Inside Llewyn Davis

I adore this shot.  It's so symmetrical down the hallway that there could almost be a mirror right down the center, but then the shot is off set by the banister of the staircase on the left side foreground of the screen.  We have a long shot of Llewyn walking towards the doors at the end of the hallway.  To add to the symmetry we see here, the rug on the floor is a pattern that is also very symmetrical.  Even the shadows in the hallway are symmetrical.  The color is all very drab and using light blues, greys, whites, and tans are the only reason that the black banister really stick out.

This shot is very interesting because we have Llewyn standing in the foreground and even though he's nothing but a silhouette, his figure is still the only thing in focus in the shot.  It's also interesting how we can see his hand even though the whole shot is dark, but just not quite as dark as his shadow.  The light of the break lights are some of the only contrasting objects in the frame along with the lights of the semi truck coming out of the fog in the background.  I just love the way the light coming through the fog is just so perfectly bright that it illuminates the outline of Llewyn but doesn't brighten the shot too much that it changes the mise en scene.

This shot really stood out to me because of the way they use reflections in two different planes.  There's the reflection in the walls of the building itself, but then also in the puddles of water on the ground.  We see Llewyn in a long shot as he walks down the sidewalk towards the camera.  This is also a deep focus shot because Llewyn, the background, and the stage door in the foreground are all in focus.

Moonrise Kingdom

Screenshot Analysis:

One of the most interesting things about Wes Anderson films is his extensive use of reflection symmetry.  The tree house is positioned in the direct center of the shot with trees on either side of the background.  The camera is using a long shot to incorporate the entirety of the tree house as well as to put the height of the tree in perspective by showing the troop leader and the two scouts.  In this shot we can also observe Anderson's use of contrast to create humor.  The fact that the tree house itself is so much wider than the trunk of the "tree" holding it is a far fetched concept because in reality, something with those proportions would simply fall over.  Another interesting aspect of Anderson cinematography is his use of imperfection.  If we focus on the rungs of the ladder up to the tree house specifically, we see that they are not evenly spaced as if they were built by a stage crew.  Imperfections like these really give life to Anderson's shots and by extension, his entire film.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou

I grew up watching this film.  Over the years I have probably seen it upwards of 40-50 times and I have yet to grow tired of it.  I can quote almost every line and it continuously makes me laugh.  Something that my parents pointed out to me at a very young age, has always stuck with me, to this day, as one of the most interesting cinematic tools ever used in a movie.  I am referring, of course, to the reflection of fire off of the warden's glasses.

The reason that this is so interesting to me is because the warden is associated with the character of the devil or (because this is an adaptation of The Odyssey) Hades. At one point in the film, Tommy is describing his meeting with the devil at the crossroads.  He explains that the devil does not actually look as he is thought to (as Everett describes "red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork"), but is actually "white . . . with empty eyes and a big hollow voice [and travels around with a hound.]"  This is very obviously associated a description of the warden as we saw him when the authorities burned down the barn that our protagonists were sleeping in.

I am going to focus on the scene where this tell-tale reflection happens for the second time.  This scene begins with a crane shot, moving down from silhouettes of trees being illuminated by lightning, to a close-up range shot of a yelling jailer.  The shot then changes to the medium range shot of the person who is whipping, who we soon find out to be Pete.  The scene changes again to what would be best described as an over-the-shoulder shot to Pete being whipped with an out of focus, smiling torch carrier in the close background.  Although this torch carrier is out of focus, his excited visage proves most intriguing for it subtly shows what can only be perceived as a worker of the devil, or a "demon."  His obvious sadistic temperament towards the torturing of another human being shows Hades' corruption of others and strong discipleship (I'm not trying to send a theological message here, I'm just simply explain how I interpreted elements of this film.  I just want to make sure that's clear).

After this, the scene changes to a different over-the-shoulder shot; this one over the shoulder of one of the officers and focused on Pete.  Once again, we see the other officers in the background smiling, and now we hear them laughing as well.  We begin to hear the Warden speak and Pete's look of pain from the whipping actually changes to one of terror, which is to be expected when coming face to face with the devil.  This time the shot changes to what starts off with a long shot of the warden approaching the crowd, and as he walks closer and closer, eventually becomes a close-up shot.  This is the shot when we see the fire reflected in the glasses.  The reality of the character mirroring of the warden and the devil is really emphasized here when he begins to speak of God.  He actually talks as if he himself is a follower of God and does his work.  I just cannot downplay the cleverness of this shot.  I honestly believe that whoever thought to do this, deserves an Oscar specifically for this idea.  

Just because I do love it so much, I'll display the first time that this very important shot is exhibited in the film as well.