Almost Famous

In the film Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe utilizes many different filming techniques throughout the movie.  First, when Elaine is on the phone with her son in Cleveland, Crowe uses a medium shot at eye level.  What this does to viewers is give them a sense of the worry in her eyes, while simultaneously making them aware of nobody in the background, showing she's alone, and most likely lonely.  Next, Crowe uses Dominant contrast in that same scene because Elaine is wearing a red/orange shirt in a dark room, symbolizing passion and longing for her son's return.  Russell's body language also changes throughout the conversation from dominant and enthusiastic, to dominated and apologetic. After that, Crowe uses panning and tracking shots while they are on stage.  This gives the viewer a recognition of the magnitude of their performance, and the crowd they perform to.  Without these shots, the set wouldn't seen as big or exiting, but rather somewhat stale.  Lastly, Crowe uses classical cross-cutting after each word in the conversation between Russell and Elaine.  Because of this each action/reaction can be examined to see who comes out on top of the conversation, which is obviously Elaine.  In the end, this whole movie is very well thought out and filmed with appropriate style to encompass an exiting true story.

Memento

 In the film Memento, Christopher Nolan uses one of the most complex editing schemes in film history to create a confusing and thrilling plot line.  He uses abstract cutting and false-parallel editing so that the viewer has trouble following where the story is at a certain point in time.  He alternates between two plot lines, one in reverse order, meeting in the middle of the movie.  The scenes don't match up with the scene the viewer previously watched, so no logical sequence can be drawn until the end, where it is still somewhat hazy.  The thing that throws off the truth and makes it questionable, is certain flashbacks that nobody knows if they are real or not.  For example, he remembers the story of Sammy Jenkins from before the accident occurred, and how he killed his own wife because he didn't know any better.  Late in the movie, Leonard has a quick flashback of his wife having diabetes, and him poking her with a needle.  In that case, Sammy Jenkins is made up, confirming the story Teddy tells Leonard.  This scene is filled with dialectical tension as Leonard presses Teddy to find out the truth, which he later disregards anyway.  The truth revealed to me is simple that Leonard consciously knows he is going after the wrong guy, and by the time he gets those new clued on his body, he thinks he's on the track of the correct killer once again.  He will do anything to avenge his wife(who may or may not have survived the attack) and that's why he makes the perfect killer for Teddy.  The reason Leonard does what he does isn't to avenge his wife, but rather give his life a purpose, because he knows he would have no reason to live with his condition otherwise.  In the end, Christopher Nolan still won't reveal the truth about the movie, so no matter how many conclusions are drawn up, nobody knows if they are right.

Across the Universe

This song in "Across the Universe" uses movement as a key element to show certain emotions evoked in the injured soldier, Max. Before that, Jude is reunited with his previous girlfriend in Liverpool.  This scene is shot using medium shots to keep a distance between the two, highlighting how long they have been apart, with no close up intimacy that they had before.  There is also an action/reaction shot when his ex reveals her new boyfriend, and that camera cuts to Jude's face, which is hiding his surprised expression.  Next, Max and his fellow injured or dead soldiers participate in the song "Happiness is a warm gun".  This whole song is using a leftward moving camera and a pullback dolly, to give the viewer the same feeling that the injured men are feeling, confused and dizzy because of all the drugs, along with some PTSD they are all experiencing.

Amelie

Amelie

In this short scene, Amelie sees her hopeful lover, Nino, collecting photos under the booth.  Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses a swish pan when Nino bumps into her in order to cause a bit of confusion to the viewer.  The swish pan blurs the frame, highlighting Amelie's anticipation and then disappointment, when Nino treats her like she isn't even standing there, while she is currently obsessing over him.

In this scene, the Amelie shows the homeless blind man what the world around him is like with vision.  She captures the small scents and details of her surrounding through speech, and the camera cuts to the man's face occasionally, marking am action/reaction shot.  The camera cutting to the man's face shows his look of wonder, displaying the magnitude of what Amelie has done for this man in 30 seconds.

