Camera Shots/Angles

In this post I will be talking about the range of camera shot three different scenes/moments in three films.

'Soft' directed by Simon Ellis:
The first one I will be looking at is the start of 'Soft' directed by Simon Ellis (video to the right). The 14 minuet film starts with a clip from a camera phone filmed by the youths. The quality of this part is very poor to exaggerate that it's being filmed by the youths. This is also used a lot through out the short film to portray parts of the film through the youths perception. The camera then goes to a high shot angle showing the quiet suburb neighbourhood and the Dad parking and getting out his car. After this the camera changes to a medium close up of the stairs, it uses the rule of thirds in this shot by putting the stair banister in the middle as it isn't important. The shot shows the boy walking down the stairs, hearing his father come in then quickly go back up to show he is trying to avoid him. The camera then changes again to a medium shot showing that the father is in the kitchen making himself a drink.

'The Holiday'
I next noted the camera shots at the end of 'The Holiday', this is one of my favourite films so thought it would be really interesting to analyse (video to right watch from 6.35). The camera starts as a medium shot of the young girl (Olivia) running down the stairs, the camera moves with her showing the Christmas decorations on the stairs (this portrays that it's December). The camera then tracks out to show her Auntie Iris (played by Kate Winslet) spinning her around. After this the camera tracks slowly into their faces to show that they were happy and laughing, the camera then goes to a medium close-up again. This medium close-up shot stays until Iris stops spinning round her niece and kisses her. The camera then follows the two characters as they move into the other room with a medium long shot before changing again to a close-up of Iris smiling. The camera changes using a reverse angle shot to a medium long shot, showing Miles (played by Jack Black) joking around with Iris' other niece Sophie to show Iris is watching them. There is then another reverse shot back to Iris to show she is thinking about her relationship between her and Miles. After that there is then two more reverse shots of Miles looking at Iris and Iris looking at Miles these shots are both close-ups to depict their emotions. The next shot is another MS of Amanda (played by Cameron Diaz) walking into the lounge before there is another RA to show Iris, Miles, Olivia and Sophie all on the sofa before returning to the MS of Amanda and Graham (played by Jude Law) walking/dancing towards her. The shot stays there to show them both dancing and show there was a close relationship between them before another RA shot of the sofa. After that there is a CU of Graham smiling at them all (portraying a happy ending to satisfy the audience). The shots continue as MS and CU to show the relationships between all the characters and them all dancing before there is a MLS of the window which tracks out before showing the credits.

'The Lion King'
I next looked at Mufasa's death in 'The Lion King' because I knew this scene had good camera angles to show the status between both characters (clip to the right).
The shot first appears as a medium high angle shot of Mufasa holding onto the rock. The view represents how Scar sees him and portrays Mufasa as very vulnerable, there is then a reverse angle shot to show Mufasa looking at scar this a low angle shot to portray that Scar has all the power in this situation before returning the shot back to Mufasa as he slowly starts to fall. After that there's a low medium long shot to represent the relationship between the two brothers and both their status. The next shot is a close-up of Mufasa feet slipping of the rock and scratching it, this exaggerates the fact that he is falling. This quickly changes to another close-up of the rocks falling to exaggerate that he is falling even more.  The next three shots move very quickly, it starts as a  low angle close-up of Scar showing no emotion that Mufasa is falling however Scar then shows anger and moves forward, the next shot is a BCU of Scar holding onto Mufasa's paws, then there is a CU of Mufasa roaring. After that there is another MS to show Scar getting closer to kill his brother (building the pressure) and an extreme close up of Mufasa in horror before a big close up of Scar letting go of Mufasa (killing him). The next shot is a low angle shot showing Mufasa falling towards the audience then into the stampede. A quick CU of Simba is then shown to portray the horror on his face this then zooms out to a long shot, to depict how helpless he is.