[0:00] this video is brought to you by
[0:01] curiosity stream and
[0:05] nebula hey folks so this video is a
[0:08] little bit different than usual it is
[0:11] not part of the ongoing season it is not
[0:14] canon within the universe of the show it
[0:17] was actually originally written almost a
[0:19] year ago as one of our nebula classes
[0:23] but I changed my mind and decided to
[0:25] make a different class instead that one
[0:27] is about how to make a movie and it's a
[0:29] ailable now so I figured I would hold on
[0:32] to this and at some point just make it
[0:34] as a regular video here on the channel
[0:37] and that's what I did and that's why in
[0:39] case you're wondering the video seems a
[0:42] lot more like an academic class than
[0:45] most of the videos usually do so anyway
[0:48] with that explanation out of the way
[0:50] enjoy my class on how to analyze movies
[0:55] [Music]
[1:05] hi I'm Patrick Willams and today I want
[1:08] to talk to you about movies or if we
[1:12] want to sound fancy we're going to be
[1:15] discussing Cinema compared to other art
[1:18] forms like literature or painting or
[1:21] music that have been around for hundreds
[1:23] of years Cinema is relatively young
[1:26] moving picture cameras weren't invented
[1:29] until the late 1800s and the first movie
[1:31] with recorded sound came out less than a
[1:34] 100 years ago so we're still in the
[1:37] early days of the medium for the past
[1:40] Century movies have been the most
[1:42] popular art form in the world we've been
[1:45] watching them and enjoying them our
[1:47] whole lives and for a lot of people
[1:50] movies are just a fun thing to watch to
[1:52] kill some time and that's fine but maybe
[1:56] you want to look at them a little more
[1:58] deeply I mean if weirdos like me can get
[2:01] a whole college degree in something
[2:03] called Cinema studies there must be more
[2:06] going on here and that's what this video
[2:10] is about because pretty much every movie
[2:14] ever made has more to it than just the
[2:17] surface level story like any art form
[2:20] Cinema is the result of artists making
[2:22] deliberate choices and those choices
[2:25] influence how the movie affects us
[2:27] emotionally and what ideas or meanings
[2:30] it's expressing we are not here to
[2:33] decide whether a movie is good or bad
[2:35] and then move on what we're going to do
[2:38] here today is talk about how to
[2:40] interpret these aspects of a movie the
[2:44] story the shots and editing and how it's
[2:47] all put together to understand how it
[2:50] works and what it all means now this
[2:53] kind of analysis doesn't just apply to
[2:55] cinema we're really talking about
[2:58] analyzing works of art and narrative art
[3:01] like Cinema warrants the same level of
[3:04] serious analysis as paintings hanging in
[3:07] the Lou and folks I am not only talking
[3:11] about fancy art films by Batar or rasuk
[3:15] hamaguchi we can apply this same level
[3:18] of analysis to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or
[3:22] Megan and once we're done here you can
[3:25] be that insufferable pretentious person
[3:28] at a party who tells every everyone what
[3:30] movies are really about how Lord of the
[3:34] Rings is actually about addiction how
[3:37] Top Gun is about struggling to figure
[3:40] out one's sexuality and how every
[3:42] Christopher Nolan movie is really about
[3:45] how he misses his
[3:47] family I mean that last one I actually
[3:49] do
[3:53] [Music]
[3:55] believe okay look I'm going to be honest
[3:57] with you you can probably turn this
[3:59] video off after this one chapter because
[4:03] this is the only rule that really
[4:05] matters if you learn this you're pretty
[4:07] much set to go and start analyzing all
[4:10] the movies you want so let me start with
[4:12] a little story back when I was in
[4:14] college taking a lot of Cinema studies
[4:17] courses for a while I honestly wasn't
[4:20] very good at interpreting meaning from
[4:22] movies I could break down technical
[4:25] aspects and story structure but for some
[4:28] reason I was resistant to the idea of
[4:31] giving every element some deeper
[4:33] subtextual significance and then what
[4:36] finally made it click for me was this
[4:38] art history class I took where the
[4:41] professor realized that I wasn't fully
[4:44] getting it so we had a meeting at the
[4:46] college Art Museum and she finally got
[4:49] through to me by breaking it down in a
[4:51] way I understood so in simplest terms
[4:55] analyzing art really just comes down to
[4:58] two steps
[5:00] step one look closely at the piece and
[5:04] just describe what you're seeing what
[5:07] the piece is and what's happening in it
[5:10] and step two ask why treat every part of
[5:15] that piece as a choice the artist made
[5:18] and ask why they made that choice what
[5:21] was their goal what purpose does it
[5:23] serve how does it make me the viewer
[5:26] feel so if you're looking at a painting
[5:29] you're doing this with the overall
[5:31] composition of the piece the choice of
[5:33] colors the size of the piece the
[5:36] perspective and style of brush Strokes
[5:38] the degree of realism versus abstraction
[5:41] all of these things should be examined
[5:45] and questioned and yes I am aware that
[5:48] frequently in art you get happy
[5:51] accidents things that end up in the
[5:53] finished work but were never a
[5:55] deliberate part of the artist's design
[5:58] what do we make of those do we ignore
[6:00] them because of their accidental nature
[6:03] nope those deserve just the same level
[6:06] of analysis it could even be worth
[6:09] analyzing how the technique used led to
[6:11] an environment in which this kind of
[6:13] accident could be possible because
[6:16] analysis does not end at what the artist
[6:19] intended that's the fun thing about art
[6:22] the artist gives it meaning but so do we
[6:25] as viewers we can totally say that the
[6:28] artist is wrong about their own work
[6:31] that regardless of what they intended it
[6:33] means something different because
[6:36] remember folks and say it with me Al
[6:39] together now art is
[6:45] subjective and that said it doesn't mean
[6:49] that I have to agree with every single
[6:51] Take You can tell me that I don't know
[6:54] that like Toy Story is an allegory for
[6:58] Western imperialism and if you can argue
[7:00] that I would love to hear it but also I
[7:04] don't think you're going to find a lot
[7:06] of evidence to present
[7:10] [Music]
[7:12] there okay so now let's actually get
[7:15] into how we analyze a movie I want to
[7:19] start in the broadest most General way
[7:22] how do we look at a movie and identify
[7:25] its primary themes movies are
[7:28] complicated and there's 's always a lot
[7:30] going on but how do we interpret what
[7:33] it's saying because look regardless of
[7:36] what the movie is good movies or bad
[7:39] movies every movie is about something
[7:43] every movie has some kind of core idea
[7:46] it's expressing or at least trying to
[7:49] express for the rest of this video I
[7:51] want to focus primarily on one movie to
[7:55] show you how you can take a pretty
[7:57] ordinary film something that that does
[8:00] not seem like a deep artart film and
[8:02] actually extract a ton of meaning from
[8:05] it so today we are going to be focusing
[8:09] on the 1990 Chris Columbus film Home
[8:13] Alone which was written and produced by
[8:15] John Hughes starring mccauly culin
[8:18] Katherine O'Hara and Joe pesi I assume
[8:22] most people watching this are familiar
[8:24] with home alone and what it's about but
[8:28] let me ask you this what is it really
[8:32] about what is the main theme of Home
[8:36] Alone well to find it the first step is
[8:39] to just look at the events of the movie
[8:42] and describe in simplest terms what
[8:46] happens what is the story how does it
[8:49] begin and how does it end so here's how
[8:53] I would describe what happens in Home
[8:55] Alone a kid and his mom are mad at each
[8:57] other then they get separated
[9:00] and they realize that they miss each
[9:01] other so while she tries to get home to
[9:04] him he has to protect his home against
[9:07] Invaders okay okay that was that was
[9:10] pretty good but let's make it simpler so
[9:13] how about a kid defends his home while
[9:18] his mother tries to get home to him okay
[9:21] that's better but it's still too
[9:23] complicated let's break it down even
[9:26] more so like home loone is about the
[9:30] lengths we will go for our families okay
[9:34] good good I think we're almost there but
[9:37] we can go one step further and make it
[9:40] even
[9:41] simpler home alone is about the
[9:45] importance of
[9:48] [Music]
[9:50] family that's it we did it we found the
[9:54] main
[9:56] theme great job guys but look
[9:59] movies don't always just have one theme
[10:03] there are actually multiple themes here
[10:06] that are all connected so again breaking
[10:09] this movie down to a very simple
[10:12] description it's about an immature kid
[10:14] left on his own and put in a dangerous
[10:17] situation who learns to fend for himself
[10:20] get over his fears and defend his
[10:22] family's home to put that in simplest
[10:25] terms it's a story about learning to
[10:28] take responsib ability we can do it
[10:30] again it's a movie about people who end
[10:33] up in a terrible situation because
[10:36] they're mad at each other and then they
[10:38] realize how much they love each other
[10:40] and go to Great Lengths to reunite in
[10:43] simplest terms it's a story about
[10:46] forgiveness so basically home alone is
[10:50] about responsibility forgiveness and the
[10:53] importance of
[10:55] family boom we did it see that's not so
[10:59] hard and that's how it works for just
[11:01] about every movie you step back and look
[11:05] at the movie on a macro level what are
[11:07] the main conflicts how are they resolved
[11:11] how do the characters change and
[11:13] generally from just answering those
[11:16] questions you can extract the theme and
[11:19] figure out what the movie is trying to
[11:25] [Music]
