Cinematography: Analytical task

 

1) Write an analysis of the cinematography in the opening sequence. Highlight your use of media language and try to cover camera shots, angles and movement using the terminology we have learned in lessons. 


From 0:45 - 3:41

  • Starts off with a long crane shot to establish the setting and where the story is being placed.
  • Lots of uses of medium close-up, close-ups and extreme close up to show the two characters at the start who are having a struggle to capture their facial expressions and the distress the women is in.
  • There is a medium shot of the police truck with a pan movement to show where it is heading which then also shows a long shot of the other police officers, vehicles and people.
  • The camera is then on a crane to further show the setting.
  • There is a low angle shot and a tilt movement when the police officers are walking down the stairs to show they are dominant and have power.
  • There is then a medium close-up to show Harrison Ford and his emotion of his anxiety but to also capture the background and the man handing a jacket.
  • The camera then follows the men as they leave, but just before Harrison Ford looks back, the camera stops following them to perhaps connote how this is the last time he will see his home and how he is never coming back.
  • We then see a medium close up which his focused on a cameraman, but we cannot see the journalist as it is not focused on him and also is facing the other way.
  • There is a medium shot with a Steadicam following the men to the car.
  • We see an over the shoulder shot from the cameraman to show what viewers would be able to see if they were watching the news.
2) How does the camerawork give the audience clues about the setting, narrative and character?

The medium close-up shows the police van and can make out that it says "CHICAGO POL..", so can tell there has just been a murder by looking at this and also the shot before of the close-up of the faces of a dead body. 

When the camera follows the men out of the house, we can tell as an audience that he is being taken to a police station for questioning.

The long crane shot at the start establishes to us as an audience that our story is set in the city.

The focus of the camera man and the journalist connotes how the story is a mystery and also that it will be solved as half is in focus and the other half isn't. 


Find and analyse one film or TV still image. Add the image to your blogpost. 

3) Analyse the camera shot/angle in the image and what it communicates to the audience. Remember to highlight the media terminology you use.


In this still image from Home Alone, we can see one of the characters, Harry, can be seen with a high angle making him look inferior and feeble.

The medium closeup captures his facial expressions, but also makes the background visible, so the audience can see what's happening (narrative).      

The facial expression and the setting create and demonstrates to the audience of a narrative that some sort of disaster is happening.

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