Homework 2: Cinematography
How does the opening scene of Jurassic Park use cinematography to suggest meaning?
600 words
Due 19th September
How does the opening scene of Jurassic Park use cinematography to suggest meaning?
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the cinematographers created meaning in this scene by making the audience feel intrigued by what is in the crate. Beginning with a low angle shot initially showing the crate being carried above the characters, the audience want to know what is in the box but know from the use of low angles that whatever is in the box has power. Seeing characters carrying guns shows us that whatever it is, its dangerous. The audience are then given a point of view shot from the dinosaur in the crate, we feel the tension of what the dinosaur is feeling being trapped in the box. But as well of this, through the use of the point of view shot, the surrounding characters are closed framed and obscured by the crate, showing that they are inferior characters.
ReplyDeleteThe main character in this scene is shown through open framing and is also positioned between the important crosses when looking at the rule of thirds. This character is armed and open framed to show that he is powerful. The characters around him are in closed framing in comparison to him which show the audience that he is in control.
When the dinosaur pushes the crate back, there is a long shot to show the audience what is happening throughout the scene. The audience are pulled in through sutre when we join the gatekeeper on the floor before he is dragged away. This character grabs hold of a bar in the foreground of the scene and there is a use of shallow focus purely on the hand to show the struggle of him holding onto the bar. Oddly, instead of the use of handheld shots pulling the audience into this chaos, the cinematographers chose to use crane shots to show the dilemma from a distance.
Tracking shots are used throughout this sequence not just to follow the movement of characters but it also tracks along the scene to show what the different characters are doing either side of the crate. There are then slight handheld shots and extreme close ups of the eyes of the main character and the dinosaur to give the audience a feeling of the tension of being face to face with the dinosaur. Another extreme close up is used on the characters mouth as he says “shoot her” to give emphasis on how important and clear these instructions are. During this part of the scene ECU’s are vital as it brings the audience closer to the action to replace the use of handheld shots. Extreme close ups of the gate keepers hands show gradually the different positions he is in. the last ECU of his hand we see is it slipping away from the British main role.
Through the use of cinematography this opening scene is powerful to the film as it shows from the beginning that the narrative will not flow to a standard. The way that the british main role progresses from between the two important crosses to the bottom inferior space and the last view of the dinosaur is on the right important cross suggests to the audience that any power any following characters have, may not be there for the entirety of the film. The audience still feel the tension throughout this scene even with minimal use of handheld shots because they are brought into the scene through the use of ECU’s.
(Karman Rose)
Well done Karman you have constructed a very concise response that focuses very clearly on how meaning is constructed for an audience. Keep this up. :)
DeleteJurassic park show a lot of cinematic shots from extreme close ups to low angles. It uses a close up on a man's face to get his facial expression to a tense situation because he has no idea what might happen when the container opens leaving the audience to feel on edge as they might not know what is in the container. Then it goes on to a medium close up with multiple people in it to catch their stern faces making the atmosphere more tense. Shortly after it moves on to a medium shot showing the lower half of a man holding a gun representing a sense of danger in the area as guns are a symbol of violence but as it zooms in to it show the man's face he is very serious and ready for what is to happen. It also starts at a low angle shot making seem higher up compared to the others almost like he's in charge of the operation. It moves on to do a crane shot showing all of the people in the operation and given the sheer number of them make the audience think what is in the that requires that many people. A POV shot is soon put in after giving you the perspective of the raptor looking out the cage through a small hole staring at the people making you understand that the raptor is in a close space as it's field of view is smaller than most people's. Straight after is does a medium shot of the people showing even more but also showing more of them with guns giving a tenser atmosphere know something incredibly dangerous is in the cage. It then pans right following people as they run around the cage to secure it once again show the signs of danger but also the signs of preparation as they must have be very organised. When the cage is opened the camera is static showing the strength of the raptor being able to push the heavy cage a few metres back. Once the raptor has a hold of the man the camera does a high angle shot to get a over view of the panic that occurs after he is bitten. A close up of the electric rods are shown shortly after to show a load of sparks and smoke coming from it to show how strong and resilient the raptors are after they bite their prey making them seem incredibly dangerous. Following the close up is an extreme close up of the raptors calm looking eyes and quickly moving on to the protagonists eyes looking completely the opposite of the raptors more strained and scared showing the brute strength of the dinosaurs making humans seem inferior. It moves on to an extreme close up of his mouth after to get a better feel of what he is shouting but to also get the emotion of it straight after the extreme close up moves on to the man's hand (who is being attacked) which is moving for a little bit but then stop moving meaning that he has died, it also shows the importance of some characters, the ones that die are normally the side characters of the story making them lees important.
ReplyDeleteSam Kirke
ReplyDeleteJurassic Park - 1993 - Opening Scene "Shoot her!"
