1 ysh teaching young sherlock holmes. 2 teaching young sherlock holmes 1.holmes and detective...

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ysh

Teaching

Young Sherlock Holmes

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Teaching Young Sherlock Holmes

1. Holmes and Detective Fiction

2. Young Sherlock Holmes -Production History

3. Category and Genre - generic hybrid; tone

4. Narrative - two narratives, plot and story, narrative structure

5. Language - mise en scene, cinematography, editing, sound

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1. Holmes and Detective Fiction

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17th C. growth of journalism - broadsheets would be rushed out after major crime or execution

Holmes and Detective Fiction

although writing about crime been going on a long time, genre really took off in 19th century

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Detective fiction given boost by real life detective: Eugene Francois Vidocq

Former criminal, became police informer, finally policeman

Founded the Sûreté - first professional police force in France

Gerard Depardieu as Vidocq


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Innovator - card-index records; introduced police to ballistics

Master of disguise (as is Holmes) and surveillance

Set up first private detective agency

Published his (unreliable) memoirs which influenced subsequent crime fiction


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Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49), Poet and novelist

Drew on Vidocq’s memoirs and created “tales of ratiocination “and brilliant detective Auguste Dupin (eg “Murders in the Rue Morgue”)

Highly intelligent gentleman crime-solver, tackling crime police unable to solve Conan Doyle great admirer (even if Holmes not!)


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Born Edinburgh 1859, studied medicine in Edinburgh University where he started writing

Holmes thought to be partly based on Professor Joseph Bell, known for his ability to observe patients and deduce facts about with amazing accuracy

First significant work, novel “A Study in Scarlet”

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Wrote four novels and fifty-six Holmes short stories. All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr John H. Watson.

Grew tremendously in popularity when started to appear in Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared until 1927.

Stories cover a period from around 1878 up to 1907, with final case in 1914.


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What Holmes shares with general corpus of detective fiction.

Detective story defined as “a novel or short story in which a crime, usually a murder – the identity of perpetrator unknown – solved by a detective through a logical assembling and interpretation of palpable evidence, known as clues.” *

Good detective story generally follows six “unwritten rules” :

* Hugh Holman “A Handbook to Literature”

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The Good Detective Story

1 Crime must be significant, worthy of the attention it

receives

2. Detective must be in some way a memorable

character -must be very intelligent, clever and observant.

Should -also stand out because of some individual style,

eg -eccentricity of dress or speech.

3. Must be an outstanding opponent, a criminal

clever

enough to be a match for the hero.

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The Good Detective Story cont

4. Because large part of the attraction of genre is

opportunity for the reader to try to figure out the

solution along with the detective, all suspects must

be introduced early.

5. All clues detective discovers must be made

available to reader as well as detective.

6. Solution must seem obvious, logical, possible – not

result of accident or supernatural causes; and

detective must be able to explain all aspects in

reasonable way.

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Useful to get pupils to apply these rules to Holmes stories

Does it work for “The Speckled Band”?

Does it work for other Holmes stories?

Does it work for Young Sherlock Holmes?

Effective exercise

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Repertoire of elements?

Term usually associated with film genres but can be applied to genre prose fiction

Perhaps can even say there is a Sherlock Holmes genre


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Popular image of Holmes combination of Conan Doyle and number of illustrators, esp Sydney Paget in Strand Magazine.


Stage adaptation anchored Holmes image in popular imagination where has remained

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The ‘corpus’ of genre consists of works of Arthur Conan Doyle, ie “the canon” (Conan?)