[11:27] say Okay so we've talked about the big
[11:29] picture stuff and how to interpret the
[11:32] story but the story itself is just a
[11:35] small part of a movie you can write a
[11:38] story in a few sentences on a piece of
[11:40] paper what's really important is how
[11:43] it's told Cinema is a visual medium if
[11:47] all you care about is the plot then go
[11:49] read the synopsis on Wikipedia it's
[11:52] faster the point of a movie is to tell a
[11:55] story with images and those images can
[11:58] do a lot more than just showing actors
[12:01] delivering dialogue where the camera is
[12:04] placed how it moves how a shot uses
[12:07] light and color how the actors are
[12:10] positioned these all have a
[12:12] psychological and emotional effect on
[12:14] the audience changing any one of those
[12:17] elements can radically affect how we
[12:20] interpret something these seemingly
[12:22] small choices can create meaning and
[12:25] subtexts that you would not just find in
[12:28] the thought synopsis so it's time to
[12:31] bust out a fancy French expression
[12:34] you've probably heard about this one
[12:35] before it's a big one it is time to talk
[12:39] about Mison sen essentially what Mison
[12:43] sen means is what is in the frame it's
[12:47] the dozens even hundreds of choices from
[12:50] costumes to locations to lenses to
[12:53] lighting that result in what we see on
[12:56] screen what we're trying to do here is
[13:00] understand the form how the tools of
[13:03] Cinema are deployed the film
[13:10] [Music]
[13:12] language it's often been said that a
[13:14] movie teaches us how to watch it when
[13:18] looking at the early scenes in
[13:20] particular we're being given Clues as to
[13:23] the tone and language of the movie as in
[13:26] the visual language if you look at a
[13:28] movie and try to impose the rules of
[13:31] other movies onto it you're just not
[13:35] having a productive experience so for
[13:37] example back in 2008 when the movie
[13:41] speedracer came out a lot of people
[13:43] looked at it and recoiled in horror they
[13:46] were like this looks weird it's like a
[13:48] cartoon it doesn't look real this must
[13:51] be a mistake which means the movie is
[13:53] bad now the problem with this take is
[13:56] that it's assuming that the movie is
[13:59] trying to look realistic and failing
[14:02] it's ignoring what is actually going on
[14:05] which is that the aesthetic was a
[14:07] deliberate choice and part of analyzing
[14:10] film is treating every aspect of it as a
[14:13] deliberate choice now this is not to say
[14:16] that you have to like every choice and
[14:18] maybe you think a choice doesn't work
[14:20] and was a mistake but give the
[14:22] filmmakers some credit assume they chose
[14:25] to do it that way and then figure out
[14:29] why so this starts with the overall
[14:32] style and aesthetic a starting point for
[14:35] analyzing this is considering where it
[14:38] falls on the scale of realism versus
[14:42] formalism now without getting into the
[14:44] whole long history of film Theory and
[14:46] where these approaches came from the
[14:49] short version is this one extreme
[14:52] approach to cinema is pure realism
[14:56] basically a reproduction of reality with
[14:59] with no intrusive elements you know
[15:01] workers leaving the factory then on the
[15:04] other end of the spectrum is like a
[15:07] surreal animated musical something
[15:10] entirely artificial that doesn't attempt
[15:13] to imitate reality at all most movies
[15:16] exist kind of around the middle in an
[15:19] area called
[15:20] classicism this uses realist elements
[15:23] like naturalistic performances and
[15:26] locations and subtle unobtrusive editing
[15:29] to create a linear sense of continuity
[15:32] but it combines them with formalist
[15:34] elements like a musical score different
[15:37] camera angles and camera movement and
[15:40] classicism is pretty much where Home
[15:42] Alone Falls it has the glossy Hollywood
[15:46] lighting it's shot on 35mm film it has
[15:49] the aesthetic and look that we accept as
[15:52] general movie reality and the sets
[15:56] costumes locations and performances are
[15:59] designed to resemble the real world but
[16:01] there are also several formalist
[16:03] elements throughout there's the music
[16:06] the iconic John Williams score and
[16:09] several Christmas songs and then there
[16:11] are the various exaggerated angles point
[16:14] of view shots the slow motion when the
[16:16] tobogan flies out the door this split
[16:19] diopter shot and of course the part
[16:22] where Kevin is remembering the mean
[16:24] things his family members said to him
[16:26] and we see their faces floating at the
[16:28] sides of the frame and the purpose of
[16:30] all those things that I just listed is
[16:33] the same it's to show us Kevin's
[16:36] perspective anytime the film shifts a
[16:39] little bit toward formalism it's to
[16:41] communicate to the audience how Kevin is
[16:44] feeling and perceiving
[16:49] [Music]
[16:50] things and this brings us to another
[16:53] major component of a film's visual
[16:56] storytelling perspective and more
[16:59] specifically is it a subjective
[17:02] perspective or an objective perspective
[17:05] I know I just threw out a whole bunch of
[17:07] rhyming words at you but I promise it's
[17:09] actually pretty simple when a film uses
[17:12] an objective perspective it is doing so
[17:15] as if it is an outside Observer with no
[17:18] emotional involvement in the story
[17:20] simply seeing the events from an outside
[17:23] point of view a subjective perspective
[17:27] is when a film uses its visual language
[17:29] to convey how a character is feeling and
[17:33] telling the story from their perspective
[17:36] and this can change from scene to scene
[17:39] so let's look at an example from Home
[17:41] Alone early in the movie when Kevin
[17:43] wakes up after his family has gone to
[17:45] the airport without him this is all shot
[17:48] from an objective perspective it's the
[17:51] static wide shots that emphasize the
[17:54] vast emptiness of the house and how
[17:57] small Kevin looks inside it it because
[17:59] right now he doesn't realize that he's
[18:02] home alone we know more than he does and
[18:05] so we're standing back as an outside
[18:07] Observer waiting until he notices
[18:10] something is off and then as he starts
[18:13] to realize what's happening the film
[18:15] moves into a subjective perspective I
[18:18] mean it literally visualizes his mind as
[18:21] he remembers things his family members
[18:23] said to him and then the film language
[18:25] changes to express His Manic excitement
[18:28] at having the house to himself we are
[18:30] now firmly in Kevin's perspective for
[18:33] the rest of the movie but to understand
[18:36] how this perspective is actually done we
[18:39] need to get a bit more
[18:44] [Music]
[18:46] technical you don't need to know exactly
[18:49] how to make a movie to be qualified to
[18:51] analyze them you don't need to know how
[18:53] to work a camera or read a light meter
[18:57] but it does help to have a basic
[19:00] understanding of some of the technical
[19:02] aspects of film making so that you can
[19:04] understand the creative choices being
[19:06] made and what they mean so lenses those
[19:11] pieces of glass and gears that control
[19:14] how the camera sees the image we could
[19:16] do a whole class on how lenses work
[19:19] since there is so much to talk about but
[19:21] we don't have all day I want to go home
[19:23] and eat dinner after this so here's the
[19:25] simple version every lens has what's
[19:29] called a focal length which is expressed
[19:31] in a unit of millimet right now this
[19:35] camera is shooting me on a 35 mm lens a
[19:40] lower number focal length means it's a
[19:43] wider lens and a higher number means
[19:46] it's a longer lens every lens has its
[19:49] own qualities and the choice of lens can
[19:52] radically change what a shot looks like
[19:55] here's me on a 16 mmm lens
[19:59] and then here's me in the same position
[20:01] on a 105 mm lens in general longer
[20:06] lenses have a narrower field of view and
[20:09] compress the image so the background
[20:12] looks closer to the foreground they also
[20:15] have a shallower depth of field meaning
[20:17] the part that's in Focus so if a long
[20:20] lens is focused on a person in the
[20:22] foreground everything behind them will
[20:25] be totally blurry and because of this
[20:28] long l tend to be used for close-ups
[20:31] because they isolate the subject in
[20:33] focus and also just make it look more
[20:35] flattering wide lenses on the other hand
[20:38] capture a much wider field of view
[20:42] fitting more of the environment into the
[20:44] frame the depth of field is much deeper
[20:47] so the outof focus parts are not as
[20:49] blurry as they would be with a long lens
[20:52] and especially with really wide lenses
[20:55] there's a slight warping to the image
[20:57] the world looks slightly exaggerated
[21:00] through a wide lens and so they're often
[21:03] used for comedy close-ups with a
[21:05] wideangle lens can look crazy and also
[21:09] wide lenses emphasize motion so if the
[21:12] camera is moving forward quickly like if
[21:14] it's strapped to the front of a moving
[21:16] car the movement looks way faster and
[21:19] more intense with a really wide lens
[21:21] there's no one correct way to use these
[21:24] lenses like sure the Cohen Brothers like
[21:27] to shoot common with wide lenses but
[21:30] then the Revenant was also shot all on
[21:33] super wide lenses Terren Malik mostly
[21:37] uses super wide lenses these are just
[21:40] different choices that affect how the
[21:42] audience interprets the image and so how
[21:46] are lenses used in Home Alone in general
[21:50] there aren't any really extreme choices
[21:53] no 11 mm lenses and no 1,000 mm lenses
[21:58] and definitely no fisheye lenses mostly
[22:01] the lenses stay around 21 to 35 mm
[22:05] relatively wide so that we can see the
[22:07] environment as well as the characters
