This scene in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari starts with one of the town’s police spying on Dr. Caligari and Cesare at their trailer during the night. The town police believe that Cesare might be behind the murders in the town, so they want to see that he is not out at night when the murders are being committed. The policeman sees both of them there, however it is later revealed that the Cesare in the trailer is a stuffed doll. Cesare has actually snuck out and gone to murder Jane. He sneaks up the side of her house, and climbs in through the window. Then, standing next to her bed while she sleeps, she decides to kidnap rather than murder her. He then runs away with her in his arms.
There are a variety of editing techniques that help this abduction scene to be suspenseful and scary. First, the orchestral accompaniment helps create fear in viewer and make the viewer follow along with what is happening. The music matches what the actors are doing in the scene, creating harmony between the visual and the audio. For example, when the camera shows Jane sleeping in her bed, the music becomes higher pitched and creepier letting the viewer know that something bad is going to happen. When Cesare grabs Jane and they begin fighting, the music starts going all over the place and crazy to add to their fight. Overall, in this scene especially, the orchestral accompaniment to the film helps direct the viewer to what emotions the director wants them to feel while watching the film.
Another way in which the editing techniques help to enhance this scene is through the cuts between takes. There are jump cuts between one camera angle to be next to help show things occurring in a certain order and ultimately help the viewer follow along with what is happening. Similarly, when the scenes change from the policeman at the trailer to Cesare at Jane’s house, the camera fade out to black and then opens back up again from a small circle surrounded by black showing us Jane’s face that eventually opens up to show us the whole scene. This also helps add to the viewer following along with what is happening, and adding suspense and a polished feeling to the movie. Finally, the way in which the camera zooms in on certain actors faces leads the viewer to focus on specific actors and follow along in the scene, also making it more dramatic.
Although this movie is a silent movie created in the early 1900s, the director used a variety of editing techniques available during this time to add emotion and drama to the movie. These techniques included an orchestral accompaniment, cuts between scenes, and camera focusing on certain actors.
The Most Interesting Blog Ever 