Early in this film, when the carriage is approaching to Roderick Usher’s house, we can see a group of hazy images. From point of view shots of carriage driver, we see that a heavy mist without a single pedestrian or animal in it. This drops a hint that something unusual will happen in the Usher’s house, which is death. The voice over followed this shot also indicates the supernatural atmosphere. I even have a feeling that the road that they are driving on is not in the world of immortals. At the end of this film, when the house is in fire, we see more hazy shots than in any other parts in the film. After a shot of heavy mist in Usher’s house that we can barely see the other objects in the frame, Roderick’s wife walks into the screen, which happens after they buried her body. She walks through the smoke and comes towards Roderick. When she reaches him, the smoke and fire spread around all over the house. At this time, not only the smoke makes audience feel in a supernatural way, but also the appearance of Usher’s wife in the frame is impossible to believe. However, by doing so, Epstein successfully creates a mood that compatible with Poe’s poem. He fills the frame with moody, Gothic and unrealistic atmosphere by using these hazy shots.

What are so different from Epstein’s hazy shots are the clear images of Variations. Dorsky has been pursuing the most natural views that a camera can provide to audience by filming ordinary city landscapes. In the frame of Variations, we can see images in details closely and clearly which reveal graphic contrasts and color variations. Although splendor and breath-taking, these images are not expected to have logical relations between each other. Our world has its beauty in their natural look. If you want to see images such as the reflecting of sunlight by a dog’s wet nose, shadows of ripples on a bird’s feathers, silhouettes of trees and flowers on a car’s window or a snail on a grass, you have to make sure there is no smoke or frog in front of the camera. It is these clear images that provide the possibility that we are able to see the details of these objects. Also, they present the genuine textures and colors of objects. My favorite shot is the dog’s nose. In a sunny day, a dog is standing on the street and looking towards Dorsky’s camera. Its wet and black nose is reflecting the sunlight. And because it is breathing, the nose vibrates slightly and the reflected light changes the directions slightly. It is not telling any story in the frame and is a picture which presents a lovely movement in our life. Dorsky leads us to look through the window-the screen to discover the own story of nature.