[22:09] because obviously the house is very
[22:12] important what's notable though is the
[22:15] way that Chris Columbus and
[22:16] cinematographer Julio MCAT use wider
[22:20] lenses they are almost exclusively used
[22:23] when shooting scenes subjectively from
[22:26] Kevin's perspective so every time he's
[22:28] looking looking up at an adult those
[22:30] adults are shot with a wide angle lens
[22:33] which exaggerates the distance making
[22:35] them look like these huge imposing
[22:37] people towering over Kevin in the scene
[22:40] in the church when Kevin finally meets
[22:42] old man Marley who he's been terrified
[22:45] of for the whole movie wideangle lenses
[22:47] make Marley seem huge and scary and they
[22:51] make Kevin look tiny and weak but then
[22:54] when Marley sits down and reveals
[22:56] himself to actually be a nice person the
[22:59] exaggerated wide lenses are replaced
[23:02] with longer lenses making the characters
[23:05] appear more natural more like humans and
[23:08] less like cartoons the only times that
[23:11] much longer lenses are used are the
[23:14] scenes when Kevin walks Home Alone from
[23:16] the grocery store these lenses isolate
[23:19] him against the background so he is
[23:22] sharply in Focus while the background is
[23:24] totally blurred out the shots emphasize
[23:28] his isolation the frame is pretty much
[23:30] empty except for him and the first time
[23:33] we see this the camera is higher up
[23:36] looking slightly down at Kevin so he
[23:39] appears small the second time which
[23:41] comes later in the story at this point
[23:43] he's feeling better taking on some
[23:46] responsibility and so now the camera is
[23:49] placed lower down looking up at him a
[23:52] little bit so he appears more confident
[23:57] [Music]
[24:00] color it's a vital part of Cinema
[24:03] filling every frame of every movie you
[24:06] see except all the black and white ones
[24:10] obviously color is something that just
[24:12] exists in reality so the camera is going
[24:15] to capture it automatically but it's
[24:18] also an incredibly powerful storytelling
[24:21] tool the color of light of sets and
[24:24] costumes color manipulation and post-
[24:27] production all of these things done
[24:29] deliberately can affect the audience
[24:32] emotionally and create meaning and
[24:34] subtext within a film now to be clear
[24:37] there is not only one single meaning for
[24:40] each color depending on the film colors
[24:43] can mean pretty much anything in Star
[24:46] Wars red is associated with evil but in
[24:50] other movies it represents passion and
[24:52] love in The Matrix green is associated
[24:56] with an oppressive system of control but
[24:58] in other movies it represents hope and
[25:01] fertility and nature colors can be
[25:04] anything the filmmakers just need to
[25:07] know how and why they're using them so
[25:10] now let's talk about the colors in home
[25:13] alone right from the opening scene the
[25:16] mallister house is portrayed in warm
[25:19] colors it's lit with glowing amber light
[25:23] it's decorated with lots of Reds red
[25:26] patterned wallpaper red bed spreads red
[25:29] napkins red leather chairs and so we
[25:32] associate these colors with home and
[25:35] family in general warm colors tend to be
[25:39] appealing and comforting we associate
[25:42] them with sunsets Autumn Leaves and
[25:45] fireplaces human skin is made of warm
[25:48] colors even for really pale people like
[25:51] me most comedies and uplifting movies
[25:54] tend to have warmer color palettes
[25:57] because this makes us feel good it puts
[26:00] us at ease and gets us ready to laugh
[26:03] now obviously there are exceptions like
[26:05] Mad Max Fury Road cranks up its warm
[26:08] colors so much that they feel hot and
[26:11] oppressive but these are generalizations
[26:14] not science so if the home in Home Alone
[26:18] has a warm color palette what happens
[26:21] when we go away from the home well in
[26:24] the whole storyline with Kevin's mom she
[26:27] is stuck far away trying to get back
[26:30] home and every location she and the rest
[26:34] of the family are in has this cold color
[26:37] palette when she gets on the airplane
[26:39] before she realizes Kevin isn't there in
[26:42] each scene blue becomes more and more
[26:45] dominant the airports are all blue the
[26:49] apartment in France is furnished with
[26:51] teal Furniture even the Christmas tree
[26:54] there is white with blue lights and yet
[26:58] Katherine O'Hara playing Kevin's mom is
[27:01] always in the warm color palette of
[27:03] their home she has red hair she's
[27:06] wearing a camel coat and cream colored
[27:09] sweater she clashes with the colors of
[27:12] these environments this is the movie
[27:14] telling us with color symbolism that she
[27:17] doesn't belong here she's meant to be at
[27:20] home and this same color coding
[27:23] continues throughout the movie The Wet
[27:25] Bandits van is blue in the opening scene
[27:29] Harry is disguised as a police officer
[27:31] in a blue uniform and then when John
[27:35] Candy shows up to help Kevin's mom get
[27:37] home he's in a yellow jacket the warm
[27:41] colors return to help bring her home
[27:44] this is honestly a pretty well-made
[27:49] [Music]
[27:50] movie up to now we've been talking about
[27:53] misison sen what's in the frame but now
[27:57] it's time to talk about the frame itself
[28:01] if we're going to analyze the visual
[28:03] choices of a film that doesn't just mean
[28:06] the smaller stuff like lights and lenses
[28:09] this goes all the way to the top and by
[28:11] the top I mean the shape of the movie
[28:13] itself and by the shape I mean the
[28:16] aspect ratio the aspect ratio is simply
[28:19] put the ratio of the frames width to its
[28:23] height in the early days of Cinema all
[28:26] movies were shot and projected pretty
[28:28] pretty much as a square and then as
[28:31] technology evolved wider aspect ratios
[28:34] became available and these days pretty
[28:36] much anything is possible depending on
[28:38] what the filmmakers want so you could
[28:40] have something like the Grand Budapest
[28:42] Hotel which uses three different aspect
[28:45] ratios this might seem like a small
[28:48] decision but it changes the whole way
[28:50] that shots are framed since the shape of
[28:53] the image is fundamentally different I
[28:56] know that 2.39 to one also known as
[28:59] cinemascope has become this shorthand
[29:01] for cinematic like by throwing black
[29:04] bars on the top and bottom of the movie
[29:06] and editing it suddenly looks important
[29:09] but generally when movies are shot in
[29:12] that aspect ratio it's a delate decision
[29:15] made to utilize The Wider frame home
[29:18] alone is shot in the common 1.85:1
[29:21] aspect ratio which is taller than
[29:24] cinemascope and is closer to filling a
[29:27] standard 16 by9 TV now this aspect ratio
[29:30] is used for all sorts of movies ET and
[29:33] The Godfather used it but one of the
[29:36] most common uses for it is for comedies
[29:40] comedy movies are often shot with wide
[29:42] lenses that slight Distortion I
[29:44] mentioned earlier can add a comedic
[29:46] undertone to the shots and since this
[29:49] aspect ratio reveals more of the frame
[29:52] like we can see more of the characters
[29:53] with the environment around them it
[29:56] works well for capturing physical
[29:58] [Music]
[30:01] comedy I would theorize that while the
[30:04] comedic potential of this aspect racio
[30:06] is part of why director Chris Columbus
[30:08] chose it I think the other reason is the
[30:11] same reason it was used for Jurassic
[30:14] Park see this aspect ratio is taller
[30:18] there's more image at the top and bottom
[30:20] so it was used for Jurassic Park because
[30:22] the dinosaurs are so tall that this
[30:25] allowed the film to capture them better
[30:27] and have them fill more of the frame and
[30:29] in Home Alone this extra height to the
[30:32] frame emphasizes how small Kevin is we
[30:35] see how big the environment is around
[30:38] him and how huge all the adults seem
[30:41] obviously there's not as much to analyze
[30:44] here compared to like color since it's
[30:47] just one single choice but I wanted to
[30:49] bring it up to demonstrate that
[30:52] literally every creative choice is worth
[30:55] thinking about
[30:58] [Music]
[31:00] after the camera maybe the most powerful
[31:03] tool a cinematographer has is lighting
[31:07] honestly the only things you really need
[31:10] to make a movie are a camera and some
[31:13] source of light lighting helps create
[31:15] the reality of the film it gives it mood
[31:18] and atmosphere it directs our eye and
[31:21] tells us where to look most of the time
[31:24] we're not supposed to notice the
[31:26] lighting it's meant to establish a
[31:28] cohesive reality that doesn't distract
[31:30] us from the story but even if we're not
[31:33] noticing the lighting it's still having
[31:36] an effect on us most of Home Alone is
[31:38] lit with what's known as highkey
[31:41] lighting this essentially means it's
[31:44] very well lit like I am now there's a
[31:47] key light a backl probably fill lights
[31:50] too there are minimal shadows and
[31:53] contrast it's designed to resemble
[31:55] reality but like a better looking more
[31:59] appealing reality where everyone's face
[32:01] is always nicely lit this is a fun
[32:04] family comedy with a happy ending and
[32:07] the highkey lighting immediately creates
[32:10] this nice comforting tone but on the
[32:12] flip side some scenes use what's called
[32:15] lowkey lighting which is pretty much the
[32:19] opposite it often uses only a single
[32:22] light source and has heavy shadows and
[32:24] contrast it feels more dramatic and
[32:27] suspenseful so look at this scene where
[32:30] Harry and Marv are trying to break into
[32:32] the house they're lit with this single
[32:35] hard light outside their faces are
[32:38] partly in Shadow there's lots of
[32:40] darkness and inside Kevin is lit only by
[32:44] the dim blue glow of the TV suddenly it
[32:48] feels like there's real danger and
