Continuity Project from Ashley van der Grinten on Vimeo.

This is the continuity project Ashley van der Grinten and I did as our final project for Media 160

Almost Famous: Shot Analysis

The film I’m choosing to analysis is almost famous, and the scene in question in about a quarter through the film. The two main characters, William and Penny Lane are going to a party at a fancy hotel where the bands (like Led Zeppelin and Stillwater) are playing. The walk into the hotel and the energy is incredibly high- the lobby is filled with people buzzing about who’s there and who’s performing. A Robert Plant song plays in the background and sets the perfect mood for the shot. As the two walk in, the camera quickly cuts through several quick shots of people all gathered and talking and saying hello. It’s almost dizzying, but wit good intention. In doing so, Cameron Crowe, the director, is able to really put the viewer in the shoes of his two main characters. As they walk down the hall of the hotel, Crowe uses a medium close up tracking shot, which allows the viewer to become more familiar with the two characters. While Penny Lane, who has been to many events like this before, walks casually and is not distracted by all of the chaos and energy going on around her, William is in a daze, turning this way and that, trying to soak it all in. At one point, he walks past a hotel room with the door open and two musicians sitting in chairs planning an acoustic song. The music seamlessly transitions from Plant’s high-energy rock n’ roll song, to this quite acoustic song. It’s a moment of peace for William, and also for the viewer- while he takes a moment to let everything settle in, so does the viewer. Then, in a second, the camera goes back to the high energy tracking shot of Penny walking down the hallway and follows her into a hotel room where all of the other characters of the film are gathered hanging out. The camera pulls back to show the entire room and everyone in it. It spins, and then pulls back to Penny Lane, closing in on her as she begins to give a speech about how “it’s all happening!”

Overall, the five minutes scenes of the two main characters entering into a new world is accurately depicted through Crowe's ability to marry music, scene cuts, and angels to put the viewer right in the chaos and high energy of the rock n' roll life style. 

Coninuity Shot List

This is the shot list for my and Ashley Van Der Grinten's project:

Shot 1: Elongated still shot of an empty hallway

Camera in same spot (els) and a student walks around the corner, camera walks down hallway with student, keeping their full body in the frame

Shot 2: Long shot of the student entering a classroom. Camera is still.

Shot 3 Medium shot of student sitting at desk from a high angle. The student sits down and puts their  books and phone on table. Phone rings.

Shot 4: close up of phone with a text message

Shot 5: medium eye level shot of the student shuffling through their papers, looking at text message

Shot 6: Close up of feet under desk. The camera is on the floor and we see the student push back chair. Still at floor level, the camera pans and follows the feet of the student as they walk across the room

Shot 7: Long profile shot of student walking to white board. Student looks at paper and picks up a marker.

Shot 8: Close up over the shoulder of the student at a problem sheet

Shot 9: Medium close up of student from behind looking at white board. The student begins to write on the white board.

Shot 10: Close up of hand writing problems on the white board. Camera follows student’s hand as they write

Shot 11: Medium profile shot of student who pauses, steps back with marker in hand, and stops suddenly.

Shot 12: Close up of students hand from the perspective of the student. Student is writing quickly but the viewer can’t tell what he’s writing.

Shot 13: Close up shot from side of writing- viewer still can’t make out what student is writing.

Shot 14: close up of writing

Shot 15: close of up writing

Shot 16: close up of hand circling the answer

Shot 17: medium close up of person circling the answer, turning around and walking away

Shot 18: Long shot of profile of student and white board- student walks back to the table but turns around and looks at the white board

Shot 19: Long shot of just white board. Wait a couple of seconds and someone enters door.

Shot 20: Teacher greets student and puts their bag down by the table and gestures towards the board. The teacher then walks off the screen.

Shot 21: Medium shot of teacher walking to the board, checks the student’s work and reaches for a marker.

Shot 22: close up of teacher reaching for the marker from point of view of teacher

Shot 23:Medium close up over the shoulder of the teacher checking the answer

Shot 24: Medium shot of teacher turning around to see the students with an excited gesture

Shot 25: medium close of student clapping excitedly

Shot 26: Elongated long shot of teacher and student looking at books to start another problem

MOMI Reaction

The trip to the Museum of Moving Images was a really great change of pace from weeks of lecture. I’ve never been to the museum, and I was pleasantly surprised by how the museum married artifacts, interactive experiences, and history to create an incredibly informative, but enjoyable experience.

I think the highlight of the trip was the interactive exhibit demonstrated the importance of music/score in a film. The exhibit allowed participants to pick from an array of films. Your chosen film was then played with the music removed from the scene. It then gave viewers four choices of music/score to add to the scene. My group decided to choose the film Hitchcock for the exercise. Of the four options they gave us, only one of the music choices made sense to convey the appropriate feeling/mood (suspenseful and revelatory). The other musical choices were clearly unfit to portray these emotions, and when they were played with the clip, it made the scene feel corny or forced.

All in all, with the help of the exhibitions like the one I just mentioned and my informative tour guide, MOMI really helped me to understand a lot of the concepts we’ve talked about in both lecture and class. A lot of the things we talk about in lecture are difficult to fully grasp when you’re not given/shown examples, but MOMI really allowed us to experiment and interact with the theories we’ve been exploring in class. 

What I Hear

New York City has energy. It has an energy that pulsates through all matters of life. You walk through the bustling streets and you can feel that energy- those vibrations- those noises- absorb into your skin. You’re surrounded by sounds that spill into your ears and submerge themselves into your entire being. From chatter, to footsteps, to the wind or the rain, to cars and trunks honking, a ceaseless orchestra of noises pulsates through the air. Someone screaming about God in the distances, someone whispering about their lover next to you as you wait to cross the street. Layers of noise, one of top of the other, responding to each other, and you responding to them. They tell you where to move, to avoid the oncoming ambulance, to step to the side when someone asks, “excuse me” as the try to get off the subway. The clocks tolls two and you know it’s time to go back to work, the man in the distance yelling about fruit remind you that you need to go to the grocery store before you go home, the band playing a cover of “Wonderwall” on the street makes you think of an old friend. And it never ends. In a City like this, silence is an abstraction. There is no such thing as silence here. The energy we’ve created always hums, like a heavy, drawn out sigh, even in the quietest of hours.  

This is the end result of my "Define A Space" project.