Enamorada is set during the Mexican Revolution and follows the attempt of a revolutionary general, Juan José Reyes, in winning the love of upper-class beauty Beatriz Peñafiel. Reyes begins the film as a ruthless and macho solider who has taken over the town of Cholula. While mercilessly taking money from the town and sending its inhabitants to the “fusiladoras,” Reyes becomes enamored by Beatriz and insists that he is going to marry her. Beatriz is an independent, and feisty member of the aristocratic class who is engaged to be married to a wealthy U.S. citizen. In several comedic scenes displaying the non-traditional “macha” personality of Beatriz, she rejects Reyes’ advances. As the plot progresses, what connects these two seemingly unlikely individuals together is the Catholic Church. Through the character of the priest, who is both an old-time friend of Reyes and a long-time supporter of Beatriz, he reconciles the differences between Beatriz and Reyes. Reyes learns to relax his militaristic and brute personality, while Beatriz adopts some of the docile femininity characteristic required of the traditional Mexican woman. At the end of the movie, Beatriz leaves her fiancé, and decides to follow after Reyes and his revolutionary troops as a soldadera.
The narrative is centered around the social transformations caused by the revolution and the divisions between the bourgeoise class and the revolutionary impetus. Furthermore, the characterization of the feminine versus the masculine in this film serves to redefine the national archetype of gender that was purported by Mexican society during the revolutionary era.
Describes the setting of a scene in a play or a film. It refers to everything placed on the stage or in front of the camera—including people. In other words, mise en scène is a catch-all for everything that contributes to the visual presentation and overall “look” of a production. When translated from French, it means “placing on stage.”
This is the art of photography and visual storytelling in a motion picture or television show. Cinematography comprises all on-screen visual elements, including lighting, framing, composition, camera motion, camera angles, film selection, lens choices, depth of field, zoom, focus, color, exposure, and filtration. Cinematography sets and supports the overall look and mood of a film’s visual narrative. Each visual element that appears on screen, a.k.a. the mise-en-scène of a film, can serve and enhance the story—so it is the cinematographer’s responsibility to ensure that every element is cohesive and support the story. Filmmakers often choose to spend the majority of their budget on high-quality cinematography to guarantee that the film will look incredible on the big screen.
Editing is the process of putting a film together–the selection and arrangement of shots and scenes. Editing can condense space and time, emphasize separate elements and bring them together, and organize material in such a way that patterns of meaning become apparent. In addition, editing can determine how a film is perceived: for instance, quick, rapid cuts can create a feeling of tension, while a long take can create a more dramatic effect. The first photoplays generally had no cutting, owing to the fact that they were single-reel films; once filming began, you could not stop until the film ran out. (https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/editing/)
The dissolve transition between these two scenes conveys power relations within the film and provides context to the plot. The prior scene of revolutionary troops walking into the town transitions to a shot of Reyes sitting on a desk with his leg propped up and a scowl on his face. The framing, character behavior, and mise-en-scéne conveys Reyes’ “macho” and harsh disposition. The dissolve transition establishes Reyes’ role as a revolutionary general by connecting the troops he oversees to his “office,” where he abuses his power by taking money from the town and sending its inhabitants to the “fusiladoras.
This comedic scene is enhanced by the shot and reverse shot transition technique. As Reyes attempts to enter Beatriz’s father's house to express his desire to marry her, Beatriz refuses to let him in. The camera quickly cuts from one side of the door to the other as Beatriz and Reyes exchange blows and comedic insults through the door. The framing and transitions of the scene suggest that the two protagonists are parallels of each other, and through this, they are actually compatible — the machismo of Reyes closely parallels the “manly” behaviors of Beatriz.
Sound is an integral part in a film. It refers to everything that the audience hears including sound effects, words and music. Sound is used in films for various purposes, including: providing the information to the viewer about the location of the scene, heightening the mood, telling the audience about the characters and advancing the plot. Every person who watches a film realizes that the choice of voices, soundtrack and music present in a film affect the way that the viewer perceives a particular film. As a result, the sound is an important and integral element of the film, one that determines the way that the viewer experiences and understands a film as a visual experience.
Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. A narrative can be considered to be the chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space. In order to analyze the narrative of a film, we need to first make the distinction between the plot of the film and the story of the film. This is sometimes referred to as the discourse and story of a film. Narrative may also be called the story thought story mainly refers to the events that describe the narrative.
Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films. (Genre comes from the French word meaning "kind," "category," or "type"). These provide a convenient way for scriptwriters and film-makers to produce, cast and structure their narratives within a manageable, well-defined framework. Genres also offer the studios an easily 'marketable' product, and give audiences satisfying, expected and predictable choices. Genres refers to recurring, repeating and similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, styles, themes, syntax, templates, paradigms, motifs, rules or generic conventions.