But might also be said to consist of works emanating from canon to include

• stage plays - particularly important in establishment of Holmes image in public imagination• adaptations (film and TV)• pastiche works• graphic novels


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Holmes Genre: Repertoire of Elements

• Holmes props:Deerstalker, Inverness cloak,

Meerschaum pipe, magnifying class, scientific

instruments,

•“Catch-phrases”:

“The game is afoot”;”Elementary, my dear Watson” (exact words not used in Conan Doyle)’ “You look but you do not see”

Genre

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Holmes Genre: Repertoire of elements

• Holmes’s use of disguise (eg “A Scandal in Bohemia”)

• No interest in women (apart from Irene Adler)

• Holmes’s powers of observation and deduction

eg in “The Speckled Band” - able to work out details of Helen Stoner’s journey that morning from a ticket and mud-splashes on her clothes

Genre

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Holmes Genre: Repertoire of elements

Recurring characters:

• Professor Moriarty - arch-nemesis• Inspector Lestrade (wants Holmes help but

tries to take credit)• Baker Street Irregulars - street urchins

who do odd jobs for Holmes (eg “A Study in

Scarlet”)• Brother Mycroft

Genre

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Examples of adaptations

Basil Rathbone films of 1940s


ITV series with Jeremy Brett (1970s)

Tended to be reasonably faithful to original models though Rathbone films often switched settings to 1940 (eg wartime exploits against nazis)

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Not just in English-speaking world:

Russian television produced adapations from 1979 - 1986with Vasily Ivanov


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“"It is cocaine," he said, "a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?” Holmes to Watson in “The Sign of Four”

Nicol Williamson as Sherlock Holmes, Robert Duvall as Watson, and Alan Arkin as Dr. Sigmund Freud. Laurence Olivier played the brief role of Professor Moriarty.

Many films used Sherlock Holmes myth for newworks - either straight or pastiche or parody

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (d. Herbert Ross) based on novel by Nicholas Meyer. Pastiche of Sherlock Holmes adventure, focusing on Holmes’s drug addiction

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Celebrated German director Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1968) with Robert Stephens which speculated about Holmes’s ambiguous sexuality

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.

Latest example in post-production (WB)

Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie

Based on Lionel Wigram’s graphic novel (not published yet)

Watson played by Jude Law

Holmes played by Robert Downie Junior

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Young Sherlock Holmes and Holmes Genre will be considered in Section 3

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2.Young Sherlock Holmes Production History

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2.Young Sherlock Holmes Production History

Released USA 1985

Rleeased UK (as Young Sherlock Holmes and the Secret of the Pyramid) March 1986

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Directed by Barry Levinson (1942 - )

Films include:

Diner (1982)The Natural (1984) Good Morning,Vietnam (1987) Rain Man (1988) (Oscar for Best

Director)Bugsy (1991)Wag the Dog (1997)Toys (1992),

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Original script by Chris Columbus (1958 - )

Films include:

Home Alone (1990) (director)Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone(2001) (producer-director) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets(2002)(producer-director) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(2004) (producer)

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Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

• Amblin Entertainment

• Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)

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Paramount Pictures

One of traditional “Big Five” Hollywood StudiosSubsequently involved in distribution and finance Rather than production

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Amblin Entertainment

Founded in 1981 by Steven Spielberg and associates Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy.

Produces but does not distribute films

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Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)

Visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and owned by Lucasfilm.

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CGI in YSH impressive given the date of the

film.

Supplied by George Lucas’s Industral Light

and Magic company which developed the

effects for films such as Star Wars.

YSH was the first film to use a CGI that

actually interacted with the characters on

screen.


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Language

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Executive Producer suggests overseeing rather than hands-on role

Spielberg had just finished Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) )

Notable influence on Young Sherlock Holmes-see section on genre

-Modest box office (not much more than costs - c. $18 million)

But posthumous life on video/DVD

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Certification

USA: PG-13

UK: PG

Could producers have toned down more frightening scenes (eg Elizabeth about o be mummified)?

Same problem with Indiana Jones films

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3. Genre and Other Categorisations

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Genre

Genre most important

aspect of film

categorisation

Based on similarities

in the narrative and

other elements from

which films

constructed.

