Film: A Favourite Scene
Write a short paragraph (150 words) that describes a favourite scene (five minutes or fewer of screen time). Name two techniques the filmmaker has used (how the scene is framed, for example. Are actors shown in closeup or far away?) Why did he or she use the technique in your opinion? It may be to make us laugh (as in the "spinning sign" in Romeo and Juliet) or to create a mood (the empty, ice-bound train we see in The Ice Storm).
If you have a copy of the film, bring it to class next week. If not and you know the URL for YouTube, put it in your answer. We will watch and discuss as many scenes as we can next Wednesday.
DOCUMENT: Examining Mis-en-scene (the basic vocabulary of film)
26 comments:
Film Technique in Michael Radford's film, 1984
The composition of a scene in 1984 where Winston Smith is accused of being a "thought criminal" by his neighbour's son is a personal favourite because it, although only seconds long, communicates a great deal of important information to the viewer. In the shot, the dominant (where our eye goes first) is on Parson’s son, staring at Winston suspiciously. The subsidiary contrasts are Parson’s daughter, who is intently watching the telescreen, which displays a shot of people’s bodies rotating after being hung on multiple gallows. The shot feels claustrophobic and helps show how propaganda techniques influence the young. In this dystopia, even the children are corrupted.—106 words
To see this short clip go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU#t=0m30s (note that the scene is only a second or two. Click "pause" to see what I'm talking about.
If you’d like to link us to YouTube scene (exactly the scene by the minute and second), go to and follow the simple instructions at http://www.youtubetime.com
I liked this scene because it is more visual than verbal. Regarding to the "Mise - en - scene examining", the filmmaker let “The camera do the talking”. I believe he used these techniques to create loneliness and sadness mood, especially with the background music. In this scene Sergio Leone (Director) used varied techniques. The first technique started with fade - in dissolve by using the fumes to discover the train arrival. Afterward, when the train stopped, the camera swung slowly on the left and upward (Crane Shot) then it provided an overhead view of scene. Then, while she looked out from the train the camera moved rapidly from a wide-angle shot to a telephoto shot in one continuous movement that made her appear larger in the frame which is known as (Zoom in). Other techniques that he used are called (A long Shot) and (Dollying or Tracking). While she was going through the inside of the station office, the camera moved backward in one continuous movement and then he used the (Internal Framing) shot from the window and again the camera went upward (Crane Shot) to make a (wide shot) over the village. Finally, when she looked right and left from the carriage, the camera “became” the character's eyes; this is called (A subjective Pan).
http://www.vimeo.com/7620082
Zarmina: Wonderfully detailed and helpful comment. It is not necessary to go into so many different techniques, however, so other students should know that two (even if both are about movement, for example) will be fine. It should be fun to review the scenes on Wednesday!
My recent favorite scene is from a Movie, called “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” It was the first time people saw hamburgers fell off from the sky. First, to emphasize their surprise, the camera quickly moved, zoomed in and tightly framed people’s face. Everyone turned and looked up with their eyes and mouths big open; men and women, old and young, and even monkey and bird. Pink light (high-key lighting) shined their faces. Then the camera zoomed out, to show pink enormous hamburger shaped clouds were getting close to the town. From the approaching clouds, hamburgers started to drop. Under the burger rain, the music then got louder and louder, strong sunlight came through the thick clouds; they gave an image of the happiest moment. Everyone cheered, and the inventor caught one, took a big bit and shouted, “It really worked!” I believe it would be a revolutionary invention.
-150 words-
Due to the Vimeo problem, the first link that I posted below my comment doesn’t work. Here is the right one. Sorry for this inconvenience.
http://www.vimeo.com/7635950
Thanks
This Scene is from the movie The Protector starring Tony Jaa. I picked this scene because the director emphasizes certain sounds and uses slow motion to emphasize certain parts of the fighting. Slow motion I think is a great way to take something that looks cool and make it look better. In slow motion you see things in a different perspective than you normally would. For example in the scene i posted at the end he jumps off the roof of a building and hits the bad guy who looks to be a good twenty feet away. If that part was played normally it would have happened so fast you would not have caught that. The sounds that you hear while the fighting is going on are good to. Every blow to the body you hear and at one point you hear every joint in one guys body breaking. Also you hear the bones of all the other guys breaking, and you hear every time one of the guys gets sliced by the bones.
