My favorite movie is “The Legend of 1900”. This is a great and amazing movie. The characters, storyline, shooting style, and sound recording are all perfect. The first shot of this film uses a wide shot. It shows the character Max and surrounding environment which consists of a very long staircase. The wide shot can give audiences a basic idea first, such as what the story is about and who the character is. The film begins with Max’s voiceover, “I still ask myself if I did the right thing when I abandoned his floating city, and I don’t mean only for the work, fact is, a friend like that a real friend, you won’t meet again, if you just decide to hang up your sea legs, if you just want to feel something more solid beneath your feet, and if then you no longer hear the music of the gods around you. But like he used to say, you are never really done for as long as you got a good story and someone to tell it to.” Through this narration, Max points out the basic theme of this film. For example, it shows who that real friend is, what that music is like and what kind of story he has. This narration helps audiences to enter the story very quickly. And I really like this narration. Max is just like a storyteller in this movie. He also narrates the whole story through the whole movie. He is just like a thin line that connects the story with the past and the present. With his narration, the shot proceeds to the medium long shot, medium shot, and then followed by medium close-up. The light usage is very skillful in the beginning. The light is only illuminated on the Max. His surrounding environment is almost in dark. Therefore people can concentrate on Max. The background music is soft and tranquil piano music which reflects the theme of this film, a story about piano.
After Max’s narration, the frame switches back to the beginning of the story, a boat which goes to America. This is also the main setting of this film. The director uses wide shot here. Therefore you can see everyone’s actions in the boat. The Max’s voiceover still comes with the moving of the shots. Then, there is a man who sees the statue of liberty first, the camera shots from wide shot to close-up, then to extreme close-up very slowly. Finally, it only shoots this man’s eyes, and the New York scenes are reflected in his eyes. I really like this shot, because it shows New York scenes from a man’s eyes are very novel and beautiful, it is like a mirage in people’s mind. At this time, the director uses a very passionate music. This kind of music represents people’s emotions at that time, which show their excitement, happiness, and hopefulness.
The director uses various shots in the beginning of this film. The different shots can help audiences to see the characters and story broader and deeply. Audiences can know and realize characters’ changes and reactions from different shots. Different shots also can make different visual effects. For example, wide shot could show the whole surrounding environment, close-up can emphasize the subject’s shape and reactions. The director chose Max’s voiceover to open and then back to the beginning of the story. This could raise the audiences’ curiosity. They would think about why Max would sit here alone, what happened to him, or something like that. Overall, the director introduces the background, main setting and main characters in the opening scene.
After watching the opening scene, I really want to know the whole story about these characters. I also want to know real ending of this story. It is a movie I really want to keep watch. The music is another highlight in this movie. I want to listen to more beautiful piano music through this film and I really listened to it after I watched the whole movie. The director chose saturated and warm color style to this film. It is just reflecting the tones of this movie, warm but a little bit sad. I have watched this movie for five times until now. I think this is a really beautiful and amazing movie. The color, sound recording, and shooting style are very good.
