Edison and Lumiere Assignment

For this 30 second piece, I decided to focus on a part of every day life in Turkey. I chose the iconic Istiklal street in the heart of Istanbul to capture movement of the public walking up and down the street as they do every day. Just like in the early Lumiere films, I documented the acts of the modern public.

In terms of cinematography, I shot the film from ground level to capture the essence of the street and put more emphasis on the legs of the hundreds of people walking. I also decided to shoot at 5pm since the natural light would be the strongest and would create strong, dynamic shadows because of the buildings and crowd of people. I felt that the shadows would create a more mysterious and dimensional atmosphere for this simple shot which added a form of depth. I was mostly inspired by the early film noir films, which used strong shadows to create a sense of suspense as well as a strong use of space.

I see my short film as a contemporary take on Lumiere’s early films because throughout the thirty seconds, you feel a sense of culture with the call to prayer as part of the mis en scene in terms of sound as well as a sense of modernity through the contemporary everyday clothing the people of Istanbul are wearing. As I shot this film, I also tried to convey a feeling of rushed city life as everyone is walking as if they have a destination or some sort of aim. The multiple characters featured in film (the woman, the man, the child) also points out a strong sense of mystery in terms of the lives of each pair of legs walking past the screen.