Teaching Film Techniques

After completing the analysis of the commercial shoot by shoot, I found that analyzing the scene in the movie was much easier, and I was able to appreciate what all goes into a single scene in a film. There is so much more to watching a movie than just vegging out, and mindlessly watching for entertainment. While it seems like a lot more work to analyze a scene in a movie, it made the experience much more enjoyable after having viewed this film a couple of times without considering everything that went into this one specific scene. For those of you who are not familiar with this recent film, check out the trailer to get a better idea of what the movie is all about!
Film: Maid of Honor
Scene description: Tom and Hannah are meeting for dinner at a restaurant after not having seen each other for 6 weeks. Tom intends to tell Hannah that he is in love with her, but is dumbstruck when he sees that she has brought another man to the dinner. Hannah announces to Tom that she and Colin are engaged. Tom seems to be confused as to why they got engaged so quickly and is asked by Hannah to be her maid of honor in the wedding (because she expects that she would be the best man in Tom’s wedding some day). At this point he stands up and unintentionally pushes into the server, knocking him over, along with the dishes he is carrying to the other table.
Use of Camera: Circling the 3 characters at the dinner table as Hannah and Colin explain their quick engagement and the short time before the wedding. This use of the camera gives the audience the same dizzy feeling that Tom is experiencing as he’s finding out that the woman he loves is betrothed to another. Continues to circle in this manner until Tom is asked to be Hannah’s maid of honor. Then the camera does a close up of Tom.
This is use of camera technique adds to the romantic comedy’s larger purpose by helping set up the plot for what is yet to come. While we all know that Tom has recently figured out that he was in love with Hannah, we don’t know what is going to happen once he sees Hannah for the first time in six weeks. By giving the audience the same sick and dizzy feeling that Tom is experiencing when he meets Hannah’s fiancé, the camera use adds to the positioning of the audience. We all feel the same as Tom, and this makes us anxious to find out what Tom is going to do: Is he going to let Hannah get married to Colin? Or will he pursue her and try to win her away from Colin?
Lighting: romantic, soft lighting
Sound: Soft sound of the other diners at the restaurant and other restaurant noises
The sound and the lighting help give the scene the authenticity that audience is looking for in a romantic comedy such as Maid of Honor. If the lighting and sounds hadn’t been as they were, the situation would have felt unrealistic and would not have kept the audience’s attention.
Music: plucked strings, intensifies right after Hannah asks Tom to be her maid of honor when there is pause before Tom says anything.
The intensifying of the music during this scene builds some suspense, while the audience is waiting to hear Tom’s answer to Hannah’s question.

Teaching film and editing techniques will be helpful for students in my language arts classroom. The time that I see myself presenting this type of lesson the most is during a Shakespeare unit. There are so many of Shakespeare’s plays that have been adapted to film in many different ways. Take Romeo and Juliet for instance: This play has been made into two very well known films, created in very different ways. The 1968 version takes on a more traditional view of Romeo and Juliet, while the 1996 version has a modern twist to it. Teaching my students the different editing and film techniques would be beneficial because I can show my students two different ways of conveying the emotions and actions that William Shakespeare brought to the stage. Since these movies are so different, I would have my students take a specific scene in the play and compare and contrast how the two directors interpreted the scenes in terms of film techniques. Questions I could ask would include: Where were the scenes different? Where were they similar? What was surprising? Was there anything that you would change to make it easier to understand?