Week 6

I wanted to write about a series that is relatively untalked about despite it's brilliance. 

That series is "Casa de Papel" or "Money Heist". A lot of reviews are talking about the newest 3rd season, but I will be concentrating on the first two seasons.

Some history first. La casa de Papel is a television series produced by Atresmedia and Vancouver Media and is distributed by Netflix. Originally it was run on a Spanish channel Antena 3 and it had the best premiere ever on Spanish TV, about four million which was double the last highest premiered series' views. Later Netflix got the distribution rights, and surprisingly enough, even without any dedicated marketing, the series became most watched non-English series on Netflix.

Let's talk about the synopsis of this series. The Netflix synopsis for the first episode is this "Professor saves a young female thief and seven other criminals to rob Royal mint of Spain". Back when I first read this synopsis I was quite skeptical to be honest. Also the fact it was a Spanish made series gave me my doubts since I had rarely enjoyed a live action series that was in any other language than English. But eventually I gave it a go and boy was I hooked. At the end of the 1st season I just wanted more and I had to wait for 2nd season to release. 

                      

I am not going to talk about the plot a lot, aside for the very first episode, because I do not want to spoil any viewer who might want to watch it but if you had the same thought as I did, that the series would drag on for few episodes where they show the main characters growing together while they plan and train to execute the money heist as I thought, that's not what is going to happen. The writers clearly knew that a completely linear storytelling might not keep the viewers interested and aside from the beginning where we are introduced to the main character and her situation we are quickly teleported to the day of the heist. There is a 5 month time skip that happens between the main character's joining of the group and the heist day but do not worry we, the viewer, are not left out of what happened during those 5 months. 

Narrative

It's been a while since I saw this series and unfortunately I do not have time to binge watch two seasons for this blog post. but I will give my two cents here quickly. The actors are great, and in the making of the series the characters were intentionally left out very open in personality wise and the director allowed the actors to fully flesh out their characters. I think this might be one of the reasons why character interaction feels so natural. The story in my opinion is written well, you have a clear goal and the watcher knows everything is done to the smallest detail, nothing is left for chance. There are no filler episodes, there are no endings in where it feels like you are not sure where the next season might be heading and there are no sudden u-turns in the direction of the story or that some particular issue takes over the main plot line. But even though you know where the plot is heading it leaves enough open for us to keep guessing. Some characters are left to be very mysterious until the very end of the series and the ending is written in a way that it doesn't leave questions unanswered and though they did make a 3rd season you could watch the first two and the story could very well end there.

Lighting

The lighting and use of color is quite amazing. I would like to point out a nice cinematic comparison. The tone of the series is oftentimes very serious and the lighting is very grey, like a typical Finnish day, not very sunny, muted colors. The muted tones represent the real world. In the very first scene we meet the main character she is bathed in red light, during this scene she narrates what has happened and looks to the real world on her TV which is in muted tones. Color red appears later on as she steps outside her hideout and red is drabber on top of the van she has been hiding in. Soon after she is walking and telling us how she is a free spirit in body, and soul and whatever were to happen at least her soul would be free, during this sentence we see a child let go of a red balloon that flies to the skies which the main character  looks up to truly emphasizing to the viewer how red represents her freedom. Her guardian angel comes to her aid in a red car and she dresses in red during the robbery, which to her is her chance for freedom.

The color red was actually a choice made by the creator Álex Pina, director Jesús Colmenar , art director Abdón Alcañiz and photography director Migue Amoedo who like to take a primary color and use it as a distinguishing feature of the series like in their other series, Locked up where the main color was yellow and El embarcadero which uses blue. The choice of red was especially used to make the series and shots stand out from the grey sets.

Note this shot where she is wearing the most red and stands out from the crowd.

There is also it's own lighting to the flashbacks which is usually yellow, a warm tone to show of the happier times before what we see unfold in the present time.

Notes from the first episode

-The talk between Tokyo and her mother is a hint to what Tokyo's fate will be. "I'll buy you tickets so you can come to visit" and "To your grave?" these already imply on her fate, death or success. Success of what? The viewer doesn't know that yet, but soon after it is revealed to be the heist. 

-At the house they are planning the heist and the Professor talks about how if it succeeds "They will never have to work again" at this part the camera zooms in on Tokyo who smiles and then it focuses on the person behind her, Berlin. This is a slight show to these two character's motivation, money, and the chance to not work again. "Nor your children" at this the camera zooms in on Moscow and then focuses on the person behind him, Denver. During this shot Moscow turns slightly to look behind and Denver looks to Moscow, This use of camera focus with this sentence is a clever way to indicating that they are a father and son duo which is later confirmed by Tokyo.
-Going back to the Monomyth in the first episode within a very short period of time we see the "Crossing of the first threshold" when Tokyo leaves her world to the real world and "Call to Adventure" when Professor gives her his proposition.