For the scene analysis, I have chosen the dream sequence in Martin Scorcese's Hugo. I feel that is a significant scene in the film, reflecting on earlier scenes and, later, being reflected on itself. Within the wider context of the film, the dream sequence serves to portray Hugo Cabret's hopes and fears, his fantasy and the crushing realities that he has to face.
As the scene opens Hugo is standing on a platform at the train station and the first things one may notice is the lighting. Within the first two shots, Hugo appears to be fixated on something on the tracks below, walking to the edge of the platform, before the scene cuts to reveal what he is looking at. A key is hidden along the tracks, but the light that is radiating from it draws our attention. “In artistic filmmaking, lighting... [guides] our attention to certain objects” 1 and this serves to be true as the contrasting colours of the shiny key nestled amongst the dark rocks causes the eye to focus upon it (image 1). Particularly in the next shot where Hugo jumps down onto the tracks, there appears to be a light shining on the exact spot the key is laying (image 2). In this shot, however, the position of the key changes from amongst…show more content… This acts to almost personify the train, perhaps it is a symbolic representation of Geroge Mielies, who had previously gotten upset and called Hugo “cruel” after the flying-papers incident. The key a representation of his search for answers about his father, or for a father figure in general, while the train can be seen as a representation of the reality that, at that point in the film, Melies was not going to be that figure and stood in the way of Hugo finding answers to his