Week 1 Movie Review "Paprika 2006"

Pick a scene from the list of films given and write about it

Paprika 2006

Movie Trailer.

Movie Link:     http://www.animeplus.tv/paprika-movie

Scene Analysis
The scene I quite liked was when Paprika enters Tokita's dream. In front of her is almost as if the area she is in is cracking like a wall of glass. When she touches it, the view of the street in front of her completely shatters leaving a hole into a new world. A world within a world. Paprika peers in to discover a dark derelict building/ street. She walks in through the glass like shattered wall/ door and finds stairs that lead downwards where it's so dark you can't see whats down there. She reappears in a abandoned traditional Japanese street that looks like it's been abandoned for years and has decorations around as if there was a festival. Paprika continues walking through this abandoned street and into even darker depths. She finds herself in a dark passageway and steps on a squeaky toy and looks down to see it's a doll of Tokita. The walls are covered with thousands of creepy dolls of Tokita that quickly turn their heads from side to side. Paprika looks around till a giant Roman styled statue catches her eye far above the derelict streets and building that shes in, and it's as if it's illuminated by a spot light. She recognises the statue as her co-worker Osanai. A gust of wind draws her attention away from the statue to a well/drain. She approaches the well and turns into a small fairy. She flies down into the dark abyss and finds herself in a sewer. She is blown about by gusts of wind and she finds an opening in the sewer. She goes through the opening into a dark tunnel illuminated by a golden light with tree roots knotted together and covering every surface. She progresses through the tunnel into a leaf textured cavern with large tree roots through it. Paprika flies through the cavern having a look around. She realises at one end of the cavern and she can make out a pair of eyes in the ceiling. She flies upwards through a hole in the ceiling and the viewers see that she was inside a old broken doll. Paprika is shocked as it's looks like another co-worker, Himuro, who is now just a hollow broken shell.

Characters:
Paprika is one of the main characters in the movie. She is often phrased as "the woman of your dreams" and she is exactly that. She doesn't have a physical body or exist in the real world. She is a part of Dr. Atsuko Chiba or is a dream version of Dr.Chiba. Dr. Chiba becomes Paprika for her psychotherapy treatment. Entering the dreams of patients trying to figure out the source of their depression. She does this using a piece of technology called the DC Mini. Paprika and Dr. Chiba are complete opposites, Paprika is a bubbly, fun and energetic character and nothing really seems to frighten or phase her where as Dr. Chiba is a very serious scientist who never really smiles or shows emotion. Paprika is a young woman with short red hair, dressed in casual red tshirt, three quarter length jeans and runners. Perhaps suggesting she's a laid back character. Also her name is a spice made from ground bell peppers or chili peppers which perhaps gives an insight into her fiery personality. There is also a connection between the red colour of the spice and her hair and clothes.
 Paprika  is the only character in my chosen scene. She first appears right at the beginning of the scene peering into the scattered glass like doorway. She wants to find the source of the chaotic dream that is taking over the consciousness of the person having the dream. This particular dream however belongs to a thief who stole the DC Mini and is using it as if a terrorist to merge everyone's dreams together and take over everyone's consciousness. Basically people do not wake from their dreams or run around like lunatics sleep walking and repeating sentences that make no sense.
Paprika in this scene as entered the dream of Himuro who was believed to be the terrorist but later found out he was just a victim of this collaborative dream also.
Paprika explores the dark passageway looking for clues. When she reaches the well she transforms into a little typical Disney looking fairy. She's wearing a blue ballerina tutu, has a magical wand and glittering butterfly wings. I assume she did this in order to fit down the well into the sewers and of course all this is possible inside the world of dreams. She continues exploring till she gets to the leaf textured cavern. She notices the pair of eyes which make her gasp slightly and she flies upwards through a hole in the ceiling to see where she was. She looks frightened and saddened seeing that it is the old doll that looks like Himuro. She now knows Himuro's consciousness has been completely consumed by the dream and Himuro is now just a hollow shell.

Setting:
This scene is set inside Himuro's dream. It has dark derelict looking town/ street scapes. The buildings around her are falling apart and plants are growing through them. Before she enters the shattered glass doorway it is day time, however once she enters the doorway very little light is visible and she is either indoors, outside in a wooded area or inside a doll. However, when she sees the statue of Osanai it appears to be night time. When she flies out of the Himuro doll the lighting the densely wooded area is quite bright which would make one assume it is once again day time. This scene starts at about 48:23 on the timeline. The scene takes place inside Himuro's dream so I believe the locations she explores are linked to him. The derelict town could be his home town, now destroyed like his consciousness. The creepy corridor covered in small dolls that look like Tokita are because of Himuro's connection with Tokita. They were friends and co-workers, however Himuro always felt jealous of Tokita's genius and secretly hated him. Himuro also had a hobby of making dolls to the point of obsession so his creepy corridor makes sense. Also makes sense why Himuro himself was a hollow doll in the end. The settings in this scene add to the overall scene I believe. It gives a sense of mystery, suspense and oddity that can only be found in a dream or in this case a nightmare.

