Blog Post #3 Motivated Camera Movement

The goodfellas intro is amazing camera work. A long held smooth steadicam shot that shows how easy it is for our protagonist to go where ever he wants. It's a visually impressive scene requiring hundreds of extras and actors, but we also learn a lot about our character's confidence and his influence over everyone around him. This scene is instrumental in setting up the tone contrast for later and our main hero.

The flowing intro to Hugo gives us long sweeping shots carefully edited together. The absolutely brilliant CGI work mixed with shockingly good camera work makes this whole scene a delight to view. The washed out colors of the city contrast with the lights of the night and of the gray clouds and the colorful people. It's an entrancing scene of sweeping flowing motion and of gorgeous visuals scene in a way that only film can show us.

And in my continuing effort to show the narrowing lines between the film and television world I decided to include a scene from the West Wing. These walk and talk sequences eventually became cliche but at the time there just wasn't anything like it on television. The long continuous shot featuring dozens, if not more, of extras all timing their actions perfectly. The movement gives us a feeling of how much is happening all at once and allows us to feel the high pressure pace and responsibility for everyone involved in such a high stakes jobs as the presidency. This who sequence oozes style, effort, and passion and it's 'just' tv.