- 160 Words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPDc7bOK0_s&NR=1
The scene in the movie “The Green Mile” where a prisoner was executed by “Electric Chair” is one of my favourites because it was realistic, as if I was present on the scene. The composition of the scene where Tom Hanks discovered that the sponge was dry gave the viewers a chance to see things through the character‘s eyes, by the zooming in and out of the camera from one subject to another. The low key lighting, the presence of lightning and the horrified faces of the audience (including the jail guard) emphasized a suspense atmosphere. The part where the audience started running towards the exit was framed tightly, leaving the characters limited space move at, showing the viewers a more chaotic scene.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KMnAm7fiUo#t=1m0s
Be aware that the clip Marc links to shows a man's death by electric chair graphically (and realistically) in addition to the elements noted. We can discuss such realism in class on Wednesday. It's not to everyone's taste, but I think that artists have both the right and the responsibility to show difficult truths to an audience willing to bear them.
This scene is from the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by David Fincher. I love this movie because it made me crying and gave me strong emotion when I watched this film. When I first watched this movie, I had to wonder… who and how to ages backwards? Technically, like most of David Fincher's movies, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a curious film. I like the scene about the story’s start. The director used undertone music, and he also introduced lots of old past pictures to describe this story. Especially, a big clock was backward and a baby’s born that it indicated dramatis personae--Benjamin Button’s ages backwards. This made me attention and felt curious. The director used character proxemics and color values two techniques. So, the film spans from the end of World War 1 to the arrival of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The transitions from life stage to life stage and decade to decade are seamless. Some timeworn and gloomy color made me sadness. War, dancing, and baby’s scream made audience cliffhanging. Time and space changed in the movie.
--186 words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqeqaweXBV0
“Out of Africa” unfolds with a refreshing sense of optimism for me. In one scene, in which Meryl Streep and Robert Redford drive to a small airport to fly into the sky of Africa, the filmmaker-Sydney Pollack, utilizes the deep space and wide-shot techniques to represent this deeply romantic epic. Along with the wide-open space; the cerulean sky, the far-flung ocean, the flying seagulls and running horses one by one attract the audiences’ eyes, while the cameras uninterruptedly follow the airplane. Some mobile frames focus the natural vision; other static frames focus on the lovers. When Streep offers her right hand to Redford, a close shot is used to show their tightly held hands. Here, the filmmaker purposefully entraps us to scrutinize their happy expression. In this scene, with no dialogue, but with the African landscape particularly impressed upon us, their love seems limitless like the continuous horizon.
(148 words)
Out of Africa (trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF-lNumI2qk&feature=related
Video response to Out of Africa (trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMGmS0xGqg&feature=response_watch
I Enjoy this sceen of Anne in "Anne Of Green Gables The Continuing Story", because it makes me feel as im there and im feeling her fustration, Anne is having a hard time finding her husband alone and now she is given another life to care for.This sceen feels so realistic and it make you see what obstacles Anne walk through all for love.It shows you how close she was to being reunited to her husband but a simple noise such as a boom seperates them to a further extent, but it give the viewer the hope that hes still alive and well and you know that Anne will do what ever it takes find Gill again and take a chance on her life and the babies due to a promise.
-131
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHzj15R60NQ
My favourite starting scene among three movies is “City of God”. From the beginning, sharpening the knife to a stone suggest us that the movie is going to show a shocking story. A chicken’s desperate escape could be symbolized that the hero of this movie running away from the ugly society but there was ruthless chasing only.
One of the typical techniques is “close up”. There are many close up scene; scenes of sharpening knife, killing chicken, and gangster’s face when he ordered to catch the chicken. Another technique was “pictured by circling 360 degree” which is one of the ways to abrupt change to a few years before.
Continuing close up and rapid tempo from the beginning of this movie has an effect the audience falling deeply in this movie. Circling 360 degree announce to the audience that the hero has encountered quiet same condition as before.
