Blog post #7 for Monday’s reading on March 16, 2020

Reading Summary

Every movie is made based on decisions. Shots are one of these decision. The director chose what type of shot is used for a scene which creates a meaning and reasoning of its own. Contrasting shots can mean contrasting things. An example is a high angle shows less power of the character it is showing while a low angle shows a character poses more power. The shots are called sloe-up, close shot, long shot, full shot, extreme long shot, medium shot, medium close up, establishing shot, two-shot, shot/reverse shot, and over-the-shoulder shot. These shots when put together create sequences, also referred to as scenes. The different scenes are called linear, associative, or montage. The way these scenes are put together from shot to shot is by using cuts. A transition is the way that a cut is executed. 

Source: Dick, B. (2002). “Film, space, and image.” Excerpt from Anatomy of film., 29 pages.

Outside Example 

(Spoiler Alert for Blade Runner 2049)

Blade Runner 2049 is one of my favorite movies because of how it was made. From the visual look of it, to the plot and how it was shown as a film. The film is a sequel to the original Blade Runner movie and follows K (Ryan Gosling) as he attempts to uncover the truth of not only his existence, but also the truth about the people behind the creation of replicants. To get the answers he is looking for he must track down Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who was the main character in the original movie. Deckard has been missing for 30 years, but K tracks him down at a resort in Las Vegas. The assistant to the replicant company, Luv, tracks down K and steals Deckard. Luv takes Deckard to headquarters in an attempt to get him to reveal the information that K is after. He doesn’t. Luv then takes him in transport to go get tortured, but K intercepts them and ends up fighting Luv in order to free Deckard. That scene is a pivotal scene and the way it is made is what makes it so good. 

Video source: https://youtu.be/1E6pT2P4_Lw

Reading Connection

It is a linear sequence. This scene first uses close shots and over the shoulder shots to make you feel closer to the action. The over the shoulder shots let you see the action of the person your behind and the reaction of the person you are looking at. In this case it is K’s action and Luv’s reaction to his fighting move and vise versa. It uses a combination of parallel cuts at first in the scene, then to straight cuts as they go into hand to hand combat. There is an establishing shot before the fighting to show Deckard is strapped in the slowly sinking car. There also is an establishing shot to show the distance between where Luv and K are fighting compared to where the sinking car is. As the action picks up the shots get closer and closer until it is a true close up shot of the two fighting in the sinking car.