[32:51] Stakes now imagine if this scene was lit
[32:54] like this it would have a totally
[32:56] different feeling and it really wouldn't
[32:59] feel so dangerous at
[33:03] [Music]
[33:05] all we've already talked about the shape
[33:08] and framing of shots but the thing is
[33:11] composition of images isn't really
[33:13] unique to film these same principles
[33:16] apply to photography and painting and
[33:18] even comic books but the component that
[33:21] makes Cinema unique is movement in
[33:25] particular the movement of the camera
[33:28] and the movement of actors within the
[33:30] frame which is known as blocking now
[33:33] there are movies with no camera movement
[33:36] at all composed entirely of static shots
[33:39] like the work of Roy Anderson but the
[33:42] majority of movies you'll see will have
[33:44] some degree of camera movement so now
[33:47] this might seem basic but I want to run
[33:50] through the different types of camera
[33:53] movement just so we have a vocabulary we
[33:56] can use panic
[33:58] is when the camera turns on the x axis
[34:01] going right or left tilting is when the
[34:05] camera turns on the Y AIS going up or
[34:09] down a zoom is done within the lens
[34:13] where the camera is fixed to one point
[34:16] but the focal length is increasing or
[34:19] decreasing a tracking shot is where the
[34:22] camera moves through space either on a
[34:26] steady cam or G gimbal or a dolly a
[34:29] crane shot is when the camera moves
[34:32] through space vertically and an
[34:35] extension of this is a helicopter or
[34:38] drone shot and handheld obviously is
[34:42] when a person is holding the camera
[34:45] which can add a looser degree of
[34:47] movement to what might otherwise be a
[34:50] static shot now this is not a test to be
[34:53] able to identify exactly how any shot
[34:57] was done but when you're analyzing a
[34:59] movie it's helpful to have the
[35:01] vocabulary to be able to discuss the
[35:03] storytelling choices being made and what
[35:06] they're doing sometimes this can be as
[35:09] simple as a pan from one thing to
[35:12] another like look at this shot we're in
[35:15] a wide shot looking at Kevin from an
[35:18] objective perspective as he is walking
[35:20] home feeling defeated and then the
[35:24] camera pans to show Harry and Marv in a
[35:28] van driving right toward him this one
[35:31] shot is telling a story our main
[35:34] character is unknowingly about to run
[35:37] into and maybe get run over by the
[35:39] villains it's saying Kevin is at a low
[35:43] point but uh-oh things are about to get
[35:47] worse and by doing this within one shot
[35:51] it's telling us where they are in
[35:53] relation to one another within the
[35:55] physical space obviously ly a lot of the
[35:58] time camera movement is happening to
[36:00] follow the action moving with characters
[36:04] as they move through the space but
[36:06] that's still a choice that's being made
[36:09] look at the way the camera moves through
[36:12] the airport as Kevin's family rushes to
[36:14] catch their flight now this could have
[36:17] been shot objectively in a static wide
[36:20] shot like from an anonymous person's
[36:22] perspective in the airport watching this
[36:25] crazy family but by having the camera
[36:28] move with them at the same speed it's
[36:31] making it subjective capturing how
[36:34] they're feeling the opening sequence of
[36:36] the movie is filled with constant
[36:39] movement the house is full of people
[36:41] rushing around packing for the trip and
[36:44] the camera is constantly in motion
[36:47] usually following characters from one
[36:49] room to the next on a steady cam now
[36:51] this serves a few purposes it's bringing
[36:54] us inside to make us feel like a member
[36:57] of the family it's creating this frantic
[37:00] energy to contrast the Stillness and
[37:03] quiet that will come when Kevin is left
[37:05] home alone and by using so many wide
[37:09] long tracking shots it's teaching the
[37:12] viewer the geography of the house which
[37:15] will become extremely important as the
[37:17] story goes on but let's look at a
[37:20] specific example to show how some simple
[37:23] movement of actors and the camera can
[37:26] give a scene meaning and emotion at one
[37:30] point in the movie while Kevin is hiding
[37:32] under his parents' bed he realizes that
[37:35] since he's the only one there he needs
[37:37] to toughen up stop being afraid and face
[37:40] his problems so he marches outside to
[37:43] declare to the world that he's not
[37:46] afraid anymore now look at this shot
[37:50] Kevin starts in the distance very small
[37:52] in the frame but as he walks toward us
[37:55] the camera tracks in at a low angle
[37:59] generally when the camera pushes in like
[38:02] this on a subject it's telling us that
[38:05] thing is important as if the camera is
[38:08] interested and is actively getting
[38:10] closer and so Kevin and the camera move
[38:13] toward each other until we arrive here
[38:17] in what is known as the cowboy shot a
[38:21] medium shot framing a character from the
[38:23] hips up usually to make them seem heroic
[38:27] you can see this in basically any
[38:30] Western or more recently this scene in
[38:33] Wonder Woman so this shot is visualizing
[38:36] Kevin's Newfound bravery he's feeling
[38:39] like a pretty big guy and then a shadow
[38:42] starts to pass over him and the camera
[38:45] begins moving up not tilting up but
[38:49] actually craning up vertically we cut to
[38:53] a shot from Kevin's point of view
[38:56] starting down with with old man Marley's
[38:58] scary Boots then tilting up the blade of
[39:02] the shovel which he thinks is a murder
[39:04] weapon and then it cuts back to Kevin as
[39:07] the camera keeps Rising with Marley
[39:10] Shadow now totally covering him
[39:13] immediately all that bravery is gone and
[39:17] he is a scared little boy even though
[39:20] this Cuts back and forth a couple of
[39:22] times it's really only two shots they're
[39:25] cutting between so you can see how that
[39:28] movement of the camera pushing in and
[39:31] then craning up is telling an entire
[39:34] story without any
[39:39] [Music]
[39:40] words in general we're not supposed to
[39:43] notice the editing when watching a movie
[39:46] it's meant to be invisible to tell the
[39:49] story clearly with good pacing so we get
[39:52] swept up in it and aren't thinking about
[39:54] the technical aspects are the cuts
[39:57] between the shots usually when we notice
[40:00] editing it's for disorienting
[40:02] distracting editing in an action scene
[40:04] like this
[40:10] thing what you'll generally encounter in
[40:13] most movies is what's called continuity
[40:16] editing editing that establishes a clear
[40:18] sense of spatial geography as well as
[40:21] time so when you're cutting between
[40:23] people talking they seem to be looking
[40:26] at each other the person on the left is
[40:28] looking right the person on the right is
[40:31] looking left and each shot
[40:33] chronologically follows the one before
[40:35] it it feels natural so we don't even
[40:38] think about it the basic idea of editing
[40:41] is that when a film cuts from one shot
[40:44] to another we subconsciously understand
[40:47] the connection between them so when Home
[40:50] Alone cuts from a TV to Kevin covering
[40:53] his eyes with his fingers even though
[40:55] they're in separate shots we understand
[40:58] that he is watching the TV and reacting
[41:01] to it especially because at the
[41:03] beginning of the scene we saw a wide
[41:06] shot that established Kevin and the TV
[41:09] in the same room like I said before
[41:12] movies teach us how to watch them this
[41:15] same idea applies to situations that
[41:18] don't necessarily have that wide shot to
[41:21] establish the direct connection so one
[41:23] scene in the film Jaws cuts from a kid
[41:27] calling for his dog on the beach to a
[41:31] closeup of a stick floating in the water
[41:34] from the context as in this is a movie
[41:37] about a shark attacking this location we
[41:40] can infer that the shark ate the dog
[41:44] we'll miss you pippet rip to a real one
[41:47] and sometimes within a scene the film
[41:50] will suddenly get more abstract and cut
[41:53] to a totally different place like in
[41:56] Gladiator when the film cuts from a
[41:58] closeup of Maximus to this shot of the
[42:02] camera moving toward these big doors but
[42:05] we understand that this is not literally
[42:08] happening this is inside maximus's head
[42:11] it's what he's seeing as he's dying
[42:14] spoilers for the last scene of gladiator
[42:18] when this sort of thing is done it's
[42:20] usually to represent a character's
[42:22] thoughts their memories or their
[42:24] imaginations when a movie shifts its
[42:27] editing style once again we just need to
[42:30] observe what it's doing and ask why the
[42:34] shower scene in Psycho is so legendary
[42:37] yes because it's a shocking violent
[42:40] scene but it's also this very sudden
[42:43] shift in the movie's visual language the
[42:46] whole movie up until this point has been
[42:49] told in mostly wide shots and medium
[42:51] shots that are held for a while and now
[42:55] here we suddenly have this frantic rapid
[42:58] cutting with lots of extreme close-ups
[43:01] it's jarring and chaotic which is
[43:04] exactly the point of the scene look
[43:07] whole books have been written about
[43:08] editing like here are a few and with
[43:11] most movies you see the editing is clear
[43:14] and effective and mostly invisible it
[43:18] delivers spatial and temporal continuity
[43:20] like it intends to and it doesn't really
[43:23] need much analysis Like Home Alone the
[43:26] editing by future Scooby-Doo director
[43:28] Roga Gosnell is really effective
[43:31] throughout it tells the story clearly
[43:34] and engagingly the pacing is good the
[43:37] comedy lands but on its own it usually
[43:40] isn't providing much additional meaning
[43:43] it's more that it's clearly delivering
[43:45] the meaning created by the visuals and