-148 words, Nov. 17, 2009
This scene from the movie “The Proposal” is my favorite scene. Although the director did not use many camera tricks or movie techniques, but it is the main scene where the process of ‘The Proposal’ starts. Average viewer may just see the one proposal in the movie – When the Hero proposes marriage to Heroine, but in this scene, the Heroine proposes solution to her boss about her visa problem. After this, series of proposals follow during the movie. In this particular scene, the director uses mainly three-point lighting, slow motion, internal framing (Hero staying in the doorframe). Camera movements include mainly panning and zooming on the faces of the characters. Director has used décor and costumes of a typical modern office room, and many point of view (POV) shots, which gives the feeling that we are watching them through the eyes of one of the characters in the scene. (149 words)
Link to the scene in discussion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSdK6mEWiKE
Here is another link ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPgZcW8MCaA ) to a brief three-minute trailer, which shows many scenes before and after this scene in the movie.
In the movie “Gone with the Wind”, there is one shot where Scarlett was screaming in her nightmare; Rhett gently woke her up and curdled her in his arm. She told him she always had this dream that she was searching something in the mist, but she didn’t know what it is. The lighting technique is high key lighting; the fill light was raised to almost the same level as key lighting. The image had a rim of bright shiny edge which led the audiences into a feeling of dream and fantasy. The close up shot of both Scarlett and Rhett represented the intimate and romantic relationship between them. At the end of the story, Scarlett was walking through the deep mist to look for Rhett, which completed the plot of her dream. Rhett again disappeared into the deep mist by ending the marriage with her.
146 words
Paul Edgecomb sneaks out briskly of the old folk’s center, taking two pieces of dry toast in his pocket and wonders off to the hill to meet his long time pal Mr. Jingles is one of my favorite scenes in the Green Mile. His bright red jacket caught my attention right away, because everything else is hazy and blurry. In this scene, the color, red is the dominant color and it signifies something to do with blood; the shedding of innocent blood. Also, Paul, walking on the hill in the dark, cloudy atmosphere suggests us that it’s a sad or serious story. The film maker manipulates the somber mood by using side lighting (only half-lit). And the shot is taken far away that implies a flashback to the past. (132 words)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c99GgKLRZZQ
The opening scene of Gladiator directed by Ridley Scott, and played by Russell Crowe “the general who becomes a slave then turns to a gladiator through bloody sword battles” is literally inspiring. The opening scene includes three dazzling combination of mini short scenes to introduce the audience for an epic journey of none stop actions and excitements. First, foggy smoke, lighting and musical sound effect in the background sets the scene for a somber storyline. Seconds later, using a close up shot of gentle touch of the character’s hand on the open fields of wheat under clear sky reminds the audience about the soft side of character. The last part of scene concludes the opening by showing human destruction site in the cold, dark and foggy winter through old style military forces armed and dressed vividly at close proximity for color and texture. Anyone who watches the opening scene may not stop watching until the end of the movie because the first scene captures his or her full attention.
(169 words, I have the DVD. The complete opening scene is not available online)
My favorite scene is from the movie called “The Illusionist.” I watched this movie many times, but every time I watch this movie, It’s so fun and miraculous. Even though I know some of the magic tricks shown in the movie are computer graphics, they are still amazing and fun to watch. This scene is mostly shown from far away and the camera shows the performer and the audience back and forth. Computer graphic is used in this scene to make this trick possible. Also a tense atmosphere could be felt in the background music when the orange tree is growing. This scene is very visual and leaves us amazed.
