Favorite Movie Scenes

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Write a brief reflection on famous shots from films that have stayed with you. 

Name the film, year, and director. 

Then, describe the shot. 

What is it doing? 

Why does it work? 

How might it have been rendered differently? 

How would you shoot it? 

 

1. Luke Battles Darth Vader





 

Name the film, year, and director: The Empire Strikes Back, 1980, Director Irvin Kershner

 

Describe the shot: it’s a medium-range shot showing Luke and Darth crossing swords 

 

What is it doing? It is one of the climax scenes in the movie, good versus evil

 

Why does it work? It works because of the lighting and framing. The characters are silhouetted, there’s smoke/fog, and the lightsabers pop out.

 

How might it have been rendered differently? These days, too many movies would just show the characters in full light (explicitly) versus the implicit way this shot was framed.

 

How would you shoot it? I think it would be hard to improve one of the best shots of all time. One small improvement might be to dampen the floor lighting just a bit to bring more emphasis to the light of the lightsabers.

 

2. Falling with Style






Name the film, year, and director: Toy Story, 1995, John Lasseter

 

Describe the shot: it’s a medium shot from below, with the two main characters (Buzz & Woody) “flying” through the air. 

 

What is it doing? It’s one of the best animated scenes of all time, where the friendship between Buzz and Woody is cemented.

 

Why does it work? It works because of the lighting and framing. The view from below makes the “toys” seem larger than life and elevates the meaning of the scene. There are no distractions behind them, making “the sky the limit”

 

How might it have been rendered differently? It could have been a much noisier shot, which would have distracted from the importance of the scene.

 

How would you shoot it? I think this one is also pretty much perfect. What’s changed is the quality of animation over the past 20 years, and these days the animated characters would be even more life-like with more texture and clarity.

 

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