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Genre

Films usually categorized in terms of genre according to their

• setting: eg western

• theme or topic or mood eg horror

• audience eg teenpic, chickflick

• protagonist’s occupation eg gangster

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GenreIconography - repeated visual (and sound)

motifs associated with a genre

eg western - desert, rugged landscape, frontier town,horses, stagecoaches

eg gothic horror - gloomy gothic castle, garlic, inn with locals crossing themselves at the name of the vampire

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Genre

Iconography - repeated visual (and sound) motifs associated with a genre

eg sci-fi - gleaming meallic surfaces, advanced technology, aliens

eg gangster - backstreet urban setting, bars and clubs (speakeasys), weapons, sharp clothes (for top brass)

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Genres never “pure”, even in early cinemaEg “singing cowboy” films combined western + musical

“generic hybrids”

But became more common post 1970s

eg Blade Runner : scifi + film noir

eg Star Wars: scifi + action-adventure

eg Prizzi’s Honor : gangster + screwball comedy

Genre

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Young Sherlock Holmes a hybrid of different genres.

• detective genre

• action-adventure genre

Action-adventure itself a hybrid of action and adventure

Genre

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Action film

Usually include spectacle, high energy, physical stunts and chases, rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), non-stop motion

Often two-dimensional heroes (“goodies”) battling villains (“baddies’) - all designed for pure audience escapism.

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Action

Die-Hard films

Lethal Weapon

Examples:

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Action

Often combine with other generic elements such as police-procedural, espionage, war

eg James Bond 'fantasy' spy/espionage series, martial arts films, and so-called blaxploitation films.

The disaster film (eg Towering Inferno) might be classified as an action film

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Action

Clip “Bond, James Bond”/”Holmes, Sherlock Holmes

“

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Adventure

Considerable overlap in that adventure

films also action films but usually have

new experiences or exotic settings.

Can include traditional swashbucklers,

serialised films, and historical spectacles,

searches or expeditions for lost

continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics,

treasure hunts, disaster films, or searches

for the unknown.

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Adventureeg

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Adventure

Exotic locations usually mean some far-off

country where things are different from what

the audience is used to

Resolution usually involves large-scale action,

buildings destroyed etc

Usually appeal to a younger demographic that

straightforward action films

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Action-Adventure

Most successful example of genre in recent years

Significant influence on Young Sherlock Holmes

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Genre

. Other main genre strand of Young Sherlock Holmes - detective film (often overlapping with suspense, thriller or mystery films)

Focus on the unsolved crime (often murder, theft, blackmail or disappearance of one or more of the characters, or a theft),

The detective film

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Genre

.

Focus on central character - detective-hero (either a policeman or a private investigator) who faces various adventures and challenges in cold and methodical pursuit of the criminal or the solution to crime

The detective film

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Genre

Plot often centers on the deductive ability, prowess, confidence, or diligence of the detective as he/she attempts to unravel the crime or situation by piecing together clues and circumstances, seeking evidence, interrogating witnesses, and tracking down a criminal.

Detective

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Genre

Detective films emphasize the detective solving the crime through clues and exceptional rational powers.

Detective

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Genre

The detective studies intriguing reasons and events leading to crime

- eventually determines the identity of villain

- a murderer, a master spy, an arch fiend, an unseen evil, or a malignant psychological force).

Detective

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Genre

Genre has ranged from early mystery tales, fictional or literary detective stories, to classic Hitchcockian suspense-thrillers to classic private detective films and films noirs.

