Run Lola Run Analysis

[Diana Tay]

The scene I have chosen is the sequence where Lola meets her dad and in that time, her dad tells her he is not actually her father.

As she runs towards her father's office, the music starts up again introducing the beat. The lighting is only from the top but there are glimpses of light from the side that brings about a shadow on one side of her body, adding to the central TONE of the movie: mysterious tone. The hallway is long and leads to some misfortune and the poor lighting of the hallway reflects this. She bumps into several people that leads the camera to follow those she follows and the movement creates a sense of confusion as seen as a central theme throughout the movie, any small change in time can cause a whole new set of events: the butterfly effect. Were these people going to affect her life in any way? "AND THEN..." When the camera turns on the people she bumps, the light becomes a lot more prevalent which then flashes into a flash forward as seen through images. Her running sequence is in a discontinuous edit. It introduces a crosscut where the father is talking to a woman about a baby. Although it is a light hearted scene, the tone is mysterious much like the central tone of confusion as the lighting is only coming from the back with their faces (the side facing the camera) is completely dark, to present foreshadowing of some bad to come. When the lady says, "that's your daughter?" the lighting immediately goes darker, having the only source of light being from the window. When the father is sitting down, the light is only lighting up the right side of his face much like the time when he was talking to the lady about a child: bad news to come, setting the mysterious tone. When she yells, "I DONT CAAAAARE!" the music changes starting with a loud bell ring leading into a new sequence upbeat music, continually rising in speed. Back in the hallway, the theme that was once seen through the people she bumps to is then seen through the fact that he is telling her he's leaving her and her mom. The foreshadowing was forseen.

When Lola is pushed into her room, in the state of depression, the lighting is soft, the music loses it's intensity and the edits are continous. When the father leaves, a SLAM of the door starts of a whole new setting. The room becomes all dark, meeting her father changed everything: the theme was seen through this cut. Her one decision changed EVERYTHING. This EVERYTHING also goes for the editing, music and lighting. Music STOPS, lighthing goes completely DARK and the scenes run LONGER and are continuous. The mysterious tone was very obvious at that moment.

This scene in particular really reflected the theme that one small change can change EVERYTHING and the mysterious tone was clearly seen through the quick changes in lighting as different events occured as well as the different times the scene was continuous or not.