Extra Credit Group Assignment - Chapter 6: Review Exercise Question 1

 

In this scene from National Security (2003) we witness the way a movie or scene is opened regularly with the use of an establishing shot which gives the audiences the location of the scene. This establishing shot moves into a medium shot which shows viewers who is physically in the scene. Finally, we get a close up shot(s) which is usually employed to show characters exchanging dialogue.

In this scene from Heat (1995),  we get a different approach to the start of a scene. The director uses a series of close ups to set up the scene and the actors rather than use an establishing shot. By doing this, we do not get a clear view of where the characters are in regards to setting. But it does give the scene an element of tension because of its use of back-and-forth close up shots to show the intensity of the character interaction.

These two scenes show different approaches to opening a scene and how it's set up for the audience. Most scenes open with an establishing shot because it gives the audience a better understanding of where the story is currently taking place.