Film techniques significantly contribute to ensuring that viewer engagement is achieved and maintained. This complex process requires exquisite attention to detail and is perfected by Weir.…
How does the director Stephen Spielberg use filmic techniques to build suspense and tension in the opening sequence of the film ‘Jaws’?…
One image is replaced by another with a distinct edge that forms a shape. This film technique was used during the beach scene that Chief Brody was first informed of a possible shark attack. Chief Brody is very tense and is diligently watching the citizens in the water. As people walk back and forth in front of the camera the shots are reestablished on Chiefs Brody’s expressions and then back to the citizens swimming. The wipe effect was successfully executed.…
The beginning of the film Jaws starts of with the first attack. This scares the viewer from the very start and excites them, wanting to know what happens next and who else will be victims. The first victim, a girl, is attacked at night, so this would mean it would have been dark. This is done for two reasons, one the dark is scary to everyone as no one can see what is coming for them, or what it out there, and that links into the second reason, so we don’t see the shark, leaving a sense of mystery. The camera shot changes from being at eye level with the girl to the point of view of the shark. Being at eye level with the girl makes the person watching feel as if they are in the film itself, and can make the person feel more fear as they also know that there is something fast approaching because the shot keeps changing to the point of view of the shark, looking up at the girl swimming. When the shark attacks the girl it keeps the shot at eye level with the girl making the viewer feel as if it could be them. Then the girl is dragged under the water right in front of the camera, making it feel as if it is close to the viewer but also confirming that the girl defiantly has gone under the water. Then in the next part of the movie where they find the body one the beach, the viewer is the last to see the body. This holds suspense and makes the viewer want to see it more as they see everyone else see the body of the girl and reel back in horror, but also makes them not want to see it, as they can see it will be gruesome. When the report is being filled out for the death there is a close up shot of ‘shark attack’ being typed, this is the first time there is some confirmation that it was a shark that killed the girl, and also it makes the viewer look out for a shark in all the other scenes to come.…
In "Blood on the Beach", visual design, camera movement, and sound give the audience a sense of anxiety, horror, and dread. The scene opens with a long shot of a young boy walking out of the ominous water. The visual design of the beach uses mostly bright, cheery colors such as different shades of yellow, green, orange, and blue. This sets the mood as playful but anxious. The camera angle is mostly eye level. An editing technique called "eye-line match" is used when Chief Brody sees an older woman in the water floating and a mysterious black figure swims toward her. The sequence is him looking at the water with a straight face, then cuts to the water where the figure is swimming towards the woman, and then back to the chief who has a parnoid tone about him. He then realizes that the figure was an old man swimming. The over-the-shoulder shot is then used to frame and focus in on a girl in the water. When she screams Brody is fearful that the shark is attacking, but we are then shown that it is just her male friend putting her on his shoulders. This scream foreshadows an upcoming shark attack. We have diegetic sound as the kids run into the water. A line from the song "I Honestly Love You" is clearly heard; "But I got something to tell you, that I never thought I would". This refers to Chief Brody knowing about the previous shark attack and not telling anyone about it. As Ellen Brody tries to comfort the Chief, the mood of the movie is the exact opposite. The water splashes and kids scream as the noise on the beach loudens. The camera moves underwater and the non-diegetic noise is heard by the audience. The haunting instrumental music and the point of view shot puts us in…
The film's fragments are held together by the score, which sometimes works in interesting counterpoint to the images, undercutting awe with horror. The ACO collabourated with Jonny Greenwood a couple of years ago but largley resist ambient atmospherics here, favoring violin, piano, cello and…
