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.

Usual Suspects & Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

In the Usual Suspects, Bryan Singer mysteriously twists the viewer's mind into believing the false tale of Verbal, when 
verbal is truly Keyser Soze.  In this scene, it begins with a close up shot on Verbal's face.  This makes verbal seem innocent have nothing to hide.  Typically villians in movies are shown mysteriously with long shots, typically too dark to see.  Since Verbal has none of these going for him, he is perceived to be innocent.Verbal tells the intense tale on how Keyser got his notorious name, in which fast film stock is used which makes the viewer not sure what is going on and feel disoriented, making Keyser's image in the mind not clear.  Also, during the flashback, high contrast lighting is used as Keyser is walking away from the burning buildings, to make the fires seem more bright and dangerous, and hiding Keyser's face and further darkening his image, while the fire making seem like he's escaping hell. 

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry uses confusion and a reversed script making the film hard to follow yet quite capturing. One of the main techniques he uses is the use of cool colors vs.warm colors.  In this scene Clementine's hair is a bright red, which highlights her energetic and open personality, versus the cool colors that Joel always wear giving a more closed-personality vibe.  The medium shots used in this scene are close enough to capture the enticing memories of Joel, but far enough away to factor in the symbolic book store with disappearing books, perfectly done by Gondry. This scene also uses formalist light preference (artificial light) to make the whole room have light, rather than have shadows. This makes the memory seem less scary than some of the preceding memories, giving the relationship a revamp of what it ended like.  It shows he doesn't want to forget her and the light makes her seem much more welcoming than in other scenes.
  

Edwad Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands

In this scene late in the movie, you see Burton use a dark contrast of shades of black and gray behind shiny blades with bright red blood on them.  This is a perfect example of Burton’s formalistic light preference and his use of formalistic cinema focusing on the color contrast between the background and the blood. This makes viewers focus on the blood adding to the movie by highlighting the magnitude of the previous events.

In this frame portraying the neighborhood that the story takes place in, Burton uses a deep focus shot to get all of the elements of the location of the film in focus.  This shows how relevant the mountain is in proportion to these perfect, colorful houses.  The contrast between the two shows cool colors vs. warm colors, giving the mountain a sense of isolation from the extremely contrasted houses.  the mountains cool colors gives it a vibe of terror and mystery, while the houses give a sense of an almost fake, perfect reality that is extremely welcoming.

long shot.  Lastly, in my opinion this shot contains an element of expressionist film.  Noting the fake color of the houses/cars/lawn, the director gives off a vibe the perfect neighborhood urgent necessity to be destroyed somehow. Though they are bright and welcoming, this neighborhood gives off an eerie loneliness, like something is missing.  This is what expressionist film does.

In this shot there is an element of film noir, exemplified by the eerie shadows making Edward an exaggerated dark shadow.  This adds a mysterious element to him once again which seems to be a common theme for most of the film.

This scene uses a medium shot, displaying the background and the dominant in the frame equally.  This way it doesn’t give off his emotions too much and makes a viewer aware of the surroundings.

low key     

In this frame, Burton uses high contrast lighting to heighten the dramatic aspect of this connection between Edward and Kim. This shot also capture classical cinema which is representative of the golden age of filmmaking. This type of cinema draws the viewer into focus only on the characters in the scene not being distracted by camera or the music.

In this scene we are approached by a Hollywood Close up shot of Edward and Kim looking through a window causing a dramatic effect. This scene also shows slow stock because the high quality of the image, which makes it easier to look at their facial expressions so viewers can get a better understanding of their current emotions..   

This shot is very dramatic and very hollywood like. This shot shows a Cinematic Shot because immediately pulls the viewer into the emotion blocking everything else out of the frame, which would be distracting from the emotions of Kim.

Since the photo is below the eye line, looking up it makes the shot a low camera angle shot.  What this does for the film is portray awe in the viewer, making the bush’s shape seem larger and more extraordinary.

