“What is Realism Really?

In this reading, Smith examines the effects of different choices to represent actions in the media we consume. For example, using the “documentary” look, directors can make the actions in their movies appear more spontaneous and as if it could really happen. For an audience to enjoy and perhaps identify themselves within the protagonist, the director may choose this style to allow the events to seem more feasible. Within this, some directors can employ strategies like “verbal spontaneity” to show that the characters portrayed have chemistry and are having a more realistic conversation. In the “dramatic look” the audience is given a more powerful point of view, capable of seeing a more refined series of events. With this strategy, directors can make audiences feel like they are experiencing something otherworldly, to make the events seem grand and abnormal. Both of these strategies serve a purpose to provide context for the events of the film or tv show, and to make the audience believe the events of the narrative.

Reading about the documentary look, I kept thinking about the fight scenes in “Captain America: Winter Soldier”. This fight scene is when Cap and his friends first have hand-to-hand combat with the Winter Soldier for the first time. The way the fight scenes are shot is interesting because it’s shot almost like someone passing by was recording it on a phone. The camera is shaky, cuts a lot, and is often behind objects like cars looking at the main characters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXPOl6EjbWg

This tactic was used to make the events of the Winter Soldier attacking Cap and his friends seem like it could really happen. The events of the attack happen in the middle of a busy, urban street. The shaky cam and angles make the audience feel like we are experiencing the anarchy like the other civilians running away from the explosions.