[43:48] script but there are a few examples that
[43:52] I think are worth highlighting first
[43:54] there's the Montage we take montage for
[43:57] granted since we've seen a million of
[43:59] them but consider this the sequence of
[44:02] Kevin setting up traps around the house
[44:05] and the reality of the film that
[44:07] probably took an hour or so but for us
[44:10] watching the movie it lasts 1 minute and
[44:13] 10 seconds we understand that these
[44:16] shots are compressing time at the
[44:19] beginning of the sequence we see Kevin's
[44:21] overall plan and then each successive
[44:24] shot is a small portion of the that plan
[44:27] coming together the bigger piece of
[44:29] editing that I want to highlight is
[44:32] crosscutting this is when a film Cuts
[44:35] back and forth between two or more
[44:37] scenes which we understand to be
[44:39] happening
[44:41] simultaneously this is the thing that
[44:43] Christopher Nolan does in all his action
[44:45] scenes where there are usually a few
[44:47] different storylines happening and the
[44:49] film keeps cutting between them all in
[44:52] Home Alone the film crosscuts between
[44:54] Kevin's family on the plane from Chicago
[44:57] to Paris and then Kevin waking up alone
[45:01] back home in Chicago the static wide
[45:04] shots of Kevin at home linger holding
[45:08] even after Kevin has walked out of the
[45:10] shot before then cutting to the plane in
[45:14] motion these Cuts feel jarring and serve
[45:17] to emphasize the massive geographical
[45:20] distance between Kevin and his family
[45:23] that is getting larger by the second
[45:25] each time it cuts the gulf feels greater
[45:29] and one other thing we must discuss is
[45:32] the cross fade you know the transition
[45:35] where one shot Blends into the next some
[45:38] filmmakers and editors hate them and yes
[45:41] they can be lazily used sometimes but
[45:44] it's still a choice and we should
[45:46] consider what it means they're most
[45:48] commonly used to show that time is
[45:51] passing or to create a dreamlike feeling
[45:55] and here with home alone since we were
[45:57] just talking about the hard abrupt Cuts
[45:59] between the scenes of Kevin and his mom
[46:02] that underline the distance between them
[46:04] I want to look at another transition
[46:06] from about 15 minutes later in the movie
[46:10] at this point Kevin's mom has realized
[46:12] what happened and is actively trying to
[46:15] get home and now this shot of her in the
[46:19] airport crossfades to this shot of the
[46:23] house and if you pause it in the middle
[46:26] of the transition
[46:27] we're seeing both of them together on
[46:30] screen at the same time it's creating a
[46:33] visual link bringing them closer
[46:36] together even if they're not there quite
[46:42] [Music]
[46:44] yet as much as Cinema originally existed
[46:47] only as moving pictures with no audio
[46:51] sound has come to be an essential part
[46:54] of the medium it can be just as
[46:56] important to the experience as the
[46:59] visuals now we tend to take audio for
[47:02] granted unless there's some really
[47:04] catchy music or at something like tenet
[47:07] where you can't hear the dialogue most
[47:10] people don't tend to give the sound of a
[47:12] movie much thought because usually it
[47:15] just feels like the sound that would
[47:17] naturally correspond to the visuals
[47:19] we're seeing dialogue and sound effects
[47:22] but it's also a thing that they give out
[47:24] multiple Oscars for every year so
[47:27] clearly there's a lot there to dig into
[47:30] look I am not saying that when you're
[47:32] analyzing a movie you are required to
[47:34] have a 30 minute discussion focusing
[47:37] only on the audio a lot of the time
[47:40] audio is like editing it does its job
[47:43] invisibly and you don't pay attention to
[47:45] it but it's worth being able to
[47:48] understand the choices being made and
[47:50] how they affect us when it comes to
[47:53] sound in movies there are very big
[47:56] obvious examp examples that you can't
[47:58] help but notice like how atonement
[48:00] Blends the diagetic sound effect of the
[48:03] typewriter into the musical score are uh
[48:08] everything David Lynch does but most of
[48:11] the time it's simpler and more subtle
[48:14] than that like in home alone so here I
[48:17] want to Spotlight a few interesting
[48:19] instances of audio choices let's go back
[48:23] to the scene we were discussing in the
[48:25] last chapter where the film is cross
[48:27] cutting between Kevin waking up alone at
[48:30] home and his family on the plane now pay
[48:33] attention to the
[48:39] sound I mean it's kind of hard to miss
[48:43] but think about what it's doing the
[48:46] Parts with Kevin have barely any sound
[48:48] at all just the ambient quiet of an
[48:52] empty house each individual sound like
[48:55] the Click of a door being opened stands
[48:58] out clearly against the nothingness and
[49:01] then when the film cuts to the plane
[49:08] Mom it's this massive Roar of a jet
[49:12] engine there's no cross fade between the
[49:14] scenes it is abrupt and it's jarring and
[49:18] it creates a distance between the
[49:20] characters just through audio every time
[49:23] we hear the airplane it's telling us
[49:25] that Kevin's family is getting further
[49:28] away by the second they now each exist
[49:32] in totally different Sonic Landscapes
[49:35] it's emphasizing Kevin's isolation then
[49:38] there is what is known as Foley which is
[49:42] when sound effects are created in post-
[49:44] production to match what is happening on
[49:47] screen things like footsteps leaves
[49:50] rustling water pouring stuff like that
[49:53] because the fact is that in real life
[49:56] the sounds a lot of things make aren't
[49:59] very exciting they need that extra layer
[50:02] of movie sound to give it the impact the
[50:04] filmmakers want and one of the major
[50:08] uses of Foley sounds in Home Alone are
[50:11] to once again help create this thing we
[50:14] keep coming back to Kevin's perspective
[50:18] especially when he's scared of things
[50:20] we've already discussed how the camera
[50:21] work with wide- angle lenses shot from
[50:24] exaggerated angles help create the
[50:26] feeling that we're experiencing this as
[50:29] Kevin is but the sound is also a major
[50:32] part of that listen to the sound of
[50:34] Marley's boots when he steps into the
[50:37] store with the squeezing of leather and
[50:40] the rattle of the metal buckles or the
[50:43] scrape of him dragging the trash can
[50:45] full of salt on the pavement or the
[50:48] Monstrous Roar of the Furnace listen to
[50:51] this moment without the visuals
[51:00] shut
[51:02] up see it's still telling the story just
[51:06] through sound the Foley work is also a
[51:09] key part of the comedic violence in the
[51:12] movie again when Joe pesi and Daniel
[51:15] Stern are slipping on ice and getting
[51:17] shot with BB guns we're not usually
[51:19] thinking about the sound but look
[51:22] closely at the very important needle
[51:25] that it's threading here's the part
[51:27] where Marv gets shot in the head with
[51:29] the BB gun now that is absolutely not
[51:32] the sound it would make in real life the
[51:34] real sound would be more like a pop from
[51:36] the gun and then we'd probably barely
[51:39] hear him get hit and so the moment would
[51:41] be less impactful because it wouldn't
[51:44] sound like all that much was really
[51:46] happening the thing about this and
[51:48] pretty much all the sounds throughout
[51:50] this sequence is that they never go full
[51:53] cartoon and break the reality of the
[51:55] film like we're not getting a slide
[51:57] whistle sound effect the BB gun doesn't
[52:00] make a goofy Ricochet sound when it hits
[52:03] Marv but the sounds are also still
[52:06] exaggerated the slips on the ice the hit
[52:09] of the iron they feel real but not too
[52:13] real for comparison look at this video
[52:16] that Corridor made called R-rated Home
[52:19] Alone where they re-edited scenes from
[52:22] the movie and used visual effects to
[52:24] make it well R-rated listen to their new
[52:27] sound design for the iron hitting
[52:34] Marv even without seeing it you can tell
[52:37] that's way more brutal so the sound
[52:39] design is doing a lot of heavy lifting
[52:42] in creating the comedic tone and keeping
[52:45] it within a believable reality if it
[52:47] strayed too far in One Direction
[52:50] cartoony or realistic it would break the
[52:53] whole sequence and then there's the
[52:55] matter of the music this movie has a
[52:58] score by John Williams the most famous
[53:00] film composer of the last 50 years so
[53:03] there's a lot to discuss here the music
[53:06] in a movie can do a lot it can create
[53:08] subtext underline the mood of a scene
[53:12] Express a character's feelings comment
[53:14] ironically on the story look film music
[53:17] is its own entire field of study home
[53:20] alone has a big sweeping classic John
[53:23] Williams score it's exciting it's
[53:27] sentimental and it feels like what we
[53:29] think a Hollywood movie is supposed to
[53:32] sound like but the score is making some
[53:35] interesting choices too this movie is
[53:38] generally thought of as a fun family
[53:40] Christmas comedy and the first 8 Seconds
[53:43] of the score have this warm magical
[53:46] feeling that sound like an early preview
[53:48] of the theme Williams would later right
[53:50] for Harry Potter but then the music
[53:54] immediately shifts into this ear
[53:56] ominous tone it starts sounding almost
[53:59] like a creepy music box and then these
[54:03] dark strings and what I think are obos
[54:06] come in and it sounds kind of scary then
[54:10] sleigh bells come in signaling the
[54:13] Christmas setting and the score
[54:15] simultaneously sounds playful but with
[54:18] these odd atonal string sounds looking
[54:21] at just this opening piece we have some
[54:25] warm sentimentality some creepy
[54:27] dangerous stuff Christmas what sounds to
[54:30] me like a nod to chaikovsky The
[54:32] Nutcracker and a light playful feeling