This scene starts with a medium long shot of the rustling of the trees in an attempt to fool the audience in to thinking the crate is a raptor, a fast close up on the face of a scared guard helps to reinforce this feeling of something bad about to happen. Showing the rear bushes out of focus also helps to try and trick the audience in to thinking a raptor is about to come out of the leaves. The use of a low angle shot on the guards and main character helps to create an aura of imposing power and by using a zoom shot to the main character it helps to inform the audience that he is a very important person. Also showing an extreme low angle shot of the crate to give an inanimate object a powerful feeling of foreboding. After this a long shot and mat tracking camera movements give the viewer context of the location that is the island of Isla Nublar and shows the dozens of guards that are involved in the movement of this creature. Giving the viewer a point of view shot from the raptor I think is genius because abnormally it is there almost to provide the audience with an empathy for animal that has been boxed up and is faced with scores of guards hold guns and closed shots of the animal makes it seem like it is trapped and waiting to lash out, this scene also shows the fear on the faces of the guards. Even more point of view shots of the raptor are used just to reinforce this idea of him being trapped, but the new focus of the creature looking at the guard what will become his pray through a closed shot gives an aura of the tables about to turn. In the shot where the guard gets in the fight with the raptor after trying to release the animal from the cage it used many fast cuts to show us how the madness of him being bitten is getting out of control. During the animal attack a handheld camera is used to show a shaking animalistic nature of the struggle. Two extreme close ups are used on both the main characters eye and the raptors eye during the struggle to show the audience the faceoff between these two forces of man and beast. A second extreme close up follows this when the main character of the scene shouts “shoot her” to show the audience the extreme anger and desperation in having to kill one of the rare dinosaurs.
At the beginning of the scene, the audience is shown a low angle shot of the tree tops with a rustling sound coming from the trees. The fact that the trees are shaking makes the audience aware that this is diegetic sound. This could have been used to create the feel of danger drawing the audience in from the first shot. The shot of the moving trees lasts roughly 10 seconds before cutting to a close-up of a park ranger who is holding a large gun just like the men around him, zooming in on his smug facial expression giving him a higher status than the other rangers, another thing that adds to his status is the fact that he is dressed differently, despite holding the same gun as everyone else. The camera quickly cuts back to the moving trees, still at a low angle shot, to emphasize the largeness of the thing behind the trees.
ReplyDeleteThese shots are dark and have been given shallow focus to help the audience know where to look and at what time.
as the follows the shaking trees around we are shown a large silver crate. muffled and busy voices are used to add a more serious feel to this dangerous atmosphere that has been built up during the scene. We then cut to a point of view shot from inside the crate getting the perspective of the creature inside. The creature lets out a low growl, adding to the dangerous atmosphere further, building up on the tension.
We then get a series of quick-cut shots, as the creature attacks the gatekeeper, bright lights make it difficult to make out what is actually going on other than the fact the man is under attack.
Handheld cameras are used in order to give a shaker shot again adding to the high tension and the danger.
The Ranger we saw, in the beginning, is no holding the hand of the gatekeeper who is still under attack, again shaky handheld close-ups of the rangers mouth while he screams "shoot her" and of the gatekeeper's hand as he struggles to pull himself out of the creature's jaws. At first, the hand is shaking rapidly as he tries to grab on to things for help but slowly the hand stops moving and it is clear that this dangerous creature has killed the man again shallow focus has been used to let the audience know exactly what just happened.
At the beginning of the scene, the audience is shown a low angle shot of the tree tops with a rustling sound coming from the trees. The fact that the trees are shaking makes the audience aware that this is diegetic sound. This could have been used to create the feel of danger drawing the audience in from the first shot. The shot of the moving trees lasts roughly 10 seconds before cutting to a close-up of a park ranger who is holding a large gun just like the men around him, zooming in on his smug facial expression giving him a higher status than the other rangers, another thing that adds to his status is the fact that he is dressed differently, despite holding the same gun as everyone else. The camera quickly cuts back to the moving trees, still at a low angle shot, to emphasize the largeness of the thing behind the trees.
ReplyDeleteThese shots are dark and have been given shallow focus to help the audience know where to look and at what time.
as the follows the shaking trees around we are shown a large silver crate. muffled and busy voices are used to add a more serious feel to this dangerous atmosphere that has been built up during the scene. We then cut to a point of view shot from inside the crate getting the perspective of the creature inside. The creature lets out a low growl, adding to the dangerous atmosphere further, building up on the tension.
We then get a series of quick-cut shots, as the creature attacks the gatekeeper, bright lights make it difficult to make out what is actually going on other than the fact the man is under attack.
Handheld cameras are used in order to give a shaker shot again adding to the high tension and the danger.
The Ranger we saw, in the beginning, is no holding the hand of the gatekeeper who is still under attack, again shaky handheld close-ups of the rangers mouth while he screams "shoot her" and of the gatekeeper's hand as he struggles to pull himself out of the creature's jaws. At first, the hand is shaking rapidly as he tries to grab on to things for help but slowly the hand stops moving and it is clear that this dangerous creature has killed the man again shallow focus has been used to let the audience know exactly what just happened.