Film Studies

The film is based on the story of the origin of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament located in Dublin, Ireland. It also draws upon Celtic mythology, like the Crom Cruach, a pre-Christian Irish deity and the reference to the poetic genre ofAislings, in which a poet is confronted by a dream or vision of a seeress, in the naming of the forest sprite encountered by Brendan. The artists brought emphasis to the allusions by making the settings in the movie look like the illustrations of nature found in Celtic manuscripts of jewelry that have come to life.

The low camera angles , Wesley/Pirate Roberts is shot from, emphasizes his dominance and fits well with his current role as the “kidnapper- type-oppressor” of Princess Buttercup. Princess Buttercup is captured predominantly from high angles or straight on during for the scene as a device to convey emotion as well as physiologically emphasize her current position as the “kidnapped”, delicate and dainty victim. Both the high and low camera angles leave a large amount of background visible. The uneven hillside the background represents the division and passionate aggression of the main characters. Buttercup is only shot from a high angle when she becomes an aggressor. The angle renders her slightly more ominous and taller as she pushes her “kidnapper”. When Wesley/Roberts enlightens who he is to Buttercup, resolving the divide between them, we then see them on flat surface in a high angle/nearly overhead shot in unison signifying the change in their relationship and from this point begin being shot at high or low angles to show togetherness rather than division.

Light is slightly expressionist and theatrical which works really well with the story. When on stage the magicians are generally lit from above and light beams keeps moving around all over the magicians and the audience (during the final show light beams are bigger and work as blue-contrasty-back lights for characters), while all kind of lights on the stage keep turning on and off continuously, creating a very appropriate show effect. When not on stage, the magicians are still lit with a light that has a kind of magic and an atmosphere which reminds the one of a show: natural light sources are used (like windows for example) but they are exaggerated or diffused with smoke, achieving an unnatural effect; moreover, anamorphic lenses are used producing, when a back light is framed, the typical lineal flare crossing the frame from side to side; these constant and bluish flares remind the light beams used in shows: very good and clever way to highlight the fact that the four magicians are not making tricks just on stage