Detective

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•The 39 Steps (1935)•The Maltese Falcon (1941)•Maigret voit rouge/Maigret Sees Red (1963)•Marlowe (1969)

Genre - Detective

•Klute (1971) •Death on the Nile (1978) •Blade Runner (1982)•Dick Tracy (1990)•Lone Star (1996)

Some notable examples

Most based on detective novels

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In addition to the action-adventure and the detective elements, other genres make an appearance in Young Sherlock Holmes

• Romance - the Holmes-Elizabeth relationship

• Public school genre eg Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1951)

Genre

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Overlap between detective and action-adventure

detective genre put more emphasis on detection -

• investigation (amassing of clues)• forensics (using science to solve crimes) etc.• logical deduction

•Action-adventure emphasis on derring-do

Genre

Detective

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YSH and detective genre

• Holmes establishes link early on between dead men

Genre

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Using forensics (chemistry), able to find origin of material worn by hooded figure - leads to warehouse in docks area and discovery of Rame Tep temple

Genre


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Intuition as well as deduction from evidence

- cut on face reminds him of ring with Rame Tep symbol worn by Rathe) - leads him to identity of villain

Clip

Genre


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Genre


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•In detective genre, resolution (see section on Narrative) through deduction

Resolution to narrative not discovery of the criminals (“who done it?”) but confrontation with cult and final duel with Rathe EhTar

ie through action

Clip

Genre

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Genre

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Exotic locale a feature of action-adventure

However, in Young Sherlock Holmes exotic is found close to home: the Rame Tep temple in . . . Wapping, East London

Setting is exoticised

Genre

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Mise en scene - chanting sect members with shaven heads and eastern dress; torches, animal heads etc

(Will be developed further in Language section)

Clip

Genre

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Final battle brings down whole temple

Holmes saved at last minute by Watson’s ingenuity

Final confrontation with Rathe

Resolution of YSH’’s narrative therefore more typical action-adventure than detective

Genre

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In detective genre, sometimes violence but minor key. Action-adventure however tends to ends with large-scale set-piece

Compare climactic scene in Young Sherlock Homes with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

clip

Genre

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Clips from Indiana Jones and from Young Sherlock Holmes

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How are the ‘repertoire of elements” deployed in Young Sherlock Holmes?

Props:

Deerstalker, Inverness cape and Meerschaum pipe

Holmes Genre

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Holmes GenreCharacters

Lestrade shown as a younger detective - later (in theConan Doyle canon) brings in Holmes to help - and tries to claim the claim credit - as Lestrade does in YSH

Mycroft Holmes referenced - when Holmes is expelled

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Holmes Genre

• Catch-phrases: “Elementary, my dear Watson”

Waxflatter says, “Elementary, my dear Holmes”

•“The game is afoot!”Holmes says for first time when he is solving the mystery of the missing trophy

•“You look but you do not see”Young Holmes says to young Watson

Repertoire of elements

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Holmes Genre: Repertoire of Elements

Narrative: 3-part structure

1. case brought to Holmes’s attention2. Holmes investigates 3. Holmes unmasks culprit.

First person narration (by Watson), including coda where Watson asks Holmes to explain how he arrived at conclusions

Genre

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Watson narration an important feature of stories: in Young Sherlock Holmes, this done by (older) Watson’s voiceovers - Watson voiceover used throughout film for comment and exposition

Narrative coda (explanation of how Holmes arrived at conclusions) done with a mixture of dialogue and voiceover

Clip

Holmes Genre

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Holmes Genre

Useful exercise when watching film

Get pupils to make a brief note when element from the repertoire makes an appearance (more able)

Or provide a list and ask pupils to tick off as they watch film (less able)

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Excitement - flying machine heading for Wapping

CLIP

Suspense - will Elizabeth be mummified?

Romance - Holmes and Elizabeth (tragic romance - as Elisabeth dies)

Other Categories: Tone

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Waxflatter’s attempts to get machine to fly

- ends in failure each time

Almost a “running gag“ (ie a joke, situation or line that is repeated several times, each time the comedy being reinforced by memory of the previous occurrence)

Clip

Categories: Tone

Comedy

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Comedy

Graveyard scene - food attacking Watson

Example of “tonal shift” ie, sudden change in tone -in this case from excitement/suspense to (almost slapstick) comedy

-Does it work? Does the comedy detract from the suspense?