This scene has fast stock because the photo is more dark and is almost gritty. The illumination around the window shows cool lighting leaving the picture a little grainy. There is also a likely diffusion filter that creates a blue tint. Filters are used to create a enhanced mood or dramatic effect.

This picture also represents a high angle shot where the viewer sees the scene from up above, making the picture seem more vulnerable and powerless. In Edward Scissorhands Burton uses high key lighting to make the town/ suburbs  seem fake and unrealistic. This scene shows high key lighting to make the scene look bright and have contrast.

In this first scene you see Peg and Edward scissorhands meet for the first time. She sees him in the form he is in which is a young man. She realizes quickly that the content is he has scissors for hands and that is very odd and not normal, setting the stage for a unique plotline.  

This picture represents an Oblique angle because the angle is used to emphasize the character which causes the viewer to have a reaction such as fear.

Note: Burton doesn't use much realistic cinema, so those words were not included.

About Me in 5 Videos

1. Front Hand Back Hand- Yes, this is my one humor video.  I include this video just from one small but memorable moment in my life within the past year.  No its not a filming masterpiece at all, but it brings back good times for me. As Cross country camp this summer, my friends Sam Austin, Matt Behrens and Isaac Green reenacted this video.  You'd think we would do it without the slaps, but no, I took one for the team, and got full strength slapped.  Isaac slapped me progressively harder, and Sam hit me in the finally and knocked me out for a split second, all for the talent show. And no, we didn't win.  But thats not the only reason I share this.  Its because when one of my coaches Martin Medina saw that I could take hits like this, he finally trusted me enough to start boxing.  So all in all, this act got me into boxing, which is a big part of my life right now.

2. One of Those Days 2- I share this video for one reason- It's my favorite video of all time.  I've skied since I was around 3 years old, and I've only dreamt of becoming this good.  This video doesn't focus on the heartfelt narration or point of view like Denali for example.  Rather, its the lack of editing and narration that make it so unique for me.  I watch this video and it gives me the chills, and an adrenaline rush, so it would be wrong for me not to include it.  When I ski, I struggle to find the courage to drop cliffs or do spins off jumps ect.. and Candide does all of this plus more with no hesitation, giving me an insane goal to work towards.  Skiing has been such a big part of my life over the years and this is the perfect example of what I would love it to become.

3. Denali- I know, I know, this is the first short story video we were shown in class, but the reason I put it as one of my own is because I went through something almost identical to the story of Ben and his dog Denali.  Similar to Ben's cancer, but not as severe, I had a terrible case of rotavirus when I was about six, and who was there for me through the whole thing? My dog, Scooby.  Last year, Scooby got cancer and passed away.  We took him to all his favorite places-Winter Park, Moab and more, and just like Denali, he stopped eating and we knew it was time to go, so I snuggled up to him in his last moments as we put him down.  Obviously the music and narration and views of this video complete the purpose perfectly to move the viewer, especially for me since I can relate directly to Ben.

4. Star Wars Attack of the Clones- No, this isn't a video that changed my life emotionally in any way, but it is a flash to my childhood through to the present of something that I cherish.  Not just star wars 2(my favorite), but all of them in general.  I was so obsessed with them when I was little that it really drove my imagination when I was playing and I still enjoy the movies and talking about them today.  This scene is my favorite on in all of the star wars because it brings together all of my favorite characters in one battle, and its not depressing like the 3rd movie.  This scene features my favorite characters, a masterpiece of filming and editing into my favorite action sequence of all time.

5.Versus Commercial- This video captures the perfect words and images to explain the mental side of sports.  I like sports- ever since I was around 6 years old- whether it was mountain bike racing, soccer, running, or skiing, i always found joy in going out and suffering for how ever long it may be.  In high school I run cross country and track, which obviously takes an enormous amount of mental toughness to go and grind everyday.  In the video, they say how all you have to rely on is yourself, which helps me cope with the stress of it all.  The cutaways to different sports, the speech throughout the whole thing, the music, the video clips, they all make up to giving me the shivers. The commercial does its purpose and motivates me.