gone in 60 seconds: cameras and lenses
Classroom Presentation: Cameras and Lenses
Randall "Memphis" Raines (Nicolas Cage) is a retired expert car thief. He has been keeping his nose clean for the last five years after a close brush with the law. Memphis gets sucked back into the life he thought he had left in his past. In order for Memphis to save his younger brothers life, Kip Raines (Giovanni Ribisi), Memphis must accept the seemingly impossible task of stealing fifty specific exotic cars in a three day time period. The clip that is being discussed involves the preparation and planning of this ridiculously complicated and highly illegal task.
This scene was chosen for a few reasons. The first is the amazing work of Jimmy Muro. Muro is the steady cam operator for the film. The way he moves the camera so gracefully and uses different lenses to create different effects is stunning. As Otto (Robert Duvall) explains the complexity of the operation, the steady-cam uses the concept of mobile framing. Mobile framing simply means that within the image, the framing of the object changes during the shot. In this scene, the steady-cam moves from left to right capturing three individuals, The closest to the camera is not in focus, the guy sitting to the left of him is slightly in focus, and the third guy is Kip, who is fully in focus. Throughout this scene objects, people, and the setting moves in and out of focus to center the attention of the viewer where the director wants it to be. The next scene continues with Memphis at a Ferrari dealership. My favorite aspect of this scene is the use of the deep focus technique as well as the demonstrations of rack focusing.
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