CLIP

Categories: Tone

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• The two narratives

• Plot and story

• Narrative Structure (Todorov)

• Narrative Closure

• Other aspects of narrative

4. Narrative

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Two narratives

2. Narrative

RAME TEP narrative:

Murder of Bobster, Rev. Duncan Nesbit, Waxflatter

SCHOOL narrative:

lessons, rivalries, romance etc

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Two narratives

However, connections made between two narratives

Mysterious visitor (we learn later is Cragwitch, one of group being targeted by sect)

Mysterious hooded figure with jangling bracelet - appears in school library and school grounds

Narrative

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At first kept (more or less) separate and

merged into one after Waxflatter’s death and

Holmes’s (subversive) return to Brompton

Preceded by Watson’s v/o about Holmes’s

triumph in his bet with Dudley:

Clip

Narrative: two narratives

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Plot and story

Narrative

Story = all the events we see and hear, plus all those we infer or assume to have occurred, arranged in chronological order,

Plot =the way these events presented to the audience.

In plot, story elements might be in completely different order

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Plot and story

Narrative

STORY

Inferredevents

Explicitly presented events

Added nondiegeticmaterial

PLOT

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Plot and story

Narrative

“A murder has been committed. That is, we know the effect but not the causes - the killer, the motive, perhaps also the method. The mystery tale depends strongly on curiosity, our desire to know events that have occurred before the plot action begins. It is the detective's job to disclose, at the end, the missing causes-to name the killer, explain the motive, and reveal the method.

That is, in the detective film the climax of the plot line (the action that we see) is a revelation of prior incidents in the story (events which we do not see)” from “Film Art” (Bordwell & Thomson)

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Plot and story

Narrative

(a)crime conceived

(b)Crime planned

(c) crime committed

(d)Crime discovered

(e)Detective investigates

(f) Detective reveals a, b and

c

STORY

PLOT

Bordwell &Thomson, Film Art p67

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Plot and story

Narrative

(a) Egyptian village burned down and protesting villagers killed by army protecting group of investors who desecrated sacred site.

(b) Rame Tep sect swear revenge - send (Anglo-Egyptian) Eh Tar to England to seek revenge.When they grow up, he and sister employed at Bromton (where Waxflatter - one of investors - based).

(c) Attacks on members of investors group leading to deaths.

(d) Holmes suspicious about ‘suicides’ - investigates - discovers sect, tracks down to their temple.

(e) locates Cragwitch (mysterious visitor to Waxflatter); discovers the story behind sect and their revenge.

(f) discovers Rathe’s role; causes temple to burn down. Defeats Rathe/Ethar but Elisabeth killed

PLOT

STORY

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Narrative structure: Todorov model

Most common narrative structure in mainstream texts as analysed by Todorov

1 Equilibrium (state of normality)

2 Disruption - event that kicks off narrative

3 Resolution - moment when conflicting

forces fight key battle

4 Return to equilibrium - new state of

normality

Narrative

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Narrative structure: Todorov model

Narrative

Watson arrives at Brompton, meets Holmes; normal life of the school (lessons, rivalry, romance, etc

Equilibrium

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Disruption

Attacks on members of the group leading to deaths

Frequently, disruption is intimated before equilibrium has chance to be established so film opens with attack on and death of the banker Bobster

Narrative

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Resolution

Climax in Rame Tep temple in Wapping - destruction of temple, Holmes defeats Rathe/Eh Tar; Elizabeth killed

Narrative

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Return to Equilibrium

• Rame Tep defeated

• Holmes’s life without Elizabeth

• Vows never to marry

• Leaves Bromton

Narrative

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Individual narratives within the overarching

narrative

Eg Watson has his own narrative and own

“new equilibrium’’

Narrative

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[Make a montage of w at start and w at end]

Narrative

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Narrative closure

Tying up of loose ends, bringing narrative to

clear conclusion

Traditional in mainstream films but left open

for sequel potential

Cf Watson’s final voice-over:

“.. I was ready for whatever mystery or danger that

lay ahead. I was ready to take on the greatest and

most exciting adventure of them all and I knew it was

bound to involve Sherlock Holmes”

