5 Favorite Film Scenes (#2)

Here are my 5 favorite film scenes. Though I say these are my favorites, there are a lot of scenes I know I love but just can't remember as well as these!


1. Opening scene of Dark Days (beginning to 5:05)

This documentary is about a group of people who are homeless and live underground, in old abandoned Amtrak rail lines. This opening scene establishes the environment that the documentary is in, and the minimal lighting, really only one giant light, shows how dark the tunnels really are. Plus, filming the entire documentary in black and white helps the audience pay attention to the content.

The following of the man, with simple pans to take the viewer from one shot to the next; then leading to the frame within a frame where the subway suddenly drives past. The next two shots are again, simple, but powerful. The man is seen at a medium long shot, then medium shot, climbing down into the tunnel, and then the long shot of the man as a silhouette with the tracks grabbing your attention in the background. Then the high angle shot of the tracks shows that you are going further and further into the tunnels, with them also using the lines of the track to show even more depth. The scene continues on, establishing the types of structures everyone lives in with a simple pan continuing past. Then the canted angle of the subway, with only its headlight lighting the shot, finalizes the depth the viewer has reached, and creates understanding as the title appears on screen.

2. Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth and Darcy’s dance

This scene is wonderful because one, it is one continuous shot, and it totally works with what is happening in the scene (I’m only focusing on the part before they start placing cuts in the scene). Elizabeth and Darcy are finally addressing their assumptions of each other, and just like they are dancing around what they think of each other, they are physically dancing too. So the camera work: the pans following Elizabeth and then Darcy as they go around other people in the line. Plus, you can tell that the shot has a shallow depth of field because the dancers in the background are blurry. The camera stays at a medium close-up for the entire time, keeping the two main characters in focus, and has dancers and musicians in the fore- and background to make the viewer really feel like they are dancing and interacting along with the characters. 

3. On The Waterfront

 One of my favorite movies ever, and one of the best scenes from that movie is when Terry (Marlon Brando) is in the taxi with his big brother, finally addressing the feelings he has kept inside for years. Because the scene is so intimate in context, and because it is the final turning point for Terry to make his decision, the camera is set as a medium long shot for the two person frame, and goes in closer with simple close-ups of both brothers, sometimes when they are speaking, and other times when they are reacting to what is being said. The entire film is in black and white, and the lighting is minimal, only to shed enough light inside the cab so that one can see, but it still has shadow to add towards the grave subject being discussed. The aesthetics are simple so the viewer focuses on what is happening, and they help at the beginning by immediately putting you right with them in the cramped taxi cab.

4. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

The cellar scene, which is one out of two climactic arguments that are going on back and forth at the same time, has to do with Brick, the son, and Big Daddy, the father, and them discussing their issues with one another. Brick only ever wanted his dad to care about him, while Big Daddy has bought piles upon piles of “things” to claim as his own, or to buy his family’s love, but when he realizes that he’s dying, everything starts to come into perspective. Knowing that, the scene really exposes what is in Big Daddy’s head. There is clutter everywhere in the shot, and it almost engulfs the two characters as they realize what they still lack, despite all of the “things” they have around them.

With great use of rule of thirds to establish the cellar and Brick hobbling down the stairs, as well as great medium close-ups and frames within frames, this scene is heart-wrenching not only because of content of what is being said, but because of how the camera shots and movement have been filmed and placed together.

5. Fiddler on the Roof (watch from 0:35 to 2:18)

 So, it’s a musical, but this opening title sequence is amazing! It starts with a long establishing shot of the environment, at dawn, so the ground and forest are merged together as one with the slowly rising sun the only lighting in the frame. As it shows this, the camera gives a slow pan while the natural sound of birds and insects solidifies where this place is. Then the camera stops as they speed time and the viewer sees the sun rise right in front of them. Then it cuts to the next frame where the camera is panning silhouetted rooftops until it finally lands on the fiddler. Once on the fiddler, it holds a long shot of him in silhouette while he begins to play. Once the main character begins talking, that scene is over, but the fiddler continues to play which I think is a great way to transition to the main story.