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City Of God Cinematography Essay

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The used of cinematography and camera movement is hands down one of the most, if not the most important thing of a good film. I believe that they are two of the things that make for a great film. So when asked to compare a scene from Raising Arizona and City of God, I had to choose two of my most iconic scenes in film history, the chicken chase from City of God and the diaper heist from Raising Arizona. In two of the most iconic scenes in movie history, it is only natural that a slew of camera techniques are used to tell the story of each particular scene, most of which are some of the same methods. One of the most noticeable parallels between the films is the camera lens and the use of shallow focus. Shallow focus is the main source of camera …show more content…

While the use of shallow focus is something that is conspicuous throughout both of the scenes, Raising Arizona also feature a zoom shot when the camera focus switches subjects to the diaper package that has been dropped. A portion of framing is also a difference within each scene, though the framing is mostly level, Raising Arizona also uses a canted framing when shooting the running within the street. A high angle of framing is used in City of God, during the shooting scene. This is used to display more people on the screen and heighten the sense of panic. Crane shot and whip pan are also used in the scene of City of God, given the amount of individuals in that scene; whip pan is used quite a bit to get everyone in the shot. A crane is used at the beginning for parts such as walking down stairs. In City of God, a difference in speed rate is also a noticeable variance among the scenes. While all of these are slight differences, the most obvious deviations in technique are the camera movement. For Raising Arizona, the use of tracking shot and tilt are used specifically for the running scenes. While, in City of God, almost the entire scene is shot using a Steadicam, noted by the tremulousness of the camera during all of the moving

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