This film starts with a “cheerful” animation of elves singing and dancing with animals and flowers. It was supposed to be cheerful animation, yet to me, it seemed creepy because the animals were not as cute as Disney animals, flowers had mouths but no eyes, and the elves looked like creepy dolls just like in horror films like “Dead Silence” and it became more creepy when the cheerful animation stopped and dissolved into a grave yard shot, and the narrator started explaining that it was not the type of movie we were about to watch.
When the narrator starts introducing the three orphans, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. The first shot looked similar to the painting “Persistence of Memory” by surrealist painter Salvador Dali. In each shot, one of them was in a barren field surrounded by a body of water with a few dead trees. It was expressing the loneliness of the children and was as if telling, if they make a mistake, they will die. The title of Dali’s painting matched with one of the children Klaus’s characteristic too. Klaus remembered everything he reads; “Persistence of Memory.”
House of Count Olaf was very Gothic. His entrance door shape was a pointed arch. As soon as the children come inside the house, there are flying buttresses around the entrance. Most of the light source looked like sunlight through the windows, which is another characteristic of Gothic architecture. Natural lighting made the interior look cold and dirty. The word “Gothic” was used by Giorgio Vasari to describe the culture he considered rude and barbaric in 1530s, and it suits the characteristic of Olaf. Gothic style was used to build castles and palaces. To the kind of person who wants to make the children his own servants, it was a great theme. Gothic style worked very well for Olaf’s house and it helped emphasize the creepiness of Olaf. There are “eye” marks/patterns all over his house and in almost every shot in Olaf’s house scenes, which makes the audience feel like they are also being watched by Olaf as well as the children, no matter how far away they try to escape.
The court, which appears in the film had Greek characteristics; for example columns. Ancient Greek people were the origin of civilization that people in the history and today learned a lot of things from. Therefore, the court which straights people in the film, was built with a Greek style.
In the scene when Olaf first tries to kill the children, they are in his car. Since Olaf is an actor, the car is filled with mirrors so that Olaf can view himself from every conceivable angle. It not only emphasizes his character, but also makes his eye contact a lot more intense, because you are looked at by 12 eyes instead of two. The parallel editing which was used between children in the car and Mr. Poe driving right next to the train approaching children’s car made the scene very thrilling. The next location where the children were taken was uncle Dr. Montgomery’s house. It was difficult to tell what kind of architectural design the house was, but it looked very Renaissance. Renaissance architecture’s characteristic is based on symmetry, proportion, geometry etc… which worked well with the characteristic of the scholar uncle.
After Dr. Montgomery’s death, the next relative that the children were sent to was aunt Josephine’s house built in the air on a cliff. Her house looks like houses in the Medieval Era when there were a lot of wars and fights, and people were scared. It worked very well just like in other scenes, with the characteristic of the person who lived there. Uncle Josephine has a lot of fear, such as: the refrigerator falling down and crushing someone, the doorknobs shattering into pieces, and the stove catching on fire. The children suggest to her to move somewhere safe, but fear of realtors prevents her from it. Whenever uncle Josephine and the children are in the house, they are always nervous because the house shakes hard because of the wind and if it breaks down, they will all die falling into the ocean. This tense atmosphere was everywhere in the scene not only in the house. When uncle Josephine meets Olaf, she is enticed by him and the children get really worried. The house which was easily effected by winds is very similar to Uncle Josephine who also very easily gets effected by Olaf; the house was representing her.
Every time when the children move to the next location, they always have to travel by taking an isolated path. For example, when they go to their uncle’s place, they drive on a street, which is surrounded by water and a grass field. When they move to uncle Josephine’s house, they have to take a ship between cliffs to a small town. They both make the audience feel “why the heck do all their relatives live in such weird places?” and increase the tension of mystery and anxiousness. The next location where they do Olaf’s play is in a dead forest where there is an abundant watch house standing. The theater was not a real theater and looked like it was built instantly just like the play which Olaf comes up in the last minute. It was not a real theater and the play was not a play but a real marriage. Everyone there is manipulated by Olaf. The film was visually so stunning. Their choice of cinematography technique, production design, casts; Jim Carrey was amazing, sound truck contributed to create this masterpiece film.