Sunday, February 12, 2006
Module 3: Teaching Film Techniques
Week 3: Analyzing a film
Miracle film study
For this assignment, I watched the opening scene of the 2004 Disney movie Miracle starring Kurt Russell (as Herb Brooks) and directed by Gavin O’Connor. The movie depicts the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” Gold Medal winning men’s ice hockey team.
Hey, I was in the Olympic spirit.
The actual opening of the movie begins with a picture-in-picture montage of actual video footage from the early 1970s through 1980. Included in this are news clips, political speeches, etc. The picture-in-pictures are broken up by some form of huge lettering that you can't figure out until the final seconds of it, when it shrinks down to spell the name of the movie, "Miracle". The montage is meant to serve as exposition of the time period and the political, economic and sporting culture of the late 1970s and 1980.
The scene I wish to dissect is the first scene done by the director.
A wide shot establishes the scene with a wide shot of a facility that has a sign that reads AHA amateur hockey association of the united states (in lower case). With this, it is establishing the place for the movie, Colorado Springs, Colo. CGI tells us it is 1979. The cuts are to a man's hand drawing up hockey plays on a notebook. Soon we see his face and a man calls him Herb. The man (Walter) is wearing a powder blue suit and asks how Herb's flight was. Here, they are establishing his long trip and a friendly atmosphere between the two. Words on the wall say American Hockey Association again and the phone continues to ring with a woman's voice in the background saying: "USA Hockey, how can I help you?" All of this is establishing the setting of the movie. It is summer in the outside shot, but hockey appears to be buzzing in the air. Also, Herb's sport coat is tan. The tan and powder blue sportcoats are establishing an early sense of setting in time (1979 to be exact).
The two men walk down the hall and chat. This is done with a pan that moves to a truck that follows the men from behind. The establishing shot was the lone shot with soundtrack (non-diagetic) music playing in the background. The shots are medium shots, and done at eye level to establish a documentary-like feel. Eye level and medium shots are the most honest of shots and truest to life. The director is trying to establish realism in these sequences.
A pan in the next shot goes from an extreme closeup of the water glasses and water pitcher on the table to a rack focus switch to those speaking at the table. The shots are tight from here on out of two-shots, one-shots and speaking/reaction shots. The cuts are very quick and create a conflict right away. The reason for the tighter shots are to keep us involved emotionally. The tighter a shot, the more emotionally attached we become to a subject.
These shots give great size and importance to the subjects of the shots. We can assume these are the Board of Somethings or CEOs of something at USA Hockey. As Herb explains a new, different form of hockey (similar to the Russians), we get even tighter shots of his face. These shots establish his intensity and desire. Those shots are juxtaposed via cuts with reactions of the committee. The committee is obviously skeptical at best. Their reactions and questions are stark contrast to the tight closeups of Brooks, who doesn't change his tenor. The fast cuts and juxtaposition create visual tension between these subjects.
The shots build up until they are flying past us at 1 second per clip, each of the same situation. The scene must have either been filmed a hundred times or was filmed once using several cameras. It makes the audience feel as if they are eavesdropping and trying to get all the information in this conflict.
This conflict is central to the movie. There is doubt that this new brand of hockey will do anything in the Lake Placid Olympics. It establishes the underdog mentality and the importance of the choice of a maverick coach.
The scene ends with Brooks taking a drink of water while Lou Nanne (inaccurately to real history might I add) says: "You expect to beat the Russians ... that's a pretty lofty goal." Brooks replies: "That's why I want to pursue it." There are medium shot cuts to reactions of all in the room (a release of tension) and Walter Bush finally says: "Well, anymore questions?" No one has any and the scene ends with a wide shot of the room as a man turns down Brooks' attempt at a handshake and then Herb shakes several others' hands.
Miracle film study
For this assignment, I watched the opening scene of the 2004 Disney movie Miracle starring Kurt Russell (as Herb Brooks) and directed by Gavin O’Connor. The movie depicts the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” Gold Medal winning men’s ice hockey team.
Hey, I was in the Olympic spirit.
The actual opening of the movie begins with a picture-in-picture montage of actual video footage from the early 1970s through 1980. Included in this are news clips, political speeches, etc. The picture-in-pictures are broken up by some form of huge lettering that you can't figure out until the final seconds of it, when it shrinks down to spell the name of the movie, "Miracle". The montage is meant to serve as exposition of the time period and the political, economic and sporting culture of the late 1970s and 1980.
The scene I wish to dissect is the first scene done by the director.
A wide shot establishes the scene with a wide shot of a facility that has a sign that reads AHA amateur hockey association of the united states (in lower case). With this, it is establishing the place for the movie, Colorado Springs, Colo. CGI tells us it is 1979. The cuts are to a man's hand drawing up hockey plays on a notebook. Soon we see his face and a man calls him Herb. The man (Walter) is wearing a powder blue suit and asks how Herb's flight was. Here, they are establishing his long trip and a friendly atmosphere between the two. Words on the wall say American Hockey Association again and the phone continues to ring with a woman's voice in the background saying: "USA Hockey, how can I help you?" All of this is establishing the setting of the movie. It is summer in the outside shot, but hockey appears to be buzzing in the air. Also, Herb's sport coat is tan. The tan and powder blue sportcoats are establishing an early sense of setting in time (1979 to be exact).
The two men walk down the hall and chat. This is done with a pan that moves to a truck that follows the men from behind. The establishing shot was the lone shot with soundtrack (non-diagetic) music playing in the background. The shots are medium shots, and done at eye level to establish a documentary-like feel. Eye level and medium shots are the most honest of shots and truest to life. The director is trying to establish realism in these sequences.
A pan in the next shot goes from an extreme closeup of the water glasses and water pitcher on the table to a rack focus switch to those speaking at the table. The shots are tight from here on out of two-shots, one-shots and speaking/reaction shots. The cuts are very quick and create a conflict right away. The reason for the tighter shots are to keep us involved emotionally. The tighter a shot, the more emotionally attached we become to a subject.
These shots give great size and importance to the subjects of the shots. We can assume these are the Board of Somethings or CEOs of something at USA Hockey. As Herb explains a new, different form of hockey (similar to the Russians), we get even tighter shots of his face. These shots establish his intensity and desire. Those shots are juxtaposed via cuts with reactions of the committee. The committee is obviously skeptical at best. Their reactions and questions are stark contrast to the tight closeups of Brooks, who doesn't change his tenor. The fast cuts and juxtaposition create visual tension between these subjects.
The shots build up until they are flying past us at 1 second per clip, each of the same situation. The scene must have either been filmed a hundred times or was filmed once using several cameras. It makes the audience feel as if they are eavesdropping and trying to get all the information in this conflict.
This conflict is central to the movie. There is doubt that this new brand of hockey will do anything in the Lake Placid Olympics. It establishes the underdog mentality and the importance of the choice of a maverick coach.
The scene ends with Brooks taking a drink of water while Lou Nanne (inaccurately to real history might I add) says: "You expect to beat the Russians ... that's a pretty lofty goal." Brooks replies: "That's why I want to pursue it." There are medium shot cuts to reactions of all in the room (a release of tension) and Walter Bush finally says: "Well, anymore questions?" No one has any and the scene ends with a wide shot of the room as a man turns down Brooks' attempt at a handshake and then Herb shakes several others' hands.
# posted by Jim @ 6:55 PM 