In this opening scene, Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses an aerial shot, when panning over the waterfall to Amelie skipping stones.  He also uses tight frames and up close shots to draw attention to the details of her small little pleasures, like cracking the creme bolet or dipping her hand into the seeds.  This makes the viewer almost crave these pleasures, because they can see now the tiny significance of these, so they can feel them for themselves.

In this scene, when Amelie takes her first glance at the Mystery man, Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses anticipatory movement when Amelie looks down and identifies this man.  This all being in slow motion, captures her very exited reaction.  Later in the movie the viewer finds out that she was happy because when she looked down, she saw a toolbox.  This meant he was a booth repair man, solving the mystery.  This anticipatory movement emphasizes her idea which brings her closer to Nino in the end.

In this clip, Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses the fast-motion type of mechanical distortion of film.  It encapsulates the finale of the built up emotional tension between the two thought the movie, because it makes the scene seem like it has been going on for longer, like it happens often now that they are together.  Difficult to explain but the fast motion makes it as if this deep intimacy is a common occurrence, and it will last forever.

Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Royal Tenenbaums

In The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson creates a surreal world with a highly contrasted and well thought out color scheme giving it an artificial feel.  In this powerful scene, Margot walks dramatically towards her brother in slow motion, marking the rebirth of their relationship.  The dominant in the frame is Margot's face, with dark eyeliner contrasted from the rest of the bright frame with natural light.  This exaggerates her complex personality that is held inside her throughout the movie.  Her hairstyle as always is the same as when she was little, showing her longing for what she was in the past.  The green in the green line bus symbolizes a rebirth, referring to the meeting of her and Richie once again.

In yet another powerful scene, Richie attempts suicide with a razor blade on his wrists and then passes out.  The whole scene is dominated by the color blue, exaggerating his depression.  He also wears his Fila tennis shirt, how he longs for the past professional tennis player he once was.  But, in this scene, he cuts off all his hair, takes off his headband, and shaves his beard, indicating he is letting go of that alternate person.  He is also sitting down slouched, making him seem vulnerable and less masculine.  Lastly, this is one of the only frames throughout the movie that isn't symmetrical, showing that Wes Anderson is trying to differentiate this scene from the rest of this weird reality, making the experience seem real.

Mystic River

In this scene, Jimmy's light face is juxtaposed against the dark uniforms worn by the police officers aggressively harnessing his desperate effort to see his daughter's body.  This is dominant contrast, isolating the emotions in his face to differentiate himself from the other beings in the crowd.  This along with the godseye angle gives the viewer a unique and emotional perspective on the heart-wrenching scene.

In this early scene, David Fincher uses parallelism later in the movie so the viewer can make the connection between when Dave was kidnapped as a kid and when Jimmy and the Savage brothers take him away  This is another method of getting the viewer to perceive the dominant(Dave), as trapped. Because he was so innocent when it happened to him as a kid, the parallelism helps him seem obviously innocent later on in the movie when he is taken in the back of a car again,

As Jimmy looks across the parade in this scene, he sees Sean point a finger-gun at his head as to say "gotcha".  Though this action can be interpreted differently, the cinema technique of depth is the same.  It is used to focus in correctly on Sean, despite all of the commotion going on around him in the parade.  This highlights the effect of Sean's action, but still gives it the view from Jimmy, to seem distant and unreachable, which is what Jimmy wants considering Sean knows he killed Dave.

This frame shows one of the men who kidnapped and raped Dave when he was a boy.  It uses closed form because the red hat sticks out from the rest of the frame, showing the importance of Dave later on in the movie.  The closed from technique is calculated function of an object to give more meaning to the character or object as a hole, and this red does just that.  It shows that he will be the one to be singled out and ultimately killed by one of his friends, just because he is a bit different.

This is the classic shot using the film technique of mise en scene.  The specific placement of the booth, the table, and later one of the Savage brothers all around Dave makes dave seemed trapped, and instantly dominated by those around him.  Also, the empty shot glasses suggest that he is intoxicated, effecting his decision making and perception bad situations.