Post7: Slumdog shots

Director Danny Boyle and Co-Director Loveleen Tandan, created this scene from one of my favorite movies, Slumdog Millionaire. This clip includes various shots described by Prof. Ramirez-Berg in lecture. They used a close up shot to show the relationships and emotions of the main characters: Salim and Jamal. Following with a medium shot to show what was going on and then later on, a long shot for location and setting. Boyle and Tandan use an abundance of these shots throughout this scene and interchange them as Salim and Jamal collect money to help them survive on their own and make a living.


This clip opens up with a low angle shot where Jamal is looking up towards his older brother Salim and waiting to hear instructions on what to do next. All throughout the film, Jamal looks up to his older brother and in this close up shot we see the power Salim has because of the low angle shot. Jamal then follows his brother's lead as the shot becomes a medium shot which helps to give us a clue on what is going to happen next by the character's movements.


The scene continues with a range of medium and long shots to help the audience distinguish that they are traveling on a train and are selling things for money. As the clip continues, the long shots show that the train is moving across a landscape, while the medium shots show the transactions. The close up shots show the merchandise being sold along with the emotions of the main characters when they have money in their hands.


Another great example in this scene are the directors' use of close up shots. Each close up shot not only shows the character's emotion of hunger or of them being tired, but it also gives the audience the opportunity to see how hard their life is. Doyle and Tandan do a great job of combining the character's emotion with the hardship of life as a slumdog.


This scene has a variety of long, medium, and close up shots within it. The reason I think that this is a good example is because it almost seems like each frame is an interchangeable pattern of each different type of shot. Not only does this scene interchange these shots, it also incorporates the camera angles in a way where the audience can tell where the characters are going or doing by giving the right information away through the long, medium, and close up shot.



photo provided by: http://www.flash-screen.com/
video provided by: YouTube