Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

How can a cinematographer best use image to spark am emotional connection with he film's audience? A Cinematographer can use a well thought out camera angels and movements at specific times to bring up a certain feel that is needed in the scene. A cinematographer would use a panning shot, which is when the camera moves horizontally, to follow a subject moving across an area, in order to help the audience follow along with that subject, bringing them closer into the story. An example of this can be seen in Stephen Spielberg's, Saving Private Ryan, where Tom Hank's character is marching across a recent battlefield while shoving along with him a Nazi they just captured to the other side so that the prisoner may dig his own grave. The shot choice really emphasized the "dead man walking" kind of feel. Another shot a cinematographer could use is a dutch angle in which the camera is tilted where everything seems to look cooked or offset, depending on the angle. This is suppose to give off an uneasy feeling for the audience about the subject. Some of the well used dutch angles where used in the 1960's Batman TV series, especially whenever the camera was on the villains themselves. Using this shot in this situation gave off a feeling that there is something seriously wrong with these people. Yet another shot that a cinematographer might pull from his utility belt is a low angle shot on the subject, this usually gives the subject somewhat a dominant presence and telling the audience that this character is one power. A perfect example of this can be found  in the film Pulp Fiction in the hamburger scene where Samuel Jackson is integrating the guy to find the magic briefcase. through out this whole scene the camera looks up to Samuel, letting the audience know that he is in charge and he means business. A cinematographer can use a vast variety of camera angles and movements in order to bring up a certain type of emotion in a scene, but he has to pick the right one for each individual shot.