Camera Movement- Katherine Ellis

Context: Footloose 2011 Directed by Craig Brewer


 1. pan or tilt shot (camera is on a tripod) 
Content: At 3:00 Bobby's dad gives a speech as to why he thinks that partying and dancing should be banned from the town. In the minutes leading up to this, it is revealed that Bobby died in a car accident after going out with his friends to a dance party. His dad is giving the speech at a town council meeting and is trying to get a law passed that prohibits this behavior, in attempt to try to prevent an accident like this occurring again.
Form : After he reveals his opinion, the camera pans across the jurors one by one after he asks them for their votes on passing the law. Even though you can not physically see their hands passing their votes on the law because their hands are being blocked by the table, you know that it is happening form the shot and their eyes. It makes the shot more suspenseful because you are waiting for the votes to reach the last man in line, who would read the final verdict. However, the scene is actually cut off and the verdict is not revealed until the next scene from an in-context line from another character.

2. jib/camera crane shot
Content: In the very last scene of the movie, the characters get what they were fighting for the entire movie and end up being allowed to have a dance. This last scene is very upbeat and happy and an amazingly cheoreographed dance that wraps up the entire movie perfectly/.
Form: In this scene, there are a bunch of dancers. In order to capture all of the dancers and give the viewers a full scan of the entire room and the energy that is actually inside of it, there are multiple camera crane shots that take place.

3. handheld camera or steadicam shot
Content: A random boy walks up to Wren in the library and hands him a marijuana joint and tries to get him to smoke it with him. A teacher sees them and Wren is put into the principals office.
Form: At 48 minutes a handheld camera is used for the back and forth shots in the office that switch from facing Wren and facing the Principal. The handheld camera gives the viewers a direct angle of the conversation and makes it feel very realistic. Everyone knows what it is like to sit in an office and have a conversation with someone so this shot being very simple did not add any unnecessary elements to overdramatize this scene.

4. drone / bird's eye (flying camera shot)
Content: The main actress Ariel, played by Julianne Hough is dating this race car driver named Chuck. Chuck challenges the main Actor, Wren to a race because he has noticed that his girlfriend Ariel has taken an interest in Wren and wants to amplify his self confidence by beating him in some manly event like this.
Form: About 43 minutes into the movie, there is a race with school buses on a race track. The race is very fast paced and intense, so a birds eye is used to capture the racing going on from above the track. This shot helped make it clear where all of the buses were in comparison to each other and which one was in the lead.

5. wild card
Content: After Wren gets in trouble at school for having marijuana, he drives to some abandoned warehouse and has this huge solo dance montage. He does it to release all of his anger.
Form: at 52 minutes Wren is walking in a tight alley and there is a dolly shot moving in front of him and progressively moves backwards as he is strutting forwards. That with the intense lighting really emphasizes how intense the scene is and makes the viewer feel like they are in there in that moment with Wren.