Cinematography blog tasks

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.

The sequence starts with a wide shot of the fountain, couch and New York city in the background. After that we have a long shot, this time focusing on the couch, where the cast is appearing one after another. Then we have all friends dancing around with a tracking shot on two of them and a medium shot on one of the actresses. Next there is an introduction to the cast of the show, mixing medium shots with medium long shots and close ups. At the end we have a long shot of the couch, now turned around, with friends sitting on it.

2) How does the camerawork give the audience clues about the setting, narrative and character?

The camera work is really energetic, there are a lot of cuts and tracking shots. That might suggests that the characters on the show are really positive, humorous and have a lot of energy. The long shots at the begging and the end gives us a theme of the series: a life of six best friends in Manhattan.

3) Find and analyse four film or TV stills. Embed the images in your blog and analyse the camera shot/angle and what they communicate to the audience.  


1. A still from horror movie 'Halloween' 


The woman and the villain are placed in symmetrical position on this camera shot. That shows us that the characters are going to face each other and they acknowledging each others presence. The camera seems to be blocking the way out so the woman in stuck in a corner with the man with the mask. That makes the illusion of almost claustrophobic feeling.

2. A still form movie 'The Lobster' 


On this movie still, the camera shot plays a big role. The long shot that feels almost like a wide shot tells us that the characters are somewhere where the aren't a lot of civilization.  All that there is are mountains and a road, which seems to be empty. Because of that the characters seems to be a little helpless. 

3. A still from a Swedish movie 'Sill life' 


This still image is a high angle shot. The angle is so sharp that from what we expect to be a medium shot, we've got a long shot. The man seems to be scared of what is in front of him. He looks a lot smaller and vulnerable. 

4. A still from a TV series 'Stranger Things'
 

This still image is a low angle shot. For a lot of times a low angle shot is used to show the dominance of the character, but here it's used to kind of make this shot a POV shot. The low angle is used to see the reactions of the characters and to make us more engaged with the scene.