It's True, It's Twilight

For our very very challenging task of watching a movie at home, I had a surprisingly difficult time deciding which movie to watch. I was gonna go with Pearl Harbor, but quite frankly it's inaccuracy just shits me to absolute tears. Come on. The Japanese did NOT bomb near the hospital - it just didn't happen. 

Then I thought I'd analyse one of my favourite movies ever. Apollo 13. Tom Hanks, Ron Howard - can it get any better? I mean seriously. But I actually enjoy that movie, I didn't want to sit there and pick it apart. 

I thought about several others ... 12 Angry Men (which is a classic, if you haven't seen it - sort your life out and watch it. the original, not the remake) ... To Kill A Mockingbird, Silence of the Lambs ... until I decided on one and that'll probably annoy a lot of people - Twilight.

Yes, I know what you might be thinking. That you're sick of Twilight, the books, the movies, the publicity, the hype and so on, but believe it or not the movie has some absolutely fantastic camera work in it. For those of you who are familiar - the scene in the forest where Bella tells Edward she knows he's a vampire has some camera work that is so well done, I'm impressed every time. The camera circles the two of them - it's all angular, and high up and continues spinning. I think it's pretty cool.

The scene in the forest

Twilight, 2008

So I went ahead and watched the movie again, this time with my note book and a pen in my hand. I noted particular scenes where close ups and long shots were used to tell the viewer (in this case me) what was going on without any of the characters having to speak. When it comes down to it, shots are chosen to explain the "who, what, when, where, why and how" aspects of a scene. 

Last week's lecture informed us of the different types of shots, as well as what type of shots are used to portray certain things (eg. who is the character, what are they doing?) I found some examples from Twilight for you to look at:

"Who?"

[Close Up]

This type of shot aims to show the viewer the character in more detail. 

"What?"

[Mid Shot]

This type of shot aims to show the subject(s) performing an action.

"Where?"

[Long Shot]

This type of shot aims to show the location of the scene and is often referred to as the establishing shot.

"When?"

[Wide Shot/Close Up]

This type of shot aims to show what time of day it is, however it is often quite difficult to capture time in a single shot.

"Why?"

[Big Close Up]

This type of shot aims to reveal more about a character and their actions.

"How?"

[Medium Close Up/ Close Up]

These types of shots aim to explain an event that is occurring to the character.

If you haven't already watched Twilight, I would recommend you check out what all the fuss is about. It stays quite loyal to the storyline of the book and had a brilliant director. It's incredible to watch these movies and to see the choices the crew made when making the film. 

References:

1. "BeyondHollywood.com", Nix, http://www.beyondhollywood.com/twilight-2008-movie-images-gallery, 16th August 2009 
   
2. "Twilight Stills", http://www.aceshowbiz.com/movie/twilight/photo.html, 16th August 2009
3. "The Twilight Saga Wiki", http://twilightsaga.wikia.com/wiki/Twilight_movie_screenshots, 18th August 2009