[54:35] which is a pretty solid encapsulation of
[54:38] what this movie is and as soon as we
[54:40] transition out of the titles as the
[54:43] first shot Fades Up the Music becomes
[54:46] lighter and more upbeat but it has
[54:49] already signaled to us that some danger
[54:52] lies ahead the music is a major part of
[54:55] the storytelling here there's one more
[54:57] thing about the musical score that I
[54:59] would like to mention Harry and Marv's
[55:02] theme sounds like a deliberate nod to
[55:05] Sergey prv's Peter and the Wolf like
[55:09] here's Peter and the
[55:14] Wolf and here's home
[55:16] alone go around back down the basement
[55:19] come on follow
[55:21] me and this isn't just because it sounds
[55:24] good prv's original work is telling the
[55:27] story of a young boy on his own who must
[55:30] defend himself against a dangerous
[55:32] attacker so assuming Williams did this
[55:35] intentionally and as we've already said
[55:37] assume everything is intentional he's
[55:40] drawing a connection to a classic
[55:43] children's story and reframing the film
[55:46] as a continuation of that tradition look
[55:49] I know we say this a lot but John
[55:51] Williams is very good at this
[55:56] [Music]
[55:59] okay so now that we have covered how to
[56:01] interpret the visual language the
[56:02] editing the sound and music of a movie
[56:06] let's put all of these ideas together
[56:08] and look at an actual scene and see what
[56:11] we can interpret from it let's start
[56:14] right at the beginning the very first
[56:17] shot of Home Alone is an exterior shot
[56:19] of the mallister house at night what
[56:22] does this shot tell us well first off It
[56:25] intro uces us to the primary setting of
[56:28] the film since most of the story takes
[56:31] place in that house and secondly it
[56:34] establishes that it's Christmas also
[56:37] consider the perspective of the shot
[56:40] it's being filmed straight on at ey
[56:42] level from across the street as if from
[56:45] the perspective of an outside Observer
[56:48] it is an objective perspective then the
[56:51] very next shot brings us inside but it's
[56:54] shot right from the doorway as if we've
[56:57] stepped through the front door in the
[57:00] foreground we see this police officer
[57:02] who based on the uniform clearly doesn't
[57:05] live there so we're now seeing things
[57:08] from his perspective an outsider who has
[57:11] entered this home and is observing
[57:13] what's happening within and then each
[57:16] successive shot takes us deeper into the
[57:19] house with the family that lives there
[57:22] dominating more of the frame essentially
[57:25] the film is welcoming us inside as we go
[57:28] from an outsider looking in to being
[57:30] immersed in the home and the family now
[57:33] in this next part we are introduced to
[57:36] Kevin mallister the main character of
[57:38] the movie it's always good to pay close
[57:41] attention to how a movie introduces its
[57:44] characters this scene starts by focusing
[57:46] on his mother Kate as the camera follows
[57:49] her dollying from a medium shot to a
[57:52] wide and then pause it here Kevin and is
[57:56] in the background he looks tiny in the
[57:59] frame and is at the very edge of the
[58:01] shot his mom doesn't even react as he
[58:04] enters so let's analyze this shot what
[58:07] is the Mison sen telling us well he is
[58:11] quite literally in the background he's
[58:14] being overlooked and ignored by his
[58:16] family if we generally assume that the
[58:19] most important thing is in the center of
[58:21] the frame he is clearly less important
[58:25] he's a nuisance
[58:26] but then he enters the scene hops on the
[58:29] bed and moves from the background into a
[58:32] closeup in the foreground and here is
[58:35] where the movie shifts now the
[58:38] perspective changes we are no longer
[58:40] seeing the story as an impartial
[58:42] Observer we are now seeing it from
[58:45] Kevin's perspective so look at the
[58:48] placement of the camera over the next
[58:50] few scenes it always stays at Kevin's
[58:53] eye level so we see the world he does
[58:57] when characters talk to him they are
[58:59] filmed from a low angle so they're
[59:01] towering over the camera looking down at
[59:04] us the most obvious instance comes in
[59:07] this scene in the kitchen when Kevin
[59:09] causes a big old mess and everyone gets
[59:12] mad at him and here the film switches
[59:15] over completely to a point of view shot
[59:18] the camera is now Kevin's eyes and so
[59:21] now suddenly everyone is looking
[59:24] directly into the camera
[59:26] this is something that movies generally
[59:29] avoid when an actor looks at the camera
[59:31] it's breaking the fourth wall that
[59:33] exists between the reality of the movie
[59:36] and our reality looking in which can
[59:39] sometimes be used deliberately like when
[59:41] Eddie Murphy does it in this scene in
[59:43] trading places bacon which you might
[59:46] find in a bacon and lettuce and tomato
[59:49] sandwich there's something jarring and
[59:52] usually sort of uncomfortable about it
[59:55] suddenly the characters aren't looking
[59:57] at each other they're looking at us we
[60:00] feel sort of exposed like the safety of
[60:03] being an invisible Observer is gone this
[60:06] is something that Jonathan Demi used
[60:08] deliberately for years like in the
[60:11] Silence of the Lambs where he has all
[60:13] these conversation shot in close-ups
[60:15] with the actors looking right down the
[60:17] barrel of the camera it's uncomfortable
[60:20] and it's supposed to be and that's what
[60:22] home alone is doing here suddenly
[60:25] everyone is staring right at us we feel
[60:29] like Kevin feels like we're the center
[60:31] of attention and not for a good reason
[60:34] and we haven't noticed it up to this
[60:36] point but through this whole sequence
[60:38] there is just this General ambient noise
[60:41] happening of just all the chaos and
[60:43] people running around and talking within
[60:45] the house and right here all of that
[60:48] background Ambient sound cuts out there
[60:51] is silence and that helps emphasize how
[60:55] uncomfortable this moment is now that
[60:57] we've spent the past like hour talking
[61:00] about how to actually interpret meaning
[61:02] from a film what do we do with that well
[61:06] this is the fun part this is where we
[61:08] choose what lens we want to use to
[61:11] discuss the movie and I'm not talking
[61:14] about camera lenses here this basically
[61:17] means what context we want to look at
[61:20] the film in within the fields of film
[61:23] Theory and literary Theory there are a
[61:26] lot of different lenses and theories you
[61:28] can apply but for now I just want to
[61:30] bring up a
[61:35] [Music]
[61:37] few okay we need to talk about a
[61:40] controversial topic here called Ur
[61:43] Theory or otter Theory or however you
[61:47] want to pronounce it otor theory is an
[61:50] aspect of film studies that began with
[61:52] writers like franois truo and Andre an
[61:56] writing for laaya in the 1950s and then
[62:00] in the 60s American Film writer Andrew
[62:03] saris actually gave it a name in his
[62:06] essay notes on the otur theory some
[62:09] people will be like screw Ure Theory
[62:12] it's just a pretentious way of deifying
[62:14] a bunch of old white guy directors and
[62:16] justifying egomaniacal behavior and yeah
[62:19] I understand what you mean but like it
[62:22] or not oture theory has become so baked
[62:25] into people talk about film that you
[62:28] can't ignore it and while I think there
[62:30] are bad readings of oture theory I don't
[62:34] think it's inherently bad so what
[62:37] exactly is it in simplest terms Ure
[62:41] theory is about assigning a primary
[62:44] author to a film generally the director
[62:47] and looking at the film in the context
[62:49] of their body of work the idea is that
[62:53] an aour injects their own personal ity
[62:56] worldview and style into their work give
[62:59] the same script to like Alfred Hitchcock
[63:02] or Stanley Donan and you'll get very
[63:05] different films but here's the thing the
[63:08] otor does not necessarily have to be the
[63:12] director in fact you can even apply otor
[63:16] Theory to multiple people within a given
[63:19] film it could be an actor like I would
[63:22] argue the primary aour of the mission of
[63:25] possible franchise is Tom Cruz by
[63:29] selecting the directors and having a
[63:31] huge amount of input on all the stories
[63:34] and major creative decisions his is the
[63:37] primary Vision shaping the series The
[63:40] aour of much of the Marvel Cinematic
[63:43] Universe is Marvel itself in other words
[63:46] Kevin feige and like in that case
[63:50] sometimes the producer is the otor like
[63:52] David O selnik and Gone with the Wind I
[63:56] don't think the point of UR theory is to
[63:58] treat the director like a God and
[64:00] attribute every single creative decision
[64:03] made during the production to them the
[64:06] point is really just to provide a
[64:08] context through which to examine the
[64:10] film it is looking at the film within
[64:13] their larger body of work to find
[64:15] recurring themes and ideas and stylistic
[64:18] elements that show an artist with a
[64:21] distinct perspective and I do think it
[64:24] can be a really useful and also fun lens
[64:27] through which to discuss movies and this
[64:30] requires keeping a couple things in mind
[64:34] number one the studio like it or not
[64:37] film is a commercial art and sometimes
[64:40] the studio that's funding the movie will
[64:43] override the director in regards to
[64:45] certain choices and two film is a
[64:49] collaborative medium even if the
[64:52] director is the boss and their vision
[64:54] for the film is what everyone is trying
[64:56] to realize you've still got a huge cast
[64:59] and crew with everyone making choices
[65:02] and bringing their own perspectives to
[65:04] the work ignoring that and the impact
[65:07] made by each person is just cutting off
[65:10] fascinating aspects worth exploring like