Narrative

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Narrative closure - also post-credit ending

Rathe/Eh Tar manages to survive - and

become the arch nemesis of adult Holmes

-Professor Moriarty, the “Napoleon of crime”

Narrative

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Other aspect of narrative: repetition and parallels help structure the narrative

Narrative

‘The rule of three’

Certain events in the film occur three times, usually with an important variation each time

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•Three fencing duels with Rathe/Eh Tar

•Three attempts to fly machine

• Three confrontations with Lestrade

Narrative

The rule of three

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Three fencing duels with Rathe/Eh Tar

• First time Holmes loses - Rathe teaches him about the need not to let emotions interfere

• Second time their match is declared a draw as Holmes was distracted by sunlight reflected on Rathe’s ring.

•Third time Holmes is victorious

Narrative

The rule of three

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Three attempts to launch Waxflatter’s flying machine (ie onscreen attempts - preceded by six others!)

The first two end in failure but Holmes successful the third time - able to follow Rathe, who is driving coach and horses with Elizabeth tied up, back to Rame Tep temple in Wapping

Cf Slide 50

Narrative

The “rule of three”

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Three times Lestrade dismisses Holmes’s suspicions about the case.

1. When Holmes suggests there is a connection between the victims of the attacks (29.12)

2. When Waxflatter’s dying words to Holmes make Holmes realise Waxflatter’s death is connected with the others. Lestrade will have none of it. (38.49)

3. When they are taken to Scotland Yard after graveyard fracas where Lestrade refuses to have thorns analysed and throws them out. However, a thorn pierces Lestrade’s hand which will have consequences later. (1.01 53)

Narrative “The rule of three”

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Three (apparent) suicides

• Bentley Bobster

• Rev. Duncan Nesbit

• Professor Waxflatter

Narrative

“The rule of three”

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Narrative Parallels

Watson arriving at Bromton by coach at the start

Holmes leaving Bromton by coach by the end

A number of parallels also structure the film and make it hang together:

CLIP

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Narrative Parallels

Holmes is leaving Bromton, having been expelled. As he leaves, Elizabeth writes” I LOVE YOU” on the window pane

Holmes is leaving Bromton at the end. Holmes looks up at the same windowbut Elizabeth is dead

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Narrative Parallels

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Narrative Parallels

Holmes solves the case of the missing trophy in the first half of the film

Holmes solves the case of the mystery suicides and the Rame Tep cult in the second half of the film

Foreshadowing

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• Mise en scene • Cinematography

• Editing • Sound

5. Language

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Mise en scene - setting, props, lighting, blocking

etc

Cinematography - camera angle, camera distance, camera movement; framing

Editing - pace and rhythm of editing; transitions

Sound - diegetic and non-diegetic-particularly music: Bruce Brougham’s score structured in leitmotifs - particular themes for characters, locations and situations)

Language

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- kind of clothing, transport, decoration etc tells us we are in the nineteenth century.

Language - mise en scene

Mise en scene - important in historical film to create a convincing “diegesis” (story world)

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The mise en scene of Brompton - wooden panels, gothic architecture


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Within Bromton, mise en scene in Waxflatter’s quarters suggests something very scientific

– not twentieth century scientific with white lab coats and shiny surfaces, but nineteenth century scientific, with tubes and jars and exotic-looking early scientific instruments. (cf Frankenstein)


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Contrast with Bromton mise en scene in the Egyptian tavern, with its oriental atmosphere created by characters’ clothing, musical instruments etc.


