Study on Styles Assignment | Study on Styles
Please demonstrate your knowledge of the influence of Welles by citing an example of a trick shot from both The Best Years of Our Lives AND a modern film. Please also post a link from the modern film example to show your point. Please note one trick shot (deep focus, long tracking shot ( see here for examples of long, unbroken shots), fast/slow-motion photography, long zoom, use of mirrors, etc.) in the film “The Best Years of Our Lives” and, more importantly, a recent movie. What is really helpful is when you can link an example of the shot via a YouTube URL or other means.If you are slightly confused about what to look for in a movie for your analysis, let me help. The idea is that there are tons of really creative “trick” shots in modern movies that originated in how Welles and Tolland thought movies should look like. Think about City Lights, It Happened One Night or Casablanca. They are shot very straightforwardly with the camera simply capturing the action. Welles and Tolland changed all that by creating the idea of a showman director who will do tricks with the camera that creates a whole different experience for the audience that they could never get, say, from watching a stage play. A trick shot is NOT a pan or tilt or wind blowing through somebody’s hair. Nor is it a stunt. It is a shot unlike others because it uses highly creative visual imagination and great skill to accomplish.
Now for sample analysis:
Children of Men makes use of the long tracking shot throughout the entire movie. The long takes give the film a real-time feel and make the scenes seem more dramatic. There are scenes throughout the movie that go for more than two minutes without cutting. My favorite scene is where the heroes are trying to escape with the pregnant girl but are attacked. The entire car chase scene is filmed in one shot even with the car escaping in reverse. This (Links to an external site.) is the longest clip I could find but the actual scene in the movie continues. (There is more to this analysis where it cites The Best Years of Our Lives but I cut it so as to not give away a scene from that movie to you)
The influence of Welles is all over the film, it should not be hard to find some really fascinating examples! Try to have some fun with this one.