[65:13] yeah George Lucas was the oour of Star
[65:16] Wars and made the decision to hire John
[65:19] Williams but are we really going to
[65:21] credit Lucas for all of williams' music
[65:24] Williams is no for in his own way who
[65:27] radically impacted just about every film
[65:30] he worked on which brings us finally
[65:33] back to Home Alone which features a
[65:36] score by John Williams home alone is
[65:39] actually a fascinating example because
[65:42] here the otur theory can be applied to
[65:45] multiple people and the biggest one is
[65:48] not actually the director so I'm sorry
[65:51] Chris Columbus but we're talking about
[65:53] John Hughes here the writer and producer
[65:57] home alone came at the end of an
[65:59] incredibly busy decade for Hughes in
[66:02] which he wrote more than 10 hit movies
[66:05] and there are a lot of recurring
[66:07] elements across those films home alone
[66:10] like almost every Hughes production is
[66:13] set in the suburbs of Chicago it
[66:15] involves a large dysfunctional family
[66:18] like in the vacation movies one family
[66:21] member feeling neglected like in 16
[66:23] candles and people desperately trying to
[66:26] get home for a holiday like in Planes
[66:29] Trains and Automobiles and it also
[66:31] represents a shift in his interests
[66:34] after Home Alone he would write several
[66:36] movies featuring villainous criminals
[66:39] such as career opportunities baby day
[66:41] out and Dennis the Menace and most
[66:44] notably after Home Alone Hughes would
[66:47] spend the rest of his career primarily
[66:49] writing PG rated family films instead of
[66:53] the movies for adults and teenagers he
[66:56] had focused on for the previous decade
[66:58] that said we can do the same thing with
[67:01] director Chris Columbus before this he
[67:04] had written the screenplays for Gremlins
[67:07] about young people having to deal with a
[67:08] dangerous situation at Christmas time
[67:11] and The Goonies about kids facing off
[67:14] against a gang of criminals and you can
[67:16] draw a straight line between home alone
[67:19] and the first Harry Potter film which
[67:22] Columbus again largely shoots from a
[67:24] child's perspective Ive who is
[67:26] overwhelmed by this huge world around
[67:29] him so remember aour Theory isn't
[67:32] actually so bad if you do it the right
[67:38] [Music]
[67:40] way every movie ever made is in some way
[67:44] a small part of film history these
[67:47] movies don't exist in a void they exist
[67:50] in conversation with other movies movies
[67:54] before it movies contemporaneous with it
[67:57] and movies that came after look every
[68:00] movie no matter how original is
[68:02] influenced by other movies and when
[68:05] analyzing a movie it's helpful to be
[68:08] aware of this this isn't a matter of
[68:10] treating the movies like Easter egg
[68:12] hunts the way some people do for Quenton
[68:14] Tarantino movies trying to find the
[68:17] original source for every shot this is
[68:20] about trying to better understand the
[68:22] thought process of the filmmakers what
[68:25] they're influences were and how they
[68:27] used them it's helpful to look at where
[68:29] certain elements came from and how they
[68:32] might have changed in Home Alone there
[68:34] are a handful of Fairly overt deliberate
[68:37] film references the old gangster movie
[68:40] Kevin watches angels with filthy souls
[68:43] is a reference to the 1938 crime movie
[68:45] angels with dirty faces this shot of
[68:49] Harry and Marv's Shadows looks like an
[68:51] homage to the shot in no Fatu of the
[68:54] vampire Shadow moving up up the stairs
[68:56] Harry getting his hand burned plunging
[68:58] it in the snow and getting his palm
[69:00] branded is modeled on a similar moment
[69:03] in Raiders of the Lost Arc the M on his
[69:06] hand is also a Nodge to the movie poster
[69:09] for Fritz Long's classic film M but then
[69:13] there are the deeper film connections
[69:15] like the similarities it has to Sam
[69:17] Pena's
[69:19] 1971 violent psychological Thriller
[69:21] Straw Dogs which also features a clima
[69:25] IC sequence in which the protagonist
[69:27] rigs a house with traps to fight off
[69:29] Intruders this is something that would
[69:31] appear again in the 2012 James Bond
[69:34] movie Skyfall or there's the premise in
[69:37] which a physically outmatched hero is
[69:40] trapped alone in a building and must
[69:41] fight off a Band of Thieves in order to
[69:44] reunite with his family at Christmas is
[69:47] pretty much the same as Die Hard which
[69:49] was released 2 years earlier the point
[69:52] of this is not to accuse movies of
[69:54] ripping off off one another it's that
[69:57] these films are in conversation with
[69:59] each other sometimes deliberately like
[70:02] according to home alone's production
[70:04] designer on the set of the movie they
[70:06] were well aware of the straw dog
[70:08] similarities but even if not
[70:10] deliberately it's worth exploring and
[70:13] comparing how different movies explore
[70:15] similar ideas another angle you could
[70:18] explore is home alone's physical comedy
[70:21] and its roots in silent film you could
[70:23] write a whole essay on the evolution of
[70:26] slapstick Pratt fall Falls from Charlie
[70:29] Chaplain and Buster Keaton all the way
[70:31] up through home alone this is why one of
[70:33] the most important aspects of analyzing
[70:36] movies is to just watch a lot of movies
[70:40] because the deeper your knowledge gets
[70:42] the more patterns and Trends and
[70:44] influences become apparent you can
[70:46] understand something better when you
[70:48] know where it came from which brings us
[70:51] to genre
[70:55] [Music]
[70:58] on one level genre doesn't matter all
[71:00] that much it's essentially a system for
[71:03] categorizing movies based on a
[71:05] collection of elements and tropes mostly
[71:08] to make it easier for people browsing
[71:10] Netflix or in the good old days the
[71:12] video rental store like the label of the
[71:15] genre drama is applied to basically
[71:18] anything that doesn't fit into another
[71:21] genre if it's not comedy or horror or
[71:24] sci-fi or fantasy and it features like
[71:27] adults having conversations then it must
[71:29] be a drama whatever that means genre is
[71:33] mostly about audience expectations the
[71:37] genre is extremely important when
[71:39] marketing a movie because by selling it
[71:42] as a specific genre it's telling the
[71:44] audience what to expect since Decades of
[71:47] watching movies has conditioned us to
[71:50] expect certain things from certain
[71:52] genres so sometimes you have a case like
[71:55] Darren aronowski 2017 film mother which
[71:59] was marketed as a horror movie so people
[72:02] went to see it expecting a horror movie
[72:05] and then it turned out to be sort of an
[72:08] allegorical art film that's like a
[72:10] Darkly funny surreal Thriller and so
[72:13] when opening weekend audiences were
[72:15] surveyed by the polling company Cinema
[72:17] score they gave it an f and it's not
[72:21] that the movie is bad it's that it
[72:23] wasn't what audiences expected it to be
[72:26] they were led to believe belonged to a
[72:28] genre and were disappointed when it
[72:31] didn't meet the expectations of that
[72:33] genre genre is another filmmaking tool
[72:38] because we've seen a lot of movies
[72:39] during our lives we immediately
[72:42] associate genres with specific images or
[72:45] sounds or locations within a film
[72:48] filmmakers can use the language of
[72:50] different genres to quickly communicate
[72:53] certain feelings
[72:55] so how does this apply to home alone
[72:58] well above all else this movie is a
[73:01] comedy you can tell right from the first
[73:03] scene the film is shot with bright warm
[73:06] lighting it's flattering to the actors
[73:08] the scene looks inviting it puts us at
[73:11] ease making us happy which is conducive
[73:14] to laughing if the movie was shot like a
[73:16] David Fincher film with a desaturated
[73:19] bluish color palette and heavy Shadows
[73:22] but still had the same performances and
[73:24] dialogue
[73:25] we'd be confused the different aspects
[73:28] of the film would be working against
[73:30] each other now even though I just said
[73:32] that wouldn't work something similar is
[73:35] actually done pretty effectively in the
[73:37] movie game night which is a comedy shot
[73:40] like a thriller so as to make the
[73:42] genuine danger and Stakes of the movie
[73:44] feel more real but also this visual
[73:47] style is part of the comedic design of
[73:50] the movie since for a long time the
[73:52] characters in it don't realize their
[73:55] actually in a thriller anyway back to
[73:57] home alone so even though most of the
[74:00] movie looks like how we expect a comedy
[74:02] to look it occasionally borrows from
[74:05] another genre horror throughout the film
[74:09] some scenes will borrow visual language
[74:12] and sound design from horror movies old
[74:15] man Marley looks scary the sound of his
[74:18] shovel scraping the ice on the sidewalk
[74:20] is creepy the furnace in the basement
[74:23] looks and sounds like a monster
[74:25] so again let's follow the usual strategy
[74:29] now that we've observed what is
[74:31] happening in the film we have to ask why
[74:35] why is Chris Columbus choosing to play
[74:37] these scenes like a horror movie inside
[74:40] his wacky family comedy because as I've
[74:43] said repeatedly throughout this video
[74:45] the film wants to put us in Kevin's
[74:47] perspective and communicate how he's
[74:50] feeling he's 8 years old he's young and
[74:53] immature and scared of a lot of things
[74:56] we as adults know that these things
[74:58] aren't really dangerous that's just an
[75:01] old man that's just a furnace but this
[75:03] is Kevin's story and the most effective
[75:06] way to make us empathize with him and
[75:08] show what he's scared of is to portray
[75:11] these things with the filmmaking
[75:13] language of the horror
[75:18] [Music]