-110 words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiFEoxpWlbE
The film “Pride and Prejudice” (2005) is considered a drama romantic genre because many trials, tribulations, and love stand between characters. There is a scene where the main characters are in a ballroom, Lizzie is among many people, and at this moment, the director (Joe Wright) uses a zoom shoot to focus her. He makes us concentrate in the way she acts, her movements and sights. She is waiting to see the new neighbors, chatting and laughing. Suddenly, a close-up of Mr. Darcy fills the frame, and gives him an air of superiority. Next, a tracking shot let us follow his sight meanwhile his wadding through the crowd. In this particular moment, he makes a quick glance where she is, and it takes a double look to make eye contact with her. After this, the camera moves forward within several close-ups of both characters. These zoom shoots help the spectators to identify the special moment they choose each other among all the people in the ballroom.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGsYmM--VKw&feature=related
170 words
I enjoyed the scene of the film “I am in love” by ‘OJ production’ because it is realistic in world today. A boy whose wife is going to snatched by a person who came from America and his best friend were hide under banana leaf and whistled to call an attention of a father of snatcher and tied his leg by rope and warned him to prevent his son from his girlfriend. Gabrel, who believes that his girlfriend is going to be his wife and will live together forever, got an obstacle between him and his girlfriend; the boys were happy at the incident and went home. However, the man told his son to get them and take an action because of their mistreating him on the way and his son hired the men to find the boy. The hired persons surprised him how this small boy frustrated him all the way from America and what they will going to do. He ordered them to catch and inject him with cocaine to make his brain high for few days in order to get marry with Gabrel’s girlfriend. Gabrel went to his parent home nutty and seen to girlfriend. Whatever he faced all these problems and a man from America married her, by him and his friend’s strength, his hope fulfilled and married with her
One of my favorite scenes is from the movie "Sleepy Hollow". To me, it's a pretty humorous scene where the main character, who is the only one who denies the existence of the headless horseman, witnesses him beheading the man he was just talking with. For this scene, the director used a lot of shot/reverse shots and eyeline matches. The camera mainly focuses on the characters faces and the objects they're looking at. Not only these were used to help us identify with the situation, but also sound effects, lighting and colors (mainly grayish), that all created the right atmosphere (horror, tension).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSMOsz-rPe0#t=0m56s
In “Boyz in Da Hood”, the lighting technique we see the director use is underlighting in a particular scene I chose. This occurs when the main characters are driving at night in a car about to go commit a crime. This technique helps create a more frightening type of mood which allows the viewer to get right into the film. The framing used in this scene is a close- up, as each character is individually zoomed up during the scary and most definitely realistic car ride. This helps you get a more of an emotional feel, as you get to see each characters facial expression. By having the camera zoomed in, it also creates suspense as to what’s going to happen next, keeping on your feet during the entire scene.
130 Words.
My favourite scene in a movie is 1978’s “Deer Hunter,” starring Robert De
Niro and Christopher Walken.
The movie is about a group of small town boys that go to Vietnam, get captured and are forced to play Russian roulette. They end up escaping, but the whole scenario warps the mind of one of the soldiers. In my favourite scene, Robert De Niro’s character finds his friend that stayed in Vietnam and tries to convince him to return home, when he refuses Robert continues to convince him, but over a game of Russian roulette. The tight framing of the emotionally drenched faces mixed with character proxemics of the two men depicts such an ardent battle between the two friends, coupled with the stark subsidiary contrast of the jeering crowd increases the climate of the scene immensely. All this added up makes this scene so intensely dramatic, amazing.
150 words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBCuG87x-RI
My favourite scene in the movie “ The Bridges of Madison County” is a good example of using two common techniques to create a certain mood or unique atmosphere. In this scene, both Robert and Francesca were seen or shown mainly through the windows of a truck. The black frame of the window created another world, in which nothing else exist except the two. Looking steadily at the smile on Robert’s soaking face, and watching him hanging her necklase on his rear-view mirror, through the dripping wet window, Francesca did as if through her misty eyes. A close shot of her hand, moving the door handle up and down, up and down - at the bottom of her heart, she is struggling with her affection and morality. Watching Robert’s truck slowly turned left at the intersection, out of sight from the window of her truck, Francesca’s entire world became empty.
(150 words)
The scene can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaMST_hNUVQ&feature=related
My favourite scene happens to be in one of my favourite movie: “Pan’s Labyrinth”, a scene which the protagonist put herself into dire situation due to self greediness. “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a movie merge with both fairytale and reality. On the reality side of the movie, where the Spanish civil war took place, the protagonist, Ofelia, found her shelter in the fairytale world by meeting the labyrinth owner, Faun. Faun assigned her with three quests which all involved great danger, unlike the common belief that fairytale suppose to be peaceful and happy. My favourite scene is in the second quest which Ofelia has to retrieve a dagger from the lair of the Pale Man, an eyeless creature who eats children. Ofelia disobeyed Faun’s warning of not to consume any food in the lair, so she ended up chased by the Pale Man. I find that part interesting due to the special design of the Pale Man, who looks through things by putting his eyes on his hands. I also like the part when Ofelia being stubborn and careless, illuminates the symbolism of human being blinded by greed.
187 words.
Trailor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw&feature=PlayList&p=63091CEC61B7EAA9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=24
Important plots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUjPS7W5ju4&feature=related
My favourite scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YD2PFF31E&feature=related
PS:My posts were late due to computer break down during last weekend, so I have to type and post in school computer.
I attached the link of my favorite scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T51r2k5oPo
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