The Fifth Element (1997)

“Cinematic” is about  specific techniques used in motion picture. It would be Lighting, editing, score, lens, camera angel and ratio, etc. 

Those are for strong story telling to an audience. I believe all cinematic aspects are a director’s purpose to impress a plot to an audience. 

Opening title shows up with an earth in a space. And then huge spaceship shows. It tell us this movie will be about sci-fi movie and future story at least. A sound of engines makes us feel vivid. 

However the subtitle “Egypt 1914” of 2nd scene leads us to the past. A bricked temple on the desert and inside of the temple, full with pillars are spectacle visual. A kid enters the temple, and camera follows him on a dolly. A dolly is a specific tools for a cinema. 

Dolly movements shows a character’s moving who is passing through hall. Dolly is a useful equipment to make camera angle variable and it made a shot or scene vivid. Parallel, back an forth of dolly with zooming/lifter is being using by a director’s purpose.

The kids passes through hall and dolly moves from left to right. Dolly forward with zoom out to the priest holds a poison makes us focus into his expression than just close-up of his face. 

Angle is our eyes and dolly is our footsteps. We step forward what we want to look preciously. We step follow an object’s movement. An audience feel they are in the world of the movie as a witness of the scenes. Dolly movement makes the audience active participants of movie. 

As a sci-fi movie, This movie used a lots of CG: A Space, a spaceship, future cars and city. CG and real sets, real actors are combined together by editing. Cinema isn‘t live performance like an play, musical, music performance. Screening a record medium with sound is a movie. Movie is a product of editing shots, CG, special effect, visual effect and sound. 

In this movie CG, a miniature of spaceships with actors odd wardrobe, hairs and props makes us believe a future is like it. We don’t know about 2214 (300 years later from 1914), but we come to accept its world as a real world unconsciously, even if It’s not a true story. 

How amazing a spaceship on a Egypt dessert and Future city are?

Personally the most impact moments are based on cross cutting.

one example are a cuts about  An air craft lifts off, an explosion of mobs and an orgasm of a flight attendant. Without editing, it won’t give us fun and won’t describe those happened same time. 

Another example are Diva’s performance and Leeloo’s fight. Two scenes happened at different place. At the hotel room It can’t get a song of Diva. But sound editing put a Diva’s song in the fight scenes, and it’s fit to the fight action. Also Diva’s last gesture of her performance and Leeloo’s match. Editing of cut and sound can make this movie cinematic.  

Stunt performer might be a element for cinema to be cinematic I think. I don’t mean a stunt performer oneself, but editing of his/her performance with actor’s performance. 

Sophistic editing makes an audience don’t figure out using a stunt performer, and this editing makes a visual of a scene well. Musical, play can’t use stunt performer due to the character can’t be two people same time also it will destroy the performance as Art. On the contrary, editing of film makes stunt works. 

So far I told about few  devices made this movie cinematic.