Thursday, April 24, 2008
Week Twelve - Special Effects to Assist Story: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
So the big question is, of course, do the special effects assist the story? If so, why? If not, why not? Are the special effects done just for the sake of doing special effects ie: because we can, or do they really assist the story to move forward. Does the story stand alone without the special effects?
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This film is the perfect example of special effects assisting the story effectively. It is the complete polar opposite of something like Mirror Mask where the film was made to showcase some special effects and composting but left you feeling empty, tired, and wanting to watch episodes of Friends. The creativity of this screenplay and the sheer genius of the director take a tired story of breaking up and getting back together to an entirely new level. I had to watch the film several times to fully realize how great the film is and there are a few key examples where the special effects worked to benefit the story and content of the film.
One great effect is when Joel Barish is getting his mind erased and he is in the memory of when he went to see Clementine after the break up and give her a gift but she is talking to Patrick. He never really sees his face at the actual event so when in his memory he tries to spin him around he keeps seeing the back of his head. That is also why when he is talking to the doctor about Patrick the doctor calls him Patrick baby boy and says it in the tone of the way Clementine said it at the actual event. That is also why Joel didn't know any songs about Clementine the second time they met on the train, because they were erased.
Another great visual effect are all the scenes where everything begins disappearing around them. It adds drama and suspense to a film that is about losing your memory of a girlfriend. Without the effects the scenes would be less powerful and would have to rely on the music to build suspense.
Another effect really adds to the mood of the film as well as great lighting. When Joel is starting to really lose everything, he revisists old memories that we have already seen but now they are low lit scenes, they are very dark and lit with a small spot light, showing that his memories are narrowing and disappearing. In these shots, the faces of characters that Joel is forgetting have their faces altered, melted down and molded like clay. For me these shots are great because in dreams when I am trying to identify someone's face and can't, this is what I remember them looking like. The film does one of the best jobs of recreating what it's like to dream and remember and it does this through great lighting, a strong direction and screenplay, and perfectly executed visual effects that are in the film only to enhance the story and themes, and aren't just thrown in to show off or take an easy way out.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind uses subtle VFX and CG shots to promote the story of the movie. Unlike a lot of mainstream movies that tend to overuse special effects versus fully focusing on the story, the visual effects shots are short, unnoticeable at some points and when they are noticeable it assists the overall story rather than overwhelm it. Sunshine, however, as an entire film requires the full attention of the audience from the beginning to end in order to fully understand and appreciate the movie. It’s definitely not a movie that is completely understandable within the first 45 minutes of the movie. The movie can be comparable to Alice in Wonderland due to its dreamlike sequences, the Matrix but without the excessive umbilical cords, or the occasional brain damage one may experience and result from the occasional late night drinking binge. Composting wise, Eternal Sunshine has a very unique style of incorporating and removing elements that is seemingly entirely realistic and effective. Regardless without the VFX the story could stand on its own but it makes the story more entertaining than the tired run of the mill breakup, rediscovery, and make up romance independent / mainstream film.
Eternal Sunshine does indeed require a good attention to get through its entirety. It’s definitely not a “Transformers” or “ Cloverfield” genre flick which only requires you to know that something spectacularly crazy and VFX filled will happen within the first 5 minutes after and/or before the introductory credits. The story sets up a premise within the first 5 minutes and then turns 180 degrees with the dream sequences which may put some people into the “what just happened” bin for throughout the majority of the movie. However, the dream sequences are indeed what make up the story or rather the puzzle pieces that lead up to the formation of the initial premise of the first 5 minutes and the resolution in the last 15 minutes of the movie. If one were to think about sequences as puzzle pieces, one can see that each piece is a memory in time which leads to the character buildup and romantic relationship between Joel and Clementine (the main characters) from the recent events to the most important events that pertain to Joel. Along with the VFX, the story has good subplots that give meaning and purpose of the VFX shots and the overall story. One subplot slightly revolves around about Elijah Wood’s character trying to be a copy of Joel in order to sleep with Clementine. This leads to how Joel somehow knows about what’s going on with Clementine currently and to let the audience slowly know that Joel is undergoing a dream that’s erasing his mind of Clementine. Another subplot that supports the story is Dunst’s character and role in the film as an assistant’s to Tom’s character and her sudden revelation that she had her mind erased earlier prior to events in the movie. This supports the whole dream sequence route that is undergone in the movie and eventually leads to Joel and Clementine meeting up again. Ultimately as the movie progresses many of dream sequences and subplots are not thrown here and there just for kicks but actually connect them together to give a bigger picture of the story and romance the movie brings.