The camera often looked up at Rick, showing him as an empowering figure. This was made even more impressive by the fact that when standing next to someone else, Rick looked around 5'5. The camera also zoomed in on the conversations and especially arguments between people and looked at them from a head on angle which gave the viewer a feeling of closeness within the story. Some of the shots were also amazingly coordinated with the music to the movie, which added a lot of effect. A scene that jumps out is when Rick is in his office and he sees Ilsa come in the window. The music jumps as the camera zooms in on Ilsa. It gives the audience the same feeling of surprise that was trying to be portrayed with Rick. The camera also used fades to show a flashback coming. This made it clear to the viewer what was going on, which is often an issue in other movies, even today. The camera also used things happening in the background to fade to a new scene. This happened in a scene in the bar when Rick was smoking a cigarette and the camera used the smoke to fade to a flashback. The use of shots gave the movie a sense of dramatic effect that would not have been there with the basic…
How does Steven Spielberg make the opening scene of Jaws so dramatic? Introduction: Jaws' is a Blockbuster hit and is still going strong, even though it was released in 1975. It was directed by Steven Spielberg. It was his first blockbuster hit and a brilliant way to start off his career. The ge…
A sequence shot involves both a long take and sophisticated camera movement; it is sometimes called by the French term plan-séquence. The use of the sequence shot allows for realistic and dramatically significant background and middle ground activity. Actors range about the set transacting their business while the camera shifts focus from one plane of depth to another and back again. Significant off-frame action is often followed with a moving camera, characteristically through a series of pans within a single continuous shot. An example of this is the first scene in the jury room of 12 Angry Men, where the jurors are getting settled into the room. In a film script, a shooting sequence is a part of the script consisting of a single unified…
All of a sudden the man’s boat is tipped over, as well as Michaels, and the shark comes up slowly and grabs him and pulls him under. There is a close-up shot of Michaels face with the expression of fear and shock. The sound of the man’s screaming is heard and then we see Jaws head coming out of the water to grab the man and his leg fall to the bottom of the pond. Already an hour into the two hour film; this is the first time that the director has given us a view of what Jaws looks like. Such suspense has been placed on what this creature looks like and Spielberg delivers it in this shocking scene by not using the non-diegetic sound that we have so far associated with the shark attacks.…
Steven Spielberg was one of the most influential filmmakers from the early 1970s to today. “Steven Spielberg: Films and History” analyzes the historical influence of Spielberg’s most iconic films starting from his first recognized film Deul (1971) ending at Saving Private Ryan (1998). He is known for introducing some of the most recurrent elements in the cinematic language, with themes in some of his movies relating to the time period in the society that he created the movies, and reflects past historical events.…
Shots: Sequence of shots is used in this movie clip. In fact, “several related scenes follow each other to form sequence” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, Sec. 5.3). In this case, the frame by frame sequence of shots used in this clip allows movie viewers to see what is most important at that moment. For example, the movie viewers would see a relaxed nature of Marion in the shower from many angles. Next, the movie viewers see the silhouette of the killer lurking in the doorway, then back to the shower. After the movie viewers see the killer attacking and the struggle amongst both characters hands. See that Marion slipping down the wall after the attack and then her lifeless foot as blood and water wash down the drain. In that case, the sequence of shots that movie viewers see all tie the scene together in a somewhat odd fashion. All in all, the editor allows movie viewers to feel the horror that is being portrayed showing these shots in sequence.…
The film Die Hard was released in 1988 and directed by John McTiernan. The film is a fast-paced action thriller. The movie involves police officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) trying to stop a terrorist organization lead by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) which has infiltrated a large sky scraper and taken the building’s employees hostage. One of the last scenes of the movie shows McClane confronting Gruber for the final time. Only Gruber and one of his men remain and they are in the company’s vault, stealing money and bonds along with they’re last hostage: McClane’s wife. In this scene, McTiernan expertly uses lighting, sound, and camera to bring this film’s climax to its highest potential.…
Hoblit employed a number of film techniques which enabled him to ensure that the audience received his characters the way he intended to. The use of close ups, also known as personal shots, concentrating on the characters face, gave us a…
Identify one example of each of the following shots and describe how the shot affected the presentation of the story told by the film: close-up, medium shot, and long shot.…