GODZILLA:

A Scene Analysis 

By Charles Perry 

Here is a Link to the Scene in Question: https://vimeo.com/82226103

I  will Provide Screenshots (or you could just follow along using different windows)

Also the Clip is in the S-Drive or Right here in this post!

This entire scene as a whole is a shot like a conversation in a sense. There is a shot, followed by a reaction shot. However, one should replace the words with bullets (or guns being readied) and the two people speaking with a giant radioactive lizard and an army. This blog post will be covering the first minute of this scene which shows the appearance of Godzilla rising out of the water and bringing destruction with him. 

Shot 1: The Radio

Our scene opens with a zoom in on a radio warning the civilians of Godzilla's impending attack. One can assume that this is in a house close to where Godzilla is heading, and that the residents have abandoned the house since in every shot we see of this interior we don't see any people. 

Shot 2: Birds

The film then cuts to this shot of these two birds trapped in a cage. This shot does not last for very long on screen before the film cuts away to a bunch of soldiers prepping for the showdown against Godzilla. However, this shot is very symbolic. It is emblematic of what is happening to Tokyo (the city Godzilla is heading towards). The Japanese military is using the vast network of electrical lines to create an electrical cage to try to either fry or keep out Godzilla. Much like the birds in the cage, the citizens of Tokyo are withing a flimsy metal structure  which with any force could break. 

Shot 3 The Soldiers

Following the bird cage, we see the men who are guarding the "cage" around Tokyo.  These men look rightfully worried since they are up against a threat no military force has dealt with. They are looking over the ocean with spotlights, scanning the horizon for any possible sign of Godzilla's emergence. The partial lighting and the lack of any music during this shot heavily increases the tension and dread. Once the soldiers light up the spot light, the film then cuts to the ocean as it shows the lights searching for Godzilla. 

Blog Essay #1

Let's Analyze a Frame Shall We

Analysis: Whats in the Frame.

•  Long Shot (could be extreme) , Eye Level ( or maybe eye level 
• Two Boys Walking  down a Street
• They Are Brothers (one older, one younger)
• They are wearing Jackets and Baseball Hats
• The boys are walking down a  dirt road lined with electrical wires and phone lines
• The boys are in the center of the image with their feet cut off at the bottom
• There are plants also lining the  dirt road as well
• The boys are slightly out of focus or it could be the image itself being expanded (that messes with the aspect ratio) 
• The frame is in black and white with a kind of iris around the image. I am unsure if this was 100% intentional or if it was brought about due to lack of lighting. 
• The Aspect Ratio is a wide rectangle 
• It looks like they (the lighting staff)  are shining a spotlight on the two boys 
• The Area around the road is darkened and also all the telephone  and electric lines make the boys look even smaller 
• The boys' backs are to the camera
• The camera must be pretty far away from the boys in question for this image to have been created.

  Writing About The Image Time!
   As I stated before the scene is of the two boys walking home along a dark dirt road in the middle of the night. In the context of the film the two boys are walking home in disgrace after finding out that their father sucks up to the boss of his company and is a huge "Yes-Man". The Boys have just learned that the world is far more complex and bigger than they had originally believed. Even this shot confirms that belief with the two boys walking between these large and imposing telephone and electrical lines. This is the only time in the film we see the world itself be subject to an increase in scale. For a majority of the film, the father of the two Boys is the one who has the luxury of being shown with increased scale (usually from low angle shots). While the boys were never afraid of their father, they knew that he was in charge.

The way the shot is composed itself draws attention to the boys as well  by using depth of field or whatever that painting trick developed during the renaissance to create an illusion of depth was called.  This is almost the same type of cinematography used to create "riding off into the sunset" like images.  However, the boys are wandering into the vast unknown darkness. While there is light on them now, that light signifies how singled out they feel. By having their dad be revealed to be a weak yes man, they themselves feel a drop in social status. "If our Dad is this much of a push over, what does that make us?" must be going through there minds.