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Contrast even more pronounced between church where the priest receives the poison dart and Rame Tep temple

Mise en scene of the church– very traditionally English (or Western European)


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Church contrasts with the mise en scene in the Rame Tep temple

-connotes ancient Egyptian, with the sarcophagus, the candle–lit chandeliers, the pillars, carvings, costumes (and haircuts) of the sect members and priest

Mise en scene essential for essential exoticism of Rame Tep, essential for action-adventure aspect of generic hybrid

Clips


21.31 - 22.00 diss to 54.45 - 55.15

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Language

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Mise en scene - lighting and shadow

Hooded figure effectively portrayed by use of

light and shadow - combined with other

elements such as music

CLIP


123

Language

Cinematography - camera angle

Film follows traditional practice of using low camera angle to connote power or nobility and high camera angle to connote vulnerability

Holmes’s winning Dudley’s challenge (to find school trophy) – confidence indicated by low-angled shots as he takes up challenge (23.49)

“The game is afoot!”

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Language - Cinematography

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Later, as he walks towards common room –

even if time almost run out. (26.31). Soon

after, more extreme low angle at his moment

of triumph where the whole school cheering

for him. (27.23)

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Language

127


Another extremely low angle used when

becoming clear that Rathe is a villain. After

Elizabeth’s fight with Mrs Dribb, Rathe comes

into the room, Elizabeth appeals to him and

he replies, “So, my dear, you have

discovered our little secret” (1.15.13)


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129


Cinematography - framing:

“dutch angle” - use of canted frame to indicate that not all is right with the world:

a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed.

A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame

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Dutch angle 1 - occurs in pre-title sequence

involving Bobster (a banker, one of the group

of investors targeted by the Rame Tep cult)

Very marked dutch angle indicates extreme

psychological state which makes him, a short

time later, jump out of a building to his death

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132


Dutch angle 2 - Used during Rathe and

Holmes’s friendly duel before Holmes due to

leave Brompton after being expelled.

Perhaps dutch angle suggests that things not

always as they seem and foreshadow Rathe’s

real identity

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Language

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Language

Editing

Two aspects:

•TRANSITIONS • RHYTHM

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Language: Editing

Rhythm one of the essential features of

film - decisively contributes to mood and

overall impression on the spectator.

Rhythm of editing - change in rate of

cutting (ie moving from longer takes to

shorter takes when need for more action,

energy)

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Language: Editing

Transitions

Refers to how editing joins two film clips

Vast majority of transitions are cuts - we tend not to perceive them except in being aware of rate of editing etc

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Language: Editing

Transitions

Other main transitions:

• Fade (in/out)

• Dissolve

- Less common:

• wipe• iris

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Language: Editing - Transitions

Fade (in/out)

Traditionally, films use fades to begin the film (fade-in or fade from black) or to end it (fade-out or fade to black)

Within film, fade used to separate parts of film (like chapters in a novel) and usually means some time has elapsed

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Fade and Dissolves

Note from clip from Vertigo (Hitchcock 1961)Starts with fade, punctuates shorter scenes with dissolves (usually indicating time has passed and/or change of place)

Ends with fade out, indicating a longer pause, almost like chapter marker in book

Clip

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Fade (in/out)

YSH uses fade-in/fade out to begin film and

first post-credit sequence.

However, does not fade out at end: surprise

post-credit scene revealing Rathe/Eh Tar has

survived and is Moriarty (Holmes’s nemesis)

doesn’t fade to black but cuts to black -

reinforcing shock

Clip

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However, fades less common in recent times and Young Sherlock Holmes has very few fades or dissolves - favouring instead (abrupt) cuts to shift from one scene/sequence to another - perhaps a way of imbuing film with greaterenergy

In this sequence we go from street to curio shop to street to Egyptian tavern to Bromton library using only cuts

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Dissolve:

Transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the second image gradually appears; for a moment the two images blend in superimposition.

Used as an alternative to a fade in/out, often used to suggest short time lapse (eg someone entering building - series of dissolves links various locations, cutting out “dead” time)

Can also be used to go from waking state to dream state, or from present to flash-back

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Like fade-in/fade out, dissolves in YSL are

used sparingly, usually to indicate a (short) shift

in time and space

Here, we dissolve from the hooded figure climbing over the wall of the school grounds (returning after being chased by Elizabeth’s dog) to inside the church where she is going next

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Wipe: transition between shots in which a line passes across screen, eliminating the first shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one.

