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Calypso7
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V's Emotions
I'm very interested in the phenomenon of V's emotional expressiveness. I take the liberty of putting this into a new thread while quoting from the existing thread of Images of V (also under Dramatis Personae):
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
quote:
KatelynD wrote:
personally, I think revealing his face would have ruined it...the mask adds a certin---aura.
and its just darned sexy
I concur! I don't even see it as a mask anymore - it's his face, it shows "expression"...
This is exactly my experience too and yet it seems so strange. How is it we are able to see the mask, which after all is fixed, as bearing such different meanings in different scenes? Is it because we know the context? Is it the additional information from the actor's voice and nonverbal behavior? Is it angle and lighting? I'd love to see some examples showing specific expressions in particular scenes. How does a face that is constantly smiling manage to express, variously, sadness, menace, regret, love, embarrassment? It's really intriguing to me how this works.
I should explain, I am working on an article and research on the facial expression of emotion in general. This is partly why the whole V phenomenon engages me so much.
Hope people are interested.
Last edited by Calypso7, 6/11/2006, 8:17 am
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6/11/2006, 8:16 am
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VisOratoris
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Re: V's Emotions
A very interesting thread Calypso, well done.
About the emotions of a mask I observed many scenes of the movie and saw exactly this expressiveness. Personally I believe the expressiveness comes from many things. One is definitely the lighting and angle which was very carefully made in the movie. But the very source of expression is the actor himself. Not just the voice, for the voice can be fixed to match a scene but his stature, his moves and generally his body language.
The past year I took lessons in body expression dance and movment and I really had no idea how many emotions can the body show. You can see this language allmost in the whole film and mostly in the scene where V shows Valerie's shrine to Evey. V's emotions in the mask are visible thanks to the lighting but mostly thanks to the actors movments.
So for your research I would say that a facial expression of emotion has it's base to the whole body language
---
"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality." Ernesto Che Guevara
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6/11/2006, 9:14 am
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alexandra123
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Re: V's Emotions
Calypso  thanks for starting this thread, I believe the thing that surprised me the most in this movie was exactly that: how does a guy in a mask convey his emotions in a way that we can almost always know what he's feeling?!!!!
I think you said something important there: we do know the context and that's important because when someone is called a monster, everybody knows of course that person is gonna be affected by it.
But still, in a lot of scenes i think it was the voice mainly: on the staion with sutler and creddy there's despise in his voice; with delia, there was almost forgiveness, almost like he was sorry he had to kill her but at the same time, resolve, he did have to kill her; with evey, when he's dying i just love the sound of his voice when he says "i fell in love with you evey, like i no longer believed i could", it's so desperate!
So voice + body language + tilts of the head + knowing the context = pretty good understanding of V's feelings!
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Live and let live
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6/11/2006, 12:12 pm
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pwsull
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Re: V's Emotions
Calypso:
What a good idea for a thread! We have all been talking about it and around it, but never adressing it directly.
Bravo for bringing it up! 
Sort of an interest of mine since in my profession we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how people really feel, and we often do this by being students of facial expression and body language.
You wrote:quote:
"How is it we are able to see the mask, which after all is fixed, as bearing such different meanings in different scenes? Is it because we know the context? Is it the additional information from the actor's voice and nonverbal behavior?"
and VisOratoris responded:quote:
"One is definitely the lighting and angle which was very carefully made in the movie. But the very source of expression is the actor himself. Not just the voice, for the voice can be fixed to match a scene but his stature, his moves and generally his body language. "
And I would concur that it is definitely a monumental feat of acting and movie making that V's emotions were conveyed so effectively, intensely, and movingly without any facial cues. We are after all sooooo dependent on facial expression for non-verbal communication. Facial expression can stand so well on its own to communicate emotion and meaning, but it is also an essential supplement to verbal communication because it adds so much subtlety, nuance and additional information....one good reason why TV replaced radio practically overnight as the popular broadcast medium for just about every form of audio-visual entertainment except for music and news. And in human development, the way babies interact with their caretakers and develop socially is all about facial expression and non-verbal vocal-auditory interaction.
So I think we are given multiple other cues in the film through lighting; angle; staging; scene; story; script; posture; body language; vocal intonation, prosody, rhythm, speed, and volume; and context that all work together in perfect harmony to fool our minds eye into actually seeing facial expression on the mask. I think it was a stroke of genius on the part of the film makers to do it this way rather than use different masks or CGI to change the mask's expression...that just would have been hokey and would have spoiled an incredibly moving and artistic effect.
I think it takes your mind a little while to adjust to this, because I remember on my first viewing, I wasn't really "feeling" V's emotions until several scenes into the film, but on subsequent viewings I was feeling them right from the scene when we meet him putting on his mask and brushing some dust from his boot with that very evocative flick of his hand which says "this is it, my performanc is about to start...every thing must look perfect".
For me the scenes where I see the emotion on the mask the most are:
Compassion/Sadness/Regret/unwavering certainty as he chats with Delia Surridge after "killing" her.
Love and comforting/encouraging/nurturing pride in Evey as he holds her and then takes her to the roof to meet God in the rain.
Doubt, pain, remorse, and hopeful anticipation in that long slence in Vallerie's shrine as Evey struggles to make up her mind about how she is going to handle her own intense and ambivalent feelings.
