Deconstruction of Imitation Game Interrogation Scene

The interrogation scene in The Imitation Game is an interesting scene. While being from what is considered to be one of the best films from 2014, it does not really do anything too interesting as far as shot construction goes.

 

The most interesting component of the shot is the green and blue colour scheme, creating a dark, cold and hopeless feel in the interrogation room. The lighting also ads to this, the characters being lit from their ‘off camera’ side creates an interesting shadow on their face that provides them with more definition and also mystery at the same time.

 

The scene goes for almost a minute and is simply made up of shot reverse shots between the two characters. The first five times this shot reverse shot occurs, it is with dirty over the shoulder shots at a medium close range. Then the scene proceeds with close up shot reverse shots. The scene always shows the character who is talking, rather than ever showing the reaction of another character. I think this is a strange choice as I think it is often more powerful to show the reaction to what is being said rather than how it is being said.

 

The pacing of this scene is extremely slow, and while we as an audience are meant to feel worried as the protagonist is being interrogated and interrogated while the topic of machines thinking like humans is discussed, I find that it is quite easy to become disinterested due to the quite frankly boring shot construction of this particular scene.

 

 

Deconstruction of Sherlock ‘Mind Palace’ Scene.

This scene takes place in Sherlock’s ‘mind palace’, a place that he escapes to in order to think clearly. The use of light, pacing and camera coverage allows this pretend place to be created while engaging the audience completely.

 

The lighting is soft and direct, the key lighting appearing to be coming from above, yet still allowing the close up shots of the characters face’s to be well lit from the front. The room itself is not overly important to the scene so therefore the lighting focus remains on the two characters, helping to add to the suspense of the scene.

 

The pacing is fast, with the editing not allowing for a seconds break in between the characters conversation. Of course a normal conversation could never occur like this, but this use of pacing allows the audience to feel for a moment what it is like in Sherlock’s brain, while also building up the tension immensely as the time passes, Sherlock does not have much time, but even he cannot stop his brain from bringing in childhood memories and person fears into his thoughts.

The music, which in the previous scenes has been building, slows slightly and allows a moment for Sherlock to clam down towards the end of this scene.

 

The shot construction is simple in this scene. Starting with establishing shots of the characters’ whereabouts, that slighting track towards the characters. It then proceeds to depict a series of shot reverse shots as the two converses.

 

This simple piecing together of the shots is made interesting by the way in which the shots are taken. They are to show each of the characters’ first person point of views and this allows the feeling of inadequacy that Sherlock feels to be depicted through the use of angles creating a juxtaposition between the powerful, Sherlock’s brother, and the weak, Sherlock as a child.

 

The scene ends with the child Sherlock turning and it transitions back to where the adult Sherlock is turning in the same fashion.

 

 

A Semester in the Scene

At the beginning of this semester I wrote a blog about what I expected to learn and get out of my semester taking part in the course The Scene in Cinema. This is what I wrote:

 

Using the skills I learnt in TV1&2 (keeping them fresh and up to date as well as building on them) we explore and focus on making that one powerful scene in a film, either the ‘wow’ moment in the film or just a scene sharing a bit of information that is not very exciting; this course will show us how to see and create a scene on it’s own merits and to see them as almost individual films; as well as the building blocks that create the film on a whole. By doing this we will be able to explore more innovative, creative and special ways to capture individual scenes and films.

 

This is a very basic concept of the way the semester has really gone this year. This concept was covered through a range of class activities and exercises; they provided me with the basis of the concept I thought the course would be all about, and in fact a whole heap more, in a matter of weeks.

 

The course ended up being so much more than that. Not only was I able to gain an understanding and newfound appreciation of individual scenes in film, build on my technical skills and explore the ways in which scenes have been created in innovative and fascinating ways, I was also able to gain a strong understanding of myself as a director / creator of film or scenes.

 

This understanding is so much more than I would have expected to get out of this course. To be able to acknowledge and accept my weaknesses, as well as learn to embrace my strengths, the practice of filmmaking will be so much easier in the future.

 

When we were first informed about the fact that we would be doing our own individual research about a specific topic, I was worried as well as a little bit confused. Everything I had done to do with the filmmaking practice at RMIT so far had been in groups working towards a final product. I thought that not only was I not going to be able to think of an interesting enough idea to explore to keep me involved for the semester, but also that I was not actually going to be able to produce anything good at the end of the semester. I know see that this was a stupid way of thinking and that the idea of exploring a concept of film thorough research and practice can in fact work for everybody if they are interested enough in the craft and improving their knowledge of how it works.

 

The concept I choice to explore what Points of View in film TV, how they are captured, used and portrayed in order to create different tones, evoke certain emotions and show storylines in motivating ways.

 

This began as an idea I had because we had to have an idea of class, and in watching a TV series the night before I thought that a POV shot was really interesting and that got me thinking more about POV shots and how they are executed. At first I thought that this was just idea I would have so that when we were asked about it the next day in class I would be able to say something, rather than giving my answer that I had been using for the last few weeks ‘I’m not really sure yet.’

