Online Film Analysis

Ocean's Eleven
The scene starts with six people sitting around a table playing poker. The shot uses deep focus, as players are placed in the foreground and middle ground. By sitting around the table, the shot is balanced according to the Rule of Thirds. The light is dim, illuminating only the from of the players and the table which helps to instill the atmosphere of a casino. This opening scene is followed by several scenes, lasting four or five seconds, that frame three players with one placed in each of the planes of depth. Although Pitt's character is obviously the dominant figure, as his commanding dialogue makes up for the majority of the sound, he is obscured by shadows which helps to build his character as a "behind the scenes" guy. Rusty's disgust with his idiotic and pampered clientele is shown by zooming in on him as he slowly takes a drink after Eric from That 70's Show celebrates his "all reds". The camerawork shifts in the following sequence, cutting between Rusty and Danny. Both characters are the subject of several shots where one of them will be the only important object in the frame.

Strangers On a Train
The scene starts with a chaotic gun blast. The victim is partially obscured by a rotating Merry-Go-Round, and the camera follows the body as it falls to the ground. The chaos is multiplied through the repetition of increasing speed of rotation seen in a gear of the ride and the increasing pitch of the ride's music. This creates a sense of escalating danger and chaos. One scene takes a First Person POV of one of the detectives who has boarded the ride. The camera spins because the ride is spinning, again adding to the chaos. The diegetic sound from the ride is combined with the non-diegetic soundtrack as a man tries to climb under the spinning ride to stop it. The struggle between two men on the ride is set amongst a dynamic spinning background, often with a deep focus. One scene is is filmed from the axis of the ride, as the elderly ride attendant slowly crawls closer. It seems that nearly every shot has been carefully composed, and adheres to the Rule of Thirds. Character's are given close-ups as the struggle, either against another or to complete a task.

Amadeus
The clip begins with an elderly Salieri in the middle of the frame, and alternates to a youthful priest. The alternation continues as the two converse, aside from several shots that highlight Salieri in the midground as he plays some of his old songs on a piano. The only source of light is through a window behind Salieri. The light both illuminates him and lights up streaks of dust as it pours into the room. As he conducts a song playing in his head, the scene flashes back to a Rubenesque woman descending down a flight a stairs while singing opera. The singer is clad in white from head to foot, and stands out amongst the brown background. The scene then refocuses on a youthful Salieri as he conducts a full orchestra. As the song finishes, the scene flashes back to the elderly counterpart, reveling in his memory of past glory, illuminated by the light from the translucent window. The entire scene is distinguished by the oscillation between Salieri and his guest, each character being the sole subject of the frame when the camera turns to them.

The Mirror
The scene opens with two young, bald boys leaving a dimly lit room furnished in all-wood furniture. A reverse tracking shot backs away from the scene, while keeping the original room in the frame for as long as possible. The camera then pans to the window of a door, and in the deep background, the two boys who originally left the room are seen at the front entrance. The only sound heard is the diagetic sound of a dog barking, and a man passionately calling out "Mikah". A hand-held camera follows a young boy as he walks out a back door. The camera slowly pans across from the house's porch, to center on a house in the background engulfed in flame. A woman stands in the foreground watching, and a man stands in the mid ground, both in silence. The boy goes out to join the woman. The only sound is of flames burning and rain falling onto the porch's overhang