Class #1.5: Top 20 Cinematic Techniques Analysis
This video clip we watched in the first class gives clear examples of the top 20 cinematic techniques used in films. Though it has some mistakes and the terminology is s bit different, it is still a great video that helped me to understand how these techniques are being used in films. In this post, I finished up an exercise we briefly did in class- analyzing why the director used these techniques and what he/she wanted to convey by using them.
*Note: I have not watched most of these films in full length (embarrassing, I know), so most of my speculations are based solely on the presented clips.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3EnnBDgMww&feature=related]1. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006): Long Take, Doggicam
The camera forces the viewer into the situation unfolding on the screen. The 360-degree shot literally traps the viewer in the car with the other characters, with no visible escape. It is very effective in capturing the almost claustrophobic tension in the car.
2. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006): Long Take, Tracking shot
The camera is treated as a character in this take. The splatters of blood on the lens and the head-like movement of the camera enables the viewer to become one of the characters on the screen. At one point, a woman even talks directly to the camera- to the viewers. The camera succeeds in providing a first-person narrative to them.
3. Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007): Long Take, Steadicam
The long take allows the viewers to observe the two characters during their trek through a battlefield, and at the same time partake in the emotions they go through while watching the horses being put to death.
4. Star Wars IV (George Lucas, 1977): Extreme Establishing Shot
Establishing shots are pretty straightforward; the order of the individual shots set the overall scale of space, the space vehicle and its orientation within space, and then establishes the setting in more detail.
5. Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001): Establishing Shot
Standard establishing shot capturing the overall mood of the setting. Smooth and slow camera movements.
6. Cowboys and Aliens (Jon Favreau, 2011): Pan
The lateral movement of the panning camera (panning to the right) adds to the surprise factor at the end of the clip when Daniel Craig pops up at the right end of the screen.
7. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992): Low Angle
A clear example of how low angle shots can imbue the shown characters with authority, menace.
8. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941): Crane Up
A shot that communicates the spatial orientation of the setting as well as the image of Susan Kane.
9. Mission Impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996): Dutch Angle
The oblique angle, as well as the sinister background music, adds to the confusion of the conversation. It also illustrates how Ethan Hunt is reacting in this conversation.
10. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004): Frantic Zoom
Oh, it’s frantic all right.
11. Cloverfeild (Matt Reeves, 2008): Point of View (…?)
Handheld camera- drawing on the journalistic characteristics of this technique, conveys the unexpectedness of events.
12. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010): Special Effects
One of the most striking scenes in the whole movie. It boggles my mind how he captured the movements so smoothly.
13. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009): Slow Motion
Extends the ‘gross factor’ of the zombies…very effectively.
14/15. Kill Bill Vol.1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003): Panoramic Traveling/Horizontal Panning
Coupled with the movement of various onscreen characters, lets the viewers survey the setting and the various goings-on.
16. The Other Guys (Adam McKay, 2010): High Angle, Tilt, Slow Motion
I think this would qualify more as a bird’s-eye shot than a high angle, but either way all three elements capture the process of the fall and the ‘thud’ of the fall very effectively.
17. A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968): Match cut
Interesting way to 1. show the passing of time 2. draw a parallel between the two time periods.
18. A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968): Spin
Essentially the same effect as the special effects in Inception. In Inception Nolan spun the set; here, Kubrick spun the camera. Matched with the ballet music, the camera ‘turns’ where the ballerina would have done a pirouette.
19. Limitless (Neil Burger, 2011): Limitless Zoom
LIMITLESS sight. LIMITLESS.
20. Eminem- Space Bound music video: split screen
Umm…hmm…. it shows two possibilities of a single event. Parallel universe, string theory malarkey.
drama, film, and society 
I’m glad Children of Men was used, Cuaron does a masterful job using both the visuals and audio techniques to put the viewer in the movie with the characters (the tinnitis ringing that continues after the opening bombing into the next scene, for example).
I haven’t watched the whole movie yet, but even from the short clips I watched I loved how he used the camera with a definite purpose in mind. Embarrassingly, the only Cuaron movie I’ve watched is Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, but Children of Men is definitely on my must-view list.