 

Once I started to look into the concept of POV, how it is used, and how it is not used, I began to get more and more fascinated by it. I soon realized that I had come up with a really remarkable concept to explore and work with. The main thing I found interesting was the ways in which POV are generally not used in film and television. The major way being changing POV from one character to another in one shot.

 

I noticed that very rarely do you see a single shot in which two or more points of view are presented. I began to question why this is; is it because it looks bad and doesn’t work as a concept. Is it because it breaks too many ‘rules’ of filmmaking, such as crossing the line? Is it because it would make the shot too confusing and film, especially Hollywood film, must be made to appeal to a wide audience so therefore must always be made with the known tried and tested norms of filmmaking?

 

I think to some extent all of these options can hold true. As stated in my post after my shooting, my technical skills got in the way of me producing something really good as a ‘final product’ however just because it is the end of the Scene, doesn’t mean that this shoot has to be my final product. Yes my shots aren’t technically great, however I think the concept of the changing POV that I wanted to execute is possible and that changing POVs within a shot as well as using different approaches to point of view, entering in or out of a POV shot can all be used to great effect when shooting a scene.

 

Overall this semester has given me greater understanding on how best to approach the practice of filmmaking, as well as provided me with skills and confidence to be able to find an idea or concept not already widely utilized in film production and trust myself to be able to take the steps to make it my own and put into my own filmmaking practices. Through exercises and activities in class, to conducting my own personal research on the side, I have been able to get some much more than I imagined I would have out of this course and will continue to include the concept of new and innovative ways of presenting POVs in my work in the future.

3rd June – Comparing the Footage

Even though the first day of shooting is not a finessed as the second, and some of the detail is lost in my hopeless lighting abilities, the lighting sets a mood that is far more fascinating than that of the second day. While the moving of the camera is better on the second day, the second day relies on the camera movements to be making something interesting, whereas the first day has a tone of mystery and a far more interesting atmosphere comes with the shots.

 

I thought for my screener I could split the screen into three, showing both of days’ shots as well as the scene that influenced each of the shots. This way I could demonstrate that different situations can portray the same shot in completely different ways.

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2nd June – After Second Day of Shooting

The lighting was way easier to control on this shoot however I feel this lighting may have lead to my shots being a bit to simple and boring, with white walls and basic actions, there is nothing stand out about the shots. I do think it will be interesting to compare the two days of filming and to see how the lighting affected the mood and tone of the shots. I am looking forward to getting the footage onto a computer and seeing the footage on a screen bigger than the viewfinder on the camera!

1st June – First Day of Shooting

I am happy with the concept of the shots I was getting, however I struggled a lot with the lighting, purely because I am not as familiar with lighting as I should be. I was aiming to create a dark and mysterious feel to the shots, but on reflects I feel I may have gone a bit far and the shots might be a too dark and miss the point of the mood I was trying to set.

The shots I am working with I feel have a creepy, almost ‘stalkerish’ feel to them, so I aimed to heighten this feeling with the lighting. However, as I said, I am afraid this may have ruined my shots. This is why when I shoot tomorrow I am going to try for the opposite feel, having these shots light and bright, shot in the day with the natural light aiding the other lighting choices I may choose to make.

 

30th May

After my meeting with Paul I have decided to break my three moments of POV switching into three separate mini scenes in order to each idea of POV justice. The three separate places are not three separate scenes. My friends will be my actors for my shoot, and for the one scene that I need dialogue I have decided to use the script doors, as throughout the three separate mini scenes there is a lot of use of door.

I have written up a plan for the three days of shooting and have posted it to my blog here, so that my friends who are involved, as well as Paul and others, can see my plan for the next few days.

25th May

I was beginning to question whether or not these three different switches of POV that I am planning were actually going to look any good, and whether or not they would actually work. So I found moments in TV and Film that execute the idea that I would like to emulate in my work to see how they were executed and to what effect.

The first moment of inspiration I found was a moment in the film Meshes of the Afternoon ((M. Deren & A. Hammid, 1943, USA). The shot has been in first person for the first 2 minutes of the film, we then see the protagonist step into what we thought was still her own POV and we follow her feet up the stairs.

The first moment of my shot will emulate this idea, I was worried that this concept was going to be too confusing to execute but seeing how it worked in Meshes of the Afternoon has provided me with a bit more confidence.

 

 

The next moment I came across was a single shot in Boogie Nights (P.T. Anderson, 1997, USA). The film opens with long single shot following the protagonist through his club. The moment of this that I am interested in starts at 35 seconds in and goes until 50 seconds. In this shot the camera locks onto the protagonist from a far, tracks in and circles around him until the shot is in his POV. This is the same effect I want to utilize when changing POV to my second subject.