Remotely, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can be comparable to Alice in Wonderland, the Matrix, and waking up the next morning after a hangover. Via Alice in Wonderland, the movie does give off references such as the pill that Joel takes that puts him out and gets him into his dream sequences that ironically show topsy turvy stuff such as falling cars, missing signs, and Joel apparent shrinkage of height when he’s under the table. Alice In wonderland, the rabbit can be considered the pill and many things such as talking caterpillars and Alice’s change in height in certain areas of wonderland are somewhat similar to the things Joel encounters in his dreams. As per the Matrix, the red and blue pill choice harkens back to both the pill Joel and the rabbit that Alice chases. In a rather remote way, the wake up sequence that Neo goes through is similar to how Joel tries to regain consciousness as he tries to wake up but not quite so graphic and without the cords. As for the behavior of the brain damage from excessive drinking, it stands to some reason that people tend to be forgetful of entire memories but remember vaguely that something should’ve happen. This is similar to what happens when both Clementine and Joel finally wake up from the memory erasing procedure and somehow end up ending up together because there’s something they vaguely remember that connect them together.
The VFX shots really do indeed lend and assist the story out in its dream sequences. One prime example is when Joel and Clementine are in Barnes and Nobles trying to avoid being erased but as they stay in the store longer you notice slowly that the books slowly become blank books and later disappear. This action leads to a dramatic effect that they’re being found out. Another example is when people around them start disappearing in synch like popup comic message bubbles. One more example is the missing lettering in the signs when Joel walks around trying to find Clementine after their breakup signaling that things are beginning to disappear from Joel’s memory of Clementine starting with the recent memories. These subtle composting effects lends not only to a creepy realism of things disappearing but also drama and suspense for Joel as he finds out that he actually wants to keep his happy memories of Clementine with him and struggles to wake up remembering Clementine. Hence the CG shots actually help clear up the confusion as they provide visual clues as to what’s going on in Joel’s dreams.
This film does a remarkable job incorporating CG and FX shots in a way that actually helps it become a very interesting film that was able to win a couple of awards and enough recognition to be shown in class. Without the SFX shots, the story would still carry on but possibly in a direction that seems not quite so suspenseful and quite possibly even more confusing for the audience to follow along.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind brings a new reality to my perception of cognitive development. We try to understand how our dreams are manifested and the memories of our lives can sometimes be taken for granted. Eternal Sunshine really opened my mind to the endless possibilities of how I see the future of films. I definitely enjoyed every minute of the film because it was very well developed and special effects were used only as necessary.
However, I believe that most of the special effects involved were from great story development, camera tricks, a variety of settings, extensive change of wardrobe and great heartfelt acting.
The well-developed story from Eternal Sunshine is the one of the main reasons that the film won an Oscar and was nominated for so many awards. But what makes the story so good? The movie did not start out so great because I was waiting for something to happen and it seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere. Well here is another waste of 120 minutes of my life. Wait a minute. Joel wakes up one day and his girlfriend doesn’t know who he is after we witnessed 35 minutes of them meeting, this should be good. So from that point on we discover an interesting plot and the audience is with Joel all the way because we know what he knows. The story continues with a normal day of Joel going to work and he decides its not a good day to go so he detours and suddenly a girl keeps following him around. We are thinking exactly the same thing as Joel. Why? We don’t make any type of connection with the two until halfway through the movie and realize their long relationship failed and fate has brought the two back together. What a great love story, that is until his girlfriend erased him from her memory. Is that possible? Of course. The story gets better by Joel finding out her memory has been erased, so he wants Clementine erased from his memory. Sounds logical to me. In the quest to have Clementine erase from Joel’s memory, He begins to truly discover that their relationship was something special and as the surgical procedure is taking place for the second half of the movie, we are stuck within his mind trying to stop the memories for being terminated.
In the process of this memory deletion procedure, the special effect of the movie is to creatively develop a visual representation of his memories and reversing the process while asleep (see Awake). When we see a spot light from the camera we can automatically assume that a memory has been found and is will soon be deleted. So watch the camera movements at theses specific parts can show the dynamics and the process of the mind while we see a physical body present in the movie. An example would be when Joel was holding Clementine’s hand and they were running from the camera spotlight. It didn’t matter their location on screen (different parts of the world), it was all about the place in his mind, which created an even greater special effect.
In addition to the special effects of the story, the script required a very deep emotional connection to be expressed throughout the film. I believe that there was a strong connection to Joel’s character. From the beginning, we feel exactly how Joel feels and we take that emotional roller-coaster ride with him. He didn’t feel like going work, meets a weird girl that keeps trying to talk to him, he continues to avoid her, all of a sudden he feels a little at ease with her around and decides to give her a ride and they hit it off.
This is a great story about a love relationship gone sour and trying to restore it by remembering what they had in the beginning. The special effects support exactly what the story needed in order to create an environment that shows how the mind may work if memories and dreams are being tampered with.
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