Pain, heartache, lonliness as he stares at Evey's bed and believes she is not coming for their last dance.
Regret, and conflicting emotional forces as he turns away from Evey to meet his maker.
Peace and satisfied contentment as he dies in Evey's arms.
I really see all of those emotions on the mask...my mind's eye filling in the facial expression from all the other cues.
Thanks Claypso!
P
Last edited by pwsull, 6/11/2006, 1:52 pm
--- 
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6/11/2006, 12:33 pm
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Abbey Normal
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Re: V's Emotions
As mentioned body language and voice inflection are a huge part of it, but also the mask itself is influenced by lighting a lot. For instance, when the whole face is shown, the expression is one of rather clownish satisfaction, and can seem harmless and goofy. But when the mask is in shadow and the eyes are not visible, the smile takes on a very sinister, cruel twist. The eyes of the mask are what make the expression. They're very benevolent and happy. When they can't be seen, the smile has to carry it, and we can interpret a smile a hundred different ways.
This is very true of the comic as well as the movie, probably moreso because it's sometimes easier to manipulate shadows in drawings than in real life. There's places in the book where V looks completely benevolent and there's places where the very same expression looks downright terrifying. I have no idea why, it's something in our brains that make us interpret things like that.
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6/11/2006, 6:38 pm
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Calypso7
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Re: V's Emotions
This thread needs pictures!!
from the Evey Leaves V, in sound and vision sequence
quote:
friendlysolarflare wrote:
*auch – that one hurt – V expresses agonizing pain*
Does it seem so by itself, out of context? Hmmm.
I'm not sure.
Well, looking again, yes. But WHY? I can't tell. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it only does in its context, in the scene.
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6/11/2006, 8:12 pm
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LadyVendetta
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Re: V's Emotions
Hmmmmm.....interesting. Without facial expressions, one has to rely on other physical cues to ascertain certain emotions. Just like the blind relying on other senses to interact in the world, a person without a face has to have other ways of communicating emotions sans facial expressions.
Maybe a still picture may not do it, but a series of them may portray what V is going through. Or better yet, watch the film to see how V interacts with his environment. Since he does not have facial expressions, V may instinctively rely upon other modes of expressing emotions such as hand gestures, body movements, the way he tilts his head, the way he stands, his posture, the way he moves his feet, the tone of his voice, etc.
For example, I feel this comes out the most for me in the scene with Evey and V when Evey finds out that V was the one who tortured her. The way he bows his head, caresses the piano (and hides? behind it), the way his body and head jerks when he talks about hate being all that he knew, the way his hand cups Evey's cheek during her breakdown....all of these movements tell how V feels...
V behind the piano....I think he is apprehensive of her.
There is a lot of looking down,
fingering the piano.
V talking about hate...His head jerks around alot.
I think he is angry and somewhat
excitable at the same time.
V going to Evey...when V holds her, he cups her face in
one of his hands. He is sympathetic,
comforting, and almost fatherly. He is
at a distance from her, not like in the
GN where he cradles her.
V on the roof...I think his hand is on the door when Evey
in the rain. Before that, he tries to put a
cloak around her but she walks away. In
a way, I think he is seeing a version of
himself when he came to that moment, so
he seems like a proud 'father' in a way by
letting Evey go in that moment, but not
too far since he is still in the doorway.
This is almost like, the best I can describe
it, a mom letting her child walk to school
but still hiding in the bushes to see if the
child is still safe.
That's my two cents anway.
--- 
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6/12/2006, 12:48 pm
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Valkyrie2
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Re: V's Emotions
Keep in mind that in the context of a movie, there is far more sensory input than merely visual, or even voice. Try watching a movie that's been cut together, but with no score, and see how diminished the emotional impact is.
We have many cues in this film:
1) body language - position and posture, tilt of the head
2) lighting of the mask and body
3) voice - intonation and inflection
4) score
5) reactions of others to the character in question - context
6) environment
All of these together, and probably other, more subtle cues, go toward making up our emotional reactions to the character of V.
Not the least of which is our own psychological hardwiring -- we EXPECT to be able to read emotional cues into that mask, and we look for the slightest hints thereof. Our brains are hardwired to look for specific facial conformations as expressions of emotion. (This is the scientific explanation for why people see faces in inanimate objects also.)
--- Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
- Cpt Rickenbacker
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6/28/2006, 12:13 am
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Abbey Normal
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Re: V's Emotions
All of that is totally true, but you also have to consider that sometimes mask-wearing characters affect us and sometimes they leave us cold. Like the aforementioned Green Goblin. It's most definitely a lot of things, from the skills of the actors to the set lighting, musical score, directing, as well as our own expectations. However, something about this works, whereas other times it doesn't. We all agree pretty much that it's a very difficult thing to pull off, and I attribute way more of it to the skills of the people involved than our own ability to fill in the blanks with our imaginations.
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6/28/2006, 12:38 am
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Valkyrie2
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Re: V's Emotions
Oh I totally agree. Not disparaging the talents involved AT ALL. I happen to think Weaving is a masterful actor.
What I AM saying is that these wonderful talents know what to do to force our imaginations to fill in the gaps in the way they want us to.
--- Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
- Cpt Rickenbacker
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6/28/2006, 2:19 pm
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