There are so many images from films that have struck me and I wish I could include them all in this post, but here are the 10 that I picked. Also, in no particular order except for Jurassic Park!
1. Jurassic Park - Directed by Steven Spielberg
If I have talked to you about my love for film and my story, this scene will always come up. This is from the scene where the T-Rex breaks out of her cage and begins to wreak havoc on Dr. Grant, Tim, Lexie, and the "blood-sucking lawyer", Donald. This image is nice because it uses the rule of thirds very well. The T-Rex is directly in the middle with all four focal points on her. She was the real star of the film after all!
2. Shame - Directed by Steve McQueen
I guess I have to admit that I've seen this... This scene follows an extremely uncomfortable scene where Brandon (Fassbender) listens to his sister have sex. He is a struggling sex addict and literally flees from temptation. This is Steve McQueen's signature: He has these long, continuous shots in his films that are almost uncomfortable at times. This one is beautiful because it shows the streets of New York and imitates the jogging.
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Directed by Alfonso Cauron
Harry and Hermione have just traveled back in time. As they make their way from the hospital wing to Hagrid's hut, the camera follows them and then it moves through the cogs of the clock, out the window, and then flies down to the courtyard to meet back up with Harry and Hermione. The camera movement from this scene shows off the geography of Hogwarts, which was the goal of Cauron wanted when he helmed Prisoner of Azkaban.
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Directed by Chris Columbus
This is when the Dursley's find out that there is no escaping magic and magic will always find its way to Harry. The camera angle looking down at Harry jumping and reaching for letters with joy is so unique to me. It expresses the chaos of the situation very well in my opinion and the combination with the score always gives me goosebumps.
5. Shutter Island - Directed by Martin Scorsese
Teddy (DiCaprio) is reunited with his dead wife in a drug induced dream. I like this particular image from the scene because of all the ashes falling that are consuming the entire living apartment. The ashes, blood, and water are all context clues to what happened to Teddy's wife. The scene is pretty colorful despite the content being dark, which is my favorite thing about this scene and the entire film.
6. Schindler's List - Directed by Steven Spielberg
I actually have never seen Schindler's List, but I know the context of the little girl in red and I think (and it feels like everyone else does too) that it is one of the most striking images to ever grace cinema. This is a perfect example of imagery used in a film to tell the story. As another teacher of mine says, the dialogue isn't even needed when the girl in the red coat is shown on screen. The audience can piece it together with just the visuals (hey, visual storytelling)!
7. Pleasantville - Directed by Gary Ross
Another film that effectively use color and black and white to convey the story. Betty (Joan Allen) converted into technicolor and is scared to face the rest of the world so David (Tobey Maguire) decides to help her cover up by putting on her makeup for her to conceal herself. There are a series of close-ups, medium shots, and one wide shot. It perfectly conveys the emotions of the scene. The key to the scene, though, is Betty stark contrast with the black and white. It is extremely beautiful and emotional.
8. Titanic - Directed by James Cameron
I wanted a clip of the doors being blasted into the hallway by the surging water, but this is my second favorite image from Titanic. This was when the second half of the ship was rising. There is something haunting about the plates falling slowly from the shelves and smashing into the floor. I think it shows how precious the ship was and how it was totally destroyed. The placement of the camera feels scary to me cause the plates are falling forward.
9. There Will Be Blood - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
The first major oil rig owned by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) explodes and catches on fire causing a huge loss in revenues and a few people to get hurt including Plainview's son. This scene mostly consists of wide and extreme wide shots such as this image. This one is the most haunting to me because it is hellish and the score is just as hellish. The rig is in the center of the frame along with the silhouette of Plainview and leads the eye there.
10. I, Robot - Directed by Alex Proyas
This is the final shot from I, Robot where Sonny and all of the robots realize who he truly is. The camera starts off as a close-up on Sonny's face and moves backwards to reveal the other robots stopping and looking up to Sonny. By the time it ends, it becomes a beautiful extreme wide shot that includes Sonny barely visible on the hill overlooking his new admirers with the bridge centered in the background and the shipping containers making up the sides of the frame. It really captures the scope of the film.
1. Jurassic Park - Directed by Steven Spielberg
If I have talked to you about my love for film and my story, this scene will always come up. This is from the scene where the T-Rex breaks out of her cage and begins to wreak havoc on Dr. Grant, Tim, Lexie, and the "blood-sucking lawyer", Donald. This image is nice because it uses the rule of thirds very well. The T-Rex is directly in the middle with all four focal points on her. She was the real star of the film after all!
2. Shame - Directed by Steve McQueen
I guess I have to admit that I've seen this... This scene follows an extremely uncomfortable scene where Brandon (Fassbender) listens to his sister have sex. He is a struggling sex addict and literally flees from temptation. This is Steve McQueen's signature: He has these long, continuous shots in his films that are almost uncomfortable at times. This one is beautiful because it shows the streets of New York and imitates the jogging.
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Directed by Alfonso Cauron
Harry and Hermione have just traveled back in time. As they make their way from the hospital wing to Hagrid's hut, the camera follows them and then it moves through the cogs of the clock, out the window, and then flies down to the courtyard to meet back up with Harry and Hermione. The camera movement from this scene shows off the geography of Hogwarts, which was the goal of Cauron wanted when he helmed Prisoner of Azkaban.