Mise en scene (Visuals of Storytelling):
The use of lighting and focus is very important in the scene I have chosen to both lead the character and give a sense of tone. The dark lighting of the derelict street gives a haunting tone. The only light visible is from the direction of the stairs. The use of light in these dark scenes are essential for influencing and leading the character. There is very little light in the Tokita doll tunnel which adds to the creepy and haunting atmosphere. When Paprika notices the large statue it is clear she only notices because it is illuminated by a spot light of some kind. There is very little light visible in the sewers also which is appropriate for a sewer. The character is only led around by the gusts of wind that blow her about because of her small fairy size. The golden glow of the organic rooted tunnel entices Paprika into the next cavern. The cavern itself is beautifully illuminated with leaf like textures. Outside the cavern which we now now is a broken doll, the area is illuminated by soft sunlight in a densely wooded area which almost acts like a spot light on the doll to focus the audience attention.

Camera work:
Shot List and reasons why:

• Over Shoulder of Paprika staring at shattered door, walks over and touches it, it shatters. -> Allows the viewer to investigate this strange doorway themselves.
• Close up - Paprika peering inside doorway, walks in. -> Can see characters curiosity or reluctance to go inside because it's too dark.
• Zooms out establishing hot of the area.-> Give the audience a insight into the environment shes in.
• Panning upwards, high angle shot - Paprika going down stairs. -> Gives a sense of depth that these stairs look like they go down into a dark abyss.
• Panning downwards establishing shot - Festival decorations and street -> Makes sense since the character has walked down the stairs, also gives audience a new view of where she is.
• Fade, low angle shot - Paprika exploring. -> makes sense to bring attention to her legs or perhaps point of view of dolls?
• Close up - Paprika foot and doll. -> See what the character stood on.
• Close up, side view, low angle, over the shoulder - Paprika in creepy doll corridor. -> Gives a creepy sense to the environment shes in. Allows the audience to experience this creepy scene.
• Zoom out establishing shot - doll walls -> Allows the audience to see that there are far more creepy dolls than just the one Paprika stood on. Also to see the source of the plastic rattling sounds.
• Close up, panning right - Tokita dolls -> Closer look at these creepy dolls and how they cover every surface and how they move. Perhaps to disturb the audience sightly. 
• Low angle establishing shot - Statue -> Allows audience to see what the character has noticed.
• Close up - statue -> Allows audience to identify the statue.
• Close up - Paprika -> See Paprika confirming the identity of the statue and see her puzzled expression, why is a giant statue of Osanai there?
• Zoom in - well -> Follow the sudden gust of winds direction that originated from the well/ drain.
• Panning left - Fairy -> Paprika has transformed into a fairy and flies to the direction  of the well.
• One point perspective - Going down well/ drain -> Follow Paprika down the drain. Giving almost like a roller coaster effect.
• Establishing shot, One point perspective - Sewer -> Allows audience to figure out where the drain has led Paprika.
• Close up - fairy -> Gives a sense of suspense and mystery. 
• Point of View - Golden organic rooty tunnel -> An usual spiraling shot. Gives the audience a sense that they are flying along as f they were Paprika.  
• Panning right -Leaf textured cavern -> Gives a sense of Paprika's speed and a sense of mystery of where Paprika is now. Later allows audience to bask in the beautiful mysterious surroundings, trying to figure out along with Paprika what kind of cavern is she in.
• Point of View - eye like shapes in the ceiling. -> Can see whats in front of Paprika. Can get a glimpse of what looks like the shape of eyes.
• Close up - Paprika flies upwards -> What exactly did she see to frighten her?
• High angle - Paprika and doll -> Can see exactly what the eyes were. Shock audience with the large dolls face.
• Establishing shot - Himuro Doll. -> Allows audience to figure out and identify the doll and make sense of the whole situation.

Sound and Music:
In the scene I have chosen it mainly has sound effects and in the beginning is very quiet which gives a good creepy sense and suspense and mystery.The scene starts off with the sound of a gust of wind and the sound of shattering glass to draw Paprika's attention. As Paprika walks there are the sound of her footsteps along with the sound of wind. When she stands on the doll it makes a squeaky toy sound which draws her attention to the ground. The squeak from this doll triggers the thousands of others which make sounds almost like the sound of crickets and the buzzing of flies. Once Paprika notices the statue there is very quiet and subtle music that sounds a bit haunting. This continues till the end of the scene. When Paprika turns into a fairy there is a typical glittery magic sound which is appropriate for a fairy. As she flies along she makes a little zooming sound. When she gets to the golden tunnel the background creepy music picks up and gets louder. Once in the cavern the music becomes mixed with a static/ electric sound. This increases the expectation that something sinister or creepy may happen and towards the end of the scene the static sound slightly drowns out the music. There are also the sounds of the character herself such as dialogue and gasps.


In general this scene appealed to me the most mainly because I was unable to predict what would happen next. I like how every door Paprika walked through led to entirely new world or environment each with dramatic visuals and textures and the use of light really influenced the tone. I was also quite surprised by the end of the scene but it allowed me to piece everything I've seen together to make sense of the scene. This film also reminds me a lot of the film "Inception", they are both very similar but I prefer Paprika!