Lost Art of Filmmaking represents my attempt to highlight examples of film language that no longer seems to appear on the radar of a majority of working filmmakers.  Each column, I’ll choose a clip from a movie that demonstrates a ‘lost art’ of some sort, ask you to watch it, and then go into detail about why this particular slice of movie is worth bringing back into focus.

How delusional am I?

Here I am, thinking I can start up a column that might illuminate a few people about aspects of filmmaking they might not initially have noticed.  Me.  Educating the world about film.  Ha.

I had to actually look up ‘pretentious’ and ‘hubristic’ to see which fit me better.  I chose hubristic because if people read really fast, they might confuse it with ‘futuristic,’ and I think it’d be cool to be a ‘future dude.’

So I’m hubristic and delusional.  Need any more proof?  I chose JAWS as the inaugural clip for this column.

How the F%*@& can I possibly think that I could say anything new about this movie that millions of people don’t already know?  I don’t pretend that I will… but I can’t help myself.  I love this little clip I’m going to talk about.

Spielberg’s an old-time shooter – a virtuoso with the camera.  Sure, he’s got flaws.  I used to apologize for a lot of them.  But the way he uses his camera to capture a scene… when he’s firing on all cylinders, it can be a thrilling thing to watch.

This clip doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention.  I can understand why – it’s not supposed to.  It’s just a scene where some of the higher muckity-mucks in Amity come to persuade Chief Brody to hold back from ‘yelling shark’ to the townsfolk.  But it’s great how even the less showy scenes get a little extra ‘oomph’ from a filmmaker with chops.

Take a look at the clip and see how he chooses to shoot and choreograph the scene with just one shot:

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Let’s break it down bit by bit.

Angle on Brody.  Pan with him as he crosses the frame to the other side of the ferry.

Camera dollies back a little as the muckity-mucks pull their car onboard – camera dollies back with the car into the new position.

Actors get out of the car – hit their marks perfectly.  Notice how they’re not clumped up or blocked from view.  Each actor’s perfectly positioned to fill up each empty space of the frame and keep the shot visually balanced.

Seven people in one master shot.  Now check out the framing of the shot, and how everyone’s perfectly positioned stay visible in the frame, but also to keep the shot composition balanced.

Brody, Vaughn, Meadows, and the ferry driver are evenly matched in height, and the coroner stands a little further back in the frame to match the men on the other side of the car.

(By the way – did you spot what was going on in the background?  Camera basically stays put… but the moving ferry keeps the background alive in motion for the rest of the scene.  Static camera become kinetic – sort of… )

Brody, Vaughn, and Meadows step closer to the camera – it’s the big guys talking, and they’re stepping up the pressure on Brody.

So a seven person master shot changes into a three person shot, and the actors move to hit their new marks and keep the composition balanced.   The coroner’s casually moved near the trunk of the car.  The deputy uses his elbow to lean further into the shot.  Ferry driver’s still there, keeping everything balanced.

Then Vaughn pulls Brody over to speak privately and state very plainly the point he’s trying to make.  “You yell shark… and we have a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.” Best line and moment of the scene.

Vaughn wants a word alone with Brody, so he pulls him aside – moving closer to the camera again.  Meadows moves away, and they all reposition themselves again for the frame.

Now we’ve moved into a two-shot of Brody and Vaughn – the two most important men on the entire island.  The scene ends with Vaughn plainly making his point to Brody: “You yell shark… and we have a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.”

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

The scene as written (most likely written the night before) has been building toward this line, so the shot was staged to visually punctuate the scene for dramatic effect.

Think about what goes on in that one single shot (no edits, mind you).  Everyone’s performance had to work – one person forgets a line, or plays a moment poorly – it’s over.  Everyone had to hit their marks – from driving the car on board all the way to the last two shot – the blocking had to be right on.  The camera operator had to do his job, making sure the shot didn’t foul up on his end.

Sometimes you get only one chance to make something like this work, and if one thing goes wrong, someone yells ‘cut,’ you have to move the ferry back to the dock, back up the car off the ferry, and do it all over again.  All this to do… and every moment you’re losing light.  It’s a tough thing to do and do well.

(Even this shot’s not entirely perfect… did you see how at one point, the ferry driver stepped out of the shot, then slooooowly moves back in, as if someone off-camera told him to get his butt back in the shot? Kind of cracks me up…)

Additionally, this is a scene that could’ve taken place anywhere.  Could’ve just been a ‘talking heads’ scene at Brody’s office.  Just put the camera on sticks (tripod), shoot a few medium shots (from the chest up), a couple of close-ups and insert shots, and you’re done.  Just like many other ordinary and forgettable films.

But like I said before, when Spielberg’s firing on all cylinders… fortune and glory, kid… fortune and glory.

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That’s it for now.    Now let me hear from you guys… what did you guys think of the clip?  Chime in, hope you enjoyed it, and keep an eye out for the next one!

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