Camera work:
There was nine switches in the camera view. The quality of light could have been better, but this is someone who appears to do this for fun so it makes sense they don’t have a professional light or professional scene where they could record it. It is fairly obvious where the light is placed unlike in a professional movie studio, hence the poor rating. The cuts were fairly well done and in the entire short, it was a cross cut. The camera angles that were used was most frequently a medium shot. Single shot and static shot was used through the entire video. The supporting angles were a close up, eye level, and high angle. Even though the one sitting down is “suppose” to appear without power, it seems as though he has all the power and with the close up they come to the realization that they screwed up.
Analyzing the audio:
The pacing makes sense for how a fight would go. A bit of pausing in-between lines at first, the very little toward the end (as to give time for the cuts to happen and people to process). With the dialogue, it makes is seems like Wonka seems annoyed at first until he gets angry. When Grandpa Joe was talking he was curious at first, then slightly irritated, before defeated yet angry. The only “sound effects” that was in this video was the shifting and hitting of papers. There was no background music.
Putting it together:
It makes sense how everything goes with how I assumed the previous two. As I usually listen to my music without paying attention to the video, I suppose I’ve trained myself to focus on each of the things that happen it. The few things that could be related to Ebert’s column was that the light was focused on the characters, which put the attention on the actor. Both of the characters were on the right side of the screen (in their respective cut) which… strangely works in this video as it seems like Wonka has his back toward to Grandpa until he finally gets up and stands on the left side of the screen. Each shot is purposeful. Nothing is there without reason as each shot builds the tension and anger. It is a wonderful as it can show off a fight, without it actually leading to a physical fight.
4 replies on “Look, Listen, Analyze”
I loved reading your work! I had never seen this movie before, so seeing the scene for the first time and reading your review was very interesting. I also like the layout of your website and blog posts.
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. I’m still experimenting a bit with this website and my posts as I’m still learning and experimenting. But as of right now, I like out it is.
What made my review so interesting though?
As someone who has not seen this film either I appreciate the depth you went into with this scene. It’s more than likely a tough film to analyze but when you look at the shot composition and understand why that is it all starts to make sense. Great work!
Thank you! I saw charlie and the chocolate factory when I was younger so I vaguely had an idea what might’ve happened in this scene.