Melissa Li 7.1 English
ASSESSMENT TASK 1: HUGO
SCENE: 2) Using the heart-key in the automaton
Broken pieces: broken pieces of machines, broken pieces of people, broken pieces of dreams. How would you repair a broken automaton? How would you repair the broken pieces of your identity?
Good morning. I am Martin Scorcese, the director of Hugo.
My film reveals the importance of relationships in restoring the “broken pieces” of Hugo’ life as his pursuit of restoring the automaton resolves his sense of loss. The scene of Hugo and Isabelle inserting the key into the automaton highlights the moment of resolution as their friendship allows them to transcend my film’s underlying theme of broken pieces.
At the beginning of the scene, I used low-key lighting to symbolise Hugo’s life of grief and loneliness, reflecting the emotions he feels inside. This highlights his loss of family, community and a sense of security, thus embodying the theme, of Hugo as a living broken piece. Furthermore the addition of the steam throughout the opening functions symbolically, reflecting the steam rising from a broken machine, emphasising the importance of fixing the automaton, or removing the “steam”, to cause Hugo to no longer be a broken piece.
At the moment in which the two children are inspecting the automaton, I used an eye level shot to “humanise” it because the shot puts it on the same level and thus importance as the children. This reflects the intimacy of Hugo and the automaton’s relationship, illustrated when Hugo, later in the film, jumps in front of a train to save the automaton. It represents his last link to his father, so he has a deep connection to it. They are both broken – the automaton physically and Hugo emotionally, the automaton acting almost as a double for Hugo. It is not human but very much an important part of one.
Later in the scene when Hugo and Isabelle inspect the automaton, there is a close-up of the keyhole, emphasising its importance to the audience. The key is the only thing left for the automaton to work. The heart-shaped key is symbolic of automaton’s heart and represents the broken pieces of Hugo’s heart; as it fixes the