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Directed by Chris Columbus
This is when the Dursley's find out that there is no escaping magic and magic will always find its way to Harry. The camera angle looking down at Harry jumping and reaching for letters with joy is so unique to me. It expresses the chaos of the situation very well in my opinion and the combination with the score always gives me goosebumps.
5. Shutter Island - Directed by Martin Scorsese
Teddy (DiCaprio) is reunited with his dead wife in a drug induced dream. I like this particular image from the scene because of all the ashes falling that are consuming the entire living apartment. The ashes, blood, and water are all context clues to what happened to Teddy's wife. The scene is pretty colorful despite the content being dark, which is my favorite thing about this scene and the entire film.
6. Schindler's List - Directed by Steven Spielberg
I actually have never seen Schindler's List, but I know the context of the little girl in red and I think (and it feels like everyone else does too) that it is one of the most striking images to ever grace cinema. This is a perfect example of imagery used in a film to tell the story. As another teacher of mine says, the dialogue isn't even needed when the girl in the red coat is shown on screen. The audience can piece it together with just the visuals (hey, visual storytelling)!
7. Pleasantville - Directed by Gary Ross
Another film that effectively use color and black and white to convey the story. Betty (Joan Allen) converted into technicolor and is scared to face the rest of the world so David (Tobey Maguire) decides to help her cover up by putting on her makeup for her to conceal herself. There are a series of close-ups, medium shots, and one wide shot. It perfectly conveys the emotions of the scene. The key to the scene, though, is Betty stark contrast with the black and white. It is extremely beautiful and emotional.
8. Titanic - Directed by James Cameron
I wanted a clip of the doors being blasted into the hallway by the surging water, but this is my second favorite image from Titanic. This was when the second half of the ship was rising. There is something haunting about the plates falling slowly from the shelves and smashing into the floor. I think it shows how precious the ship was and how it was totally destroyed. The placement of the camera feels scary to me cause the plates are falling forward.
9. There Will Be Blood - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
The first major oil rig owned by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) explodes and catches on fire causing a huge loss in revenues and a few people to get hurt including Plainview's son. This scene mostly consists of wide and extreme wide shots such as this image. This one is the most haunting to me because it is hellish and the score is just as hellish. The rig is in the center of the frame along with the silhouette of Plainview and leads the eye there.
10. I, Robot - Directed by Alex Proyas
This is the final shot from I, Robot where Sonny and all of the robots realize who he truly is. The camera starts off as a close-up on Sonny's face and moves backwards to reveal the other robots stopping and looking up to Sonny. By the time it ends, it becomes a beautiful extreme wide shot that includes Sonny barely visible on the hill overlooking his new admirers with the bridge centered in the background and the shipping containers making up the sides of the frame. It really captures the scope of the film.
I'm loving all of the Harry Potter movies, who doesn't love Harry Potter. Especially Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, it is such a visually stunning for being the first of the series and being made in 2001. I used to watch Pleasantville like once a week when I was a kid, I absolutely love that movie. After looking up when it was made, I just realized that it was released in 1998 and my mind is blown.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Sydnee! Who doesn't love HP?! Sorcerers Stone introduced us to a future of visually fantastic films.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you love DiCaprio so that makes two of us. I think his performance in Shutter Island was almost as awesome as the movie was. So many twists....
ReplyDeleteI have never seen the movie Shame but I now feel I know that character inside out. I never thought I would be so compelled by two minutes of a man running through New York City (and most of the time it was so dark I couldn't even see him). This was a unique way to explain a character's need to run away.
ReplyDeleteShutter Island is also one of my favorites, I love the craziness of the film. The scene you picked with his dead wife is also one of my favorite scenes for the colors going from bright to dark and the camera movements.
ReplyDeleteYou cant talk about movie history without talking about Jurassic Park. A cinematic achievement for its time and its still good to today despite all of the flaws in the story that people have decided to point out on youtube.
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ReplyDeleteWe obviously have a lot of the same film interests. Titanic is my all time favorite movie, although I’m not entirely sure why, because I hate romantic stories. I’ve probably seen it over 300 times though. I could recite the entire movie and tell you every shot from memory… that’s embarrassing. Also loved the crazy story/cinematography of Shutter Island, and Harry Potter and Jurassic Park will always been in my top movie list. I’ll have to watch the rest of your list- I figure there’s a pretty high chance I’ll like them too.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff Colson! I remember seeing Prisoner of Azkaban for the first time, and I noticed they had done some more interesting cinematography. The Harry Potter films took a step forward in style in that film I think. I'm also a big Spielberg and Scorcese fan, and Schindler's List is one of the most compelling and harrowing stories that I've seen. The way that Spielberg puts emphasis on ultra-specific colors makes you really think about his decisions, which leads you to think about the content. When you get a chance, watch the whole film - it's unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteI love the scene you picked out from Shutter Island. The movie as a whole does a great job of fooling us of what is real and what is in DiCaprio's head. This scene is intentional in letting us know we're in his head and it's a very creative scene at that.
ReplyDeleteSo many awesome choices! I especially love the Harry Potter and Shutter Island scenes. I thought Shutter Island's cinematography really perfected the kind of "insane" feel the whole movie.
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