Triumph of the Will and Night and Fog

Triumph of the Will and Night and Fog show many differences.

The idea of Triumph of the Will is to brainwash the people into thinking that Hitler is going to make everything OK.  To make a better country.

Night and Fog is more of an in your face documentary, about what Hitler created and goes in depth into the Nazi concentration camps.

In Triumph of the Will the director had a certain style that was very real and very appealing to the eye.  The shots of the airplanes flying through the clouds are all beautiful shots, making this movie a beautiful movie. 

In Night and Fog the footage was very raw, a lot of the documentary had pictures of the diseased and dead, showing a more brutal and real side to this event in history.

Night and Fog exploits everyone who, contributed and worked in these camps.  These men and women are explained and described as evil.  The audience gets a feeling of hate I think towards these people.    

Blog Question: Night and Fog

Answer/discuss one or more of the following questions:

How do the film techniques in “Triumph of the Will” differ from the techniques used in the making of “Night and Fog?”

Specifically, how do these films employ the use of music, camera angels, edits?

How do the objectives of the films differ?

How does "Night and Fog" deal with the feeling of guilt? Does the film exploit the audience's feelings? For instance, does it exploit the audience's feeling of outrage and sorrow?

How does the film contribute to the film? Does it take away or contribute to the filmmaker's goal? Was this a typical film soundtrack? Why/why not?

The Movie "Triumph" from a outside perspective without knowing the future is a beautiful movie. The cinematopgraphy was very well done and obviously she knows whats she doing with a camera. not knowing that Hitler was a bad person, she made him look as you said before, "God Like". She glorified him and made him look extremely important. But knowing what i know, the movie mad my stomach sick. How could someone make someone like Hitler look like a "God" It was difficult to watch. I dont know if i could watch more than we watched in class without getting more upset.

Propaganda

At the time Triumph of the Will was made, despite Riefenstal claiming it was a documentary, the film was pure propaganda. A documentary wouldn't have painted Hitler and the Nazi party so gloriously, and would have used much different techniques. For example, camera angles would be at eye level rather that from below Hitler, and music would probably be almost non existent. However, today we can look at this as a documentary because we can learn from it; we know the extreme repercussions of such powerful propaganda. 

Insight

The techniques used by Leni R., seemed like they were all trying to show that Hitler was not a bad guy. I feel like the purpose was to give insight to people who doubted him, and show them a different perspective. The way the music kept building and building to when Hitler finally arrived. The way they showed him coming down from a plane, probably was symbolic to the fact that he was compared to a God back then by the people, and that he was coming down from the Heavens. Almost every single camera shot that focused on Mr. Hitler, put him at a taller angle than the camera. This was to show how much more power he had. That he was above everyone. That he was more powerful than the people, and even the person making that film. It showed his superiority. Sometimes the way the light hit him, it made it seem like he was glowing. Almost like that of an angel. They showed clips of the crowd frequently, to show how much Hitler was worshiped and adored. They probably also did this to show how anxious the crowd was for his arrival. They wanted to show other people that the people of Germany loved this man,and that he was going to do great things for Germany. They probably wanted to show people outside of Europe that Hitler was great. During WWII, Hitler invaded different countries and took over, he made treaties with different political leaders, and he wanted them to believe that he was doing a good job, and that what he was doing was right. By glorifying him in this movie, it shows how much power he has. Having said that, this video might have also been like a threat to other countries, like, "Look how much support I have and look how big my army is, don't mess with me." I think that people genuinely thought of Hitler as a good guy, even Leni. She used all the techniques of lighting, camera angles, and music to glorify Hitler and his ways. I actually don't think this movie was scary in any way, I found it really fascinating to watch actual footage from back then. It was so weird and sad to think about how much these people loved him, and then consider the fact that he was probably responsible for most of their deaths later on.  

Music, Camera Angels, and Edit

This films use of music, camera angels and the way it was edited effected the way it was presented to the viewers.


The triumphant music was a major build up, in presenting the arrival of Hitler. The very beginning of the film you see these breathtaking sights of the clouds and the music made everything seem as if it was alright, not even alright but bringing a sense of hope that this wonderful person in this plane can bring such dramatic change to Germany. 

The camera angels also played a large role in this film. The camera angles were very low facing upwards towards Hitler, giving him more of a powerful and significant demeanor. There were also shots which would circle Hitler from one side to the other giving the film viewers the idea that this person up on the podium is a very important figure who will create change. He, to the German people, was very idolized. The people of Germany looked up to him as if he was super human, so the angels had a great impact in that sense. 

The way this film was shot and put together was very beautifully done that it's almost scary that we actually have the power to create this image and disguise this masquerade to then evolve into something that appears beautiful to the senses, but behind the senses is a whole other story. 

triumphant

       Although its definitely arguable whether Triumph of The Will is a documentary or a propaganda film, I would consider it more a form of propaganda. Leni Riefenstahl's technique was to create a documentary style film with persuasive elements.  She did this through her glorification of Hitler and the idea of a unified Germany.  Although she is recording actual events that happened, she goes beyond that with her effective camera angles, music, and narration or lack thereof.
       Her camera angles are often shot from below which makes Hitler seem superior and even a bit god-like.  Also she tends to let light shine directly on Hitler, giving him an almost heavenly appearance. Her incorporation of positive music sets the mood, especially in the opening scene we saw.  It sounds patriotic and triumphant. Riefenstahl also didn't include a narrator.  There are probably two reasons for this, one being the effectiveness of the speeches given at that time. In one scene that we were shown, the speaker speaks of Germany and Hitler as though they were getting married! He says they'll be together through the good and the bad and many other things that suggest a bond between Hitler and Germany.  In another scene, Hitler is speaking to youth in a very aggressive manner.  Both of these are examples where the speaker is very passionate. In scenes like these, Riefenstahl doesn't really need further narration, and she uses the camera angles to set the mood.  The other reason why she did not include narration might be because it would not allow the films luring elements to be subliminal. I think that's what primarily separates this film from an average documentary.  Although this film does contain reality, its lack of narration leaves room for the viewer to make out what he/she sees. And in this case, if the viewer was watching in the past, they would probably glorify Hitler as much as this film does.