Mostly these horizontal (left to right or right to Left); occasionally from both ends towards centre;

Sometimes wipe goes diagonally across screen.

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Wipe very noticeable and dynamic transition

Often suggest a brief temporal ellipsis and direct connection between the two images

Usually employed in action or adventure (or action-adventure) films.

eg Star Wars (despite its setting etc, can be seen as much action-adventure as scifi)

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Wipes

Young Sherlock Holmes uses on a few

occasions, particularly in the second half

where action-adventure becomes more

dominant genre

First example a diagonal wipe

Next one a vertical wipe but coming from

both ends of frame

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147

Language: Editing

. Cross-cutting or parallel editing

Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously.

Two actions are therefore linked, associating the characters from both lines of action.

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Language: Sound

. Two broad categorisations of sound in film:

• diegetic sound - sound coming directly from story (if

characters can hear it is diegetic sound) • non-diegetic sound

- sound added to create atmosphere, anchor a particular mood etc (characters cannot hear non-

diegetic sound)

Young Sherlock Holmes employs both;

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Language: Sound

Diegetic.

Most significant diegetic sound - tinkle from bracelet of hooded figure (actually “Mrs Dribbs”)

Becomes a sort of leitmotif, alerting us to her presence imminence of a deadly attack eg in outside restaurant at start of film

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150

Language: Sound

.

Distinction between diegetic/non-diegetic usually fairly straightforward but Young Sherlock Holmes also used internal diegetic sound

ie sound that comes from the story but only one character can hear because it activated by memory - ie sounds that actually happened within the story (even if decades before!)

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Language: Sound

. Cragwitch remembers the burning of the Egyptian village, the bullets, the explosions, the screams

However, it is not audible by other characters and operates in a similar way to non-diegetic sound - ie to create an atmosphere

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152

Language: Sound

. Music in YSH

Main aspect of non-diegetic sound: music

Bruce Brougham’s score organised in leitmotifs relating to character and situation

'Main Title’ - opens with lively flute melody - acts as recurring leitmotif for Holmes throughout the score, characterising his lust for adventure, indomitable spirit and inquisitive mind.

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Sound

. Main theme very adaptable. By adding simple orchestral effects, or by a change in instrumentation, Broughton able to make his central melody convey multiple moods -

• youthfully ebullient strings of 'Fencing Lesson’

• playful multiple settings of 'Solving the Crime’

• spine-tingling heroism of 'It's Rathe!' - theme is re-orchestrated to act as an action fanfare.

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Sound

. 'Secret Ceremony' - large choral ostinato (continually

repeated musical phrase or rhythm) that appears

during Rame Tep ceremony

Cf Orff's “Carmina Burana”; John Williams' thuggee

music from Indiana Jones and the Temple of

Doom -

deep and sinister connoting sect’s murderous intent

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Sound

. Leitmotif cleverly carried over into the following two cues, 'Chase/Crypt/Pastries/You're A Hallucination’

- Holmes and Watson are pursued into a graveyard by cult's shaven-headed devotees

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Sound

. 'India/The Letterhead', as Holmes finally realises the identity of the RameTep's high priest is Rathe

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Sound

. Other important musical themes:

"flying" theme heard during 'Waxflatter's First

Flight' and 'Another Failed Flight’

- depicting ill-fated efforts of the eccentric

professor to take to the air.

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Sound

. Romantic motif for Holmes and Elizabeth 'Library Love', 'Elizabeth in the Courtyard' and 'Love Theme'

- depicts nature of their relationship: chaste and honourable, full of tenderness.

Orchestrated more tragically for Elizabeth’s death scene

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.

Teaching Young Sherlock Holmes

[email protected]

www.desmurphy.com

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http://www.desmurphy.com/



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