Betsy’s Blog

Sin City is a visual feast! Despite my general preference for reading a book over seeing a film “translation” of said book, I’ve come to appreciate the multimodal system a film possesses and transmits. Each “frame”, as if a paragraph or description in a book, represents and communicates a multiplicity of meanings. In much the same way that a reader of a book can “get inside the heads of” characters, so to speak (through different types of narrative voices–1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person omniscient narrator, etc.) so too does this film allow the audience to enter into the minds of the characters and participate in the plot/action of the story in a way that the characters themselves are not aware of. And yet, unlike a book, there are additional modes (visual, audio, etc.) and materials utilized, as well. In this case, however, the film served as a “translation” of a specific type of multimodal source–the comic book. The use of black and white with the occasional splashes of color reminded me of the movie, Pleasantville , in which we are also seemingly suspended between reality and fantasy. This was a successful technique in staying true in a way to the form of the comic book. I was curious about how this technique was conveyed and so I looked on Wikipedia, and learned that this technique is called “digital backlot.” Basically, the film is shot in front of a green screen so that artifical backgrounds can be added later. This technique enhances the disconnect between the characters and their environment–making even blood and rain appear unreal. Perhaps New Age cinema in the sense that it takes a dated film genre, the noir, and transforms it into an contemporary rendition in with ideas that transcend time periods.