[75:20] genre but that said part of the fun of
[75:23] analyzing art is that there are an
[75:25] infinite number of ways you can
[75:27] interpret it remember back at the start
[75:29] when we talked about how the main themes
[75:31] of Home Alone are responsibility
[75:34] forgiveness and the importance of family
[75:36] now these are the most obvious commonly
[75:39] accepted themes they're probably what
[75:41] Chris Columbus and John Hughes would
[75:43] tell you the movie is about but let's
[75:46] dig a little deeper and get a little
[75:49] weirder and see what else we can find
[75:52] okay so what if we want to look at home
[75:54] alone through through a lens of gender
[75:56] studies and queer Theory again we start
[76:00] by just looking at what's there but this
[76:02] time we're focusing on certain aspects
[76:05] of the story if we do this we can see
[76:08] that at the beginning Kevin is confused
[76:11] about whether he wants to get married or
[76:13] live alone when he grows up for much of
[76:15] the movie he is intimidated by women who
[76:18] are more powerful than him especially
[76:21] his mother and in the end he eventually
[76:24] is able to to find Salvation by
[76:26] connecting with an older man who
[76:28] eventually saves his life so you could
[76:31] theoretically argue that this is a story
[76:33] about a young person's struggle to
[76:35] figure out their sexuality okay look I
[76:38] really don't think that's it but for
[76:40] instance you could apply that same lens
[76:42] to Harry and Marv's relationship I'm
[76:44] pretty sure there's a valid queer
[76:46] reading of that but here's another
[76:48] reading the kind older man that Kevin
[76:51] befriends this happens in a church and
[76:54] that man with his long white beard
[76:57] matches the popular Christian depiction
[77:00] of God and earlier in the film Kevin
[77:03] escapes danger by hiding among the
[77:05] figures in a nativity scene by becoming
[77:08] a witness to the birth of Christ and of
[77:11] course the whole movie is set at
[77:13] Christmas so one way to interpret it is
[77:16] that home alone is a movie about finding
[77:19] salvation in God and Christianity but
[77:22] wait there are more it could also be
[77:25] about class Warfare in America with
[77:28] Kevin McAllister a privileged upper
[77:31] class kid threatened by two poor
[77:34] workingclass men who travel around in a
[77:36] symbol of blue collar America a van for
[77:40] a plumbing and heating company okay look
[77:43] do I really think that all of these are
[77:46] really what the movie is about no but
[77:50] any of them could potentially be valid
[77:53] interpretations if if you can provide
[77:56] enough evidence within the film to argue
[77:58] it persuasively and all of this comes
[78:01] down to Simply observing what you see
[78:05] and what happens in the film breaking it
[78:08] down in simplest terms then asking why
[78:13] what does this
[78:16] [Music]
[78:18] mean the thing about analyzing movies
[78:22] and this really goes for analyzing art
[78:24] in general en is that even though we
[78:26] have all these fancy pre-existing lenses
[78:29] that various Scholars came up with over
[78:31] the years we are all going to interpret
[78:34] things slightly differently because
[78:37] every time we watch a movie we are
[78:39] bringing with us not just our existing
[78:42] taste in movies and the knowledge of all
[78:45] the movies we've ever seen but also our
[78:48] own personal experiences our cultural
[78:51] background and inner emotional life and
[78:54] all of those things affect how we feel
[78:57] about a movie The only wrong way to
[79:00] analyze a movie is to insist that your
[79:03] way is the only way remember this is all
[79:06] just a matter of observing what you're
[79:08] experiencing even if that means
[79:10] observing your own reaction and asking
[79:13] why after all art can be a great way to
[79:17] learn more about yourself look home
[79:20] alone is not an especially deep movie
[79:23] this is not a piece of art house Cinema
[79:25] it's an extremely mainstream family
[79:28] movie best known for Joe peshy getting
[79:31] shot in the nuts with a BB gun but the
[79:33] whole point of this video is to show
[79:35] that any movie is worth studying and
[79:38] analyzing and finding meaning in not
[79:41] just serious art films and you don't
[79:43] have to do this with everything you
[79:45] watch that would get exhausting if you
[79:47] want to just watch a movie for fun
[79:49] without thinking too deeply about it go
[79:51] for it I do it all the time too but the
[79:54] meaning is always there if you want to
[79:56] look for it even if the people who made
[79:59] the movie didn't intend all that meaning
[80:01] to be there it's still there you just
[80:04] have to find it and so now go forth
[80:09] re-examine all your favorite movies and
[80:12] impress people at parties by telling
[80:14] them how home alone is really about
[80:17] class Warfare and finding salvation in
[80:21] God and stuff like that it's a great way
[80:24] to make new friends trust
[80:28] me oh okay welcome back and thank you
[80:31] for sticking with me through this whole
[80:33] thing that was a bit more like fully
[80:35] academic than the regular videos usually
[80:37] are so I mentioned at the start that
[80:40] this video was originally written as a
[80:43] class for nebula before I changed my
[80:45] plan and made a different class instead
[80:48] well if you enjoyed this class I have a
[80:51] whole other one on nebula right now it
[80:54] is 80 minutes long an entire
[80:56] featurelength class on how to make a
[80:59] movie like sure you can join master
[81:03] class and watch Ron Howard's class on
[81:05] film making it's pretty good I've seen
[81:07] it but his class also assumes that you
[81:10] have a budget and a crew and so it isn't
[81:13] entirely relatable for people doing no
[81:16] budget film making but you know whose
[81:19] class is all about making a movie with
[81:21] little to no budget and how to actually
[81:24] get it finished finished Min is oh and
[81:26] if you would actually like to watch the
[81:28] micro budget feature film I released
[81:30] last year night of the coconut it is
[81:33] also available exclusively on nebula and
[81:37] so are all the bonus features that we
[81:39] recently released like three different
[81:41] commentary tracks featuring the cast and
[81:43] crew and an extended scene featuring
[81:46] even more surprise cameos than in the
[81:48] actual movie see nebula is a platform
[81:51] built by a bunch of creators like me to
[81:54] give us a place to experiment and make
[81:56] different more ambitious projects than
[81:58] we do on YouTube it's a place where I
[82:01] can make a featurelength narrative film
[82:03] where you can watch jet lag episodes
[82:05] early it's the only place Lindsay Ellis
[82:08] is releasing new videos it's the place
[82:10] with dozens of classes taught by your
[82:12] favorite creators and yes I am finally
[82:15] working on my next narrative short film
[82:18] which will Premiere exclusively on
[82:20] nebula nebula is the best place to watch
[82:23] my videos there are no ads there is so
[82:26] much great new exclusive stuff coming
[82:28] out all the time and if you join you are
[82:31] supporting this community of independent
[82:34] creators and helping make it possible
[82:36] for us to keep growing and expanding the
[82:38] scope of what we do I'm sorry but I am
[82:41] legitimately passionate about this so if
[82:44] you sign up for nebula at the link below
[82:47] down there in the description you can
[82:49] get it for just over $3 a month which
[82:52] honestly is a pretty great deal for
[82:55] something that's pretty great okay that
[82:59] is all for now good night all right I
[83:03] guess it's still daytime but uh
[83:06] bye hello it's me one more time I feel
[83:09] like this is turning into a Russian
[83:11] nesting doll of segments where I talk to
[83:14] the camera but I'm here because I want
[83:16] to let you know something very important
[83:17] which is that the vinyl night of the
[83:20] coconut soundtracks produced by Mondo
[83:24] are in stock and shipping now if you
[83:27] want one because um if I'm being honest
[83:29] I think these are pretty much the
[83:30] coolest thing that has ever come from
[83:33] these videos and this channel uh I mean
[83:36] we have this incredible gorgeous artwork
[83:39] by Colin Murdoch uh the obviously
[83:42] amazing music by Brian molus featuring
[83:45] on vocals Khloe Holgate and Matt torpy
[83:48] and um I just think it's so cool that
[83:50] these exist and uh and I love them so
[83:54] much much uh the the special editions
[83:57] are available from the nebula merch
[83:59] store those have the yellow vinyl and
[84:02] all of them are signed by Brian and
[84:06] myself uh and then the regular editions
[84:08] uh featuring brown coconut vinyl um are
[84:12] available from the Mondo store so you
[84:15] can get whichever one you want or both
[84:17] but that seems like Overkill um anyway I
[84:20] just want to let you know because I love
[84:21] these so much I'm so thrilled that this
[84:24] happened and uh and that's all so you
[84:27] know whether you're an avid vinyl
[84:29] collector or maybe you don't even have a
[84:31] record player but you just want this on
[84:34] display as a cool piece of art in your
[84:37] home um you know it works for everybody
[84:40] great gift as well okay I'm Shilling too
[84:42] much now um the other thing that I want
[84:44] to mention is that for those of you who
[84:45] are following along with the topic
[84:48] Tournament of 2023 the big tournament to
[84:51] decide which fans submitted video topic
[84:53] would get turned into a real video um
[84:56] Muppet Cinema one and so by the end of
[84:59] the year I will make and release a video
[85:03] about Muppets and movies I think it's
[85:06] going to be great so that's all there's
[85:08] a lot to get excited about um I got to
[85:11] go work on the next video the the stuff
[85:13] we have coming up I think is going to be
[85:14] really fun anyway that's that's enough
[85:17] of me talking goodbye