The final moment I found was from another long single shot, this time from a TV series, True Detective (N. Pizzolatto, 2014, USA). There is a six-minute single shot, and the moment that I am interested in is in the first 20 seconds. The entire shot is shown from Trust’s POV, as he goes through the house, we follow him. However in the first few seconds there is a moment that the camera tracks past Trust, to another character’s POV for just a moment before returning to Trust’s POV again. This is an interesting moment and is one of the only times I can recall seeing the POV change in one shot, which is what I am trying to execute. This moment particularly shows the effect I am trying to get with my final switch of POV.
Link to shot here

Finding these shots has reassured me that what I am trying is in fact possible to do and in fact might just work out quite well.

18th May – Plan for Scene

I plan to shoot a continuous shot in which three different points of view are shown. I will shoot in my house and the scene will move from the front door, through the house without stopping.

I have taken photos of the intended location to create a kind of storyboard to talk through the idea:

It will begin with a subject walking through the front door. The shot will being as a first person POV, then as the subject walks down the corridor the subject will step into the shot, causing the shot to come an over the shoulder shot as the camera continues to follow the subject down the corridor.
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As the subject reaches a point half way along the corridor the camera slows to allow the subject to move to a distance from the camera that the person is no longer the subject of the shot.

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As the camera moves into the first room of the house we are met with a second subject, we see in the background the first subject walking into another room and closing the door,

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as this is happening the camera is moving to a get to a position so show an over the shoulder shot of the new subject as they sit on a chair and read a book.

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The camera stays there for a moment before the subject stands and walks out of the room. The camera follows the subject into another corridor in the house.

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Here the subject meets another person, as they interact the camera pans around them to switch the POV to the character,

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as their interaction ends, the camera follows the new character down the rest of the hall way.

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This shot will hopefully fulfill my goal of creating an interesting scene that switches POV between multiple characters while remaining easy to follow and simple.

11th May

The final scene of the television series The Sopranos takes the conventions of shot reverse shot and turns them on their heads. This is done by place the protagonist, Tony Soprano in the shot that have previously been his own POV. When tony first enters the restaurant that he is meeting his family in, we see Tony walking through the front door, the shot reveres and we see a first person POV of how Tony sees the restaurant, the shot then reverse back to a close up of Tony’s face. In a conventional shot reverse shot the next thing we would expect to see is a closer shot of the restaurant, to see what Tony is focusing on, or perhaps a different shot of Tony moving, or taking a seat at a table. Instead what we are met with is the exact same POV shot of the restaurant, but instead this time Tony is seated at a table in the middle of the shot. He has just entered his own POV.

The scene continues with a variation of shot of what is going on the restaurant intercut with shots of Tony’s personal POV, for example the shots of the jukebox. As the scene progresses and more and more people entre the restaurant more POVs are introduced, however Tony’s is the only first person POV we are shown. The scene clearly belongs to him. As more people come in, it becomes evident that any of these people could be the one to end Tony’s life. As this happens Tony’s first person POVs become more and more intense, as if he it noting himself that it could be the last time he is seeing the world around him.

The only time the camera leaves the presence of Tony is to see Meadow park her car outside. David Chase, the director, said this about watching Meadow park her car ‘I tried to build the tension and suspense as much as possible. That’s why I could go back out to Meadow and her car parking. I could use all that stuff to affect the pace. I think almost every director is thinking about the pacing. That’s what directing is. I did want to create the idea that you would wonder if something was going to happen in there. Meadow is filled with nothing but very, very deep emotions about parking her car. But possibly a minute later, her head will be filled with emotions she could never even imagine. We all take this stuff so seriously—losing our keys, parking our car, a winter cold, a summer cold, an allergy—whatever it is. And this stuff fills our mind from second to second, moment to moment. And the big moment is always out there waiting’

The interchanging shots, and the song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ playing in the background, as well as the quite final yet casual conversation, such as ‘remember the good times’ builds the tension to an extreme height.

David Chase also said ‘It was my decision to direct the episode such that whenever Tony arrives someplace, he would see himself. He would get to the place and he would look and see where he was going. He had a conversation with his sister that went like this. And then he later had a conversation with Junior that went like this. I had him walk into his own POV every time. So the order of the shots would be Tony close-up, Tony POV, hold on the POV, and then Tony walks into the POV. And I shortened the POV every time. So that by the time he got to Holsten’s, he wasn’t even walking toward it anymore. He came in, he saw himself sitting at the table, and the next thing you knew he was at the table.’

It fascinates me how a decision on how one character’s POV shots are going to be can set up the entire tone and suspense of an episode or film. The way in which Tony sees the world is with extreme paranoia and as an audience we are made to feel the same way. With Tony ‘see[ing] himself’ in every scene, it is as if he is taking greater notice of his life and we are therefore forced to do the same.

Clip found here

Interview with David Chase:

http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1502-Spring-2015/Shot-to-Remember-The-Sopranos.aspx