Cinematography


The film I have chosen to concentrate on for cinematography is 300 and a certain fight scene during the film (found In the link at the bottom), first of all the colours that are used during this scene are generally dark, I feel this is because a battle environment is not a nice place for any one and we associate nice things with bright colours and dark with bad, this is also the same with goodies and baddies, for example in the lord of the rings the baddies, goblins, orcs etc are all wearing dark clothing and evil whereas the good wear lighter clothing and are fighting for good. If you are a viewer who haven’t seen the film before and just watch the clip you could become confused as to who is the good guys but I have come to the conclusion that a natural viewer would easily be able to separate the two, the good guys in the film the Spartan warriors are wearing red capes although it is the colour they traditionally wore at the time, there is another character from a different film a superhero who is fighting for good who also wears a red cape and that is superman.

In this sort of clip there are several camera shots used, the first being a panning shot where the main character King Leonidas is running at the enemy taken them on one at a time, I feel this is the right shot for the scene as it shows his strength and leadership as a king, but on the other hand it is very dramatic, at times over the top and unrealistic but this does show the Spartans as very tough and good soldiers which they were, so the clip being dramatic pays of in this film.

The other camera shot that is being used is a close up, this shows the fear in the Persians and how worn out they are and shows the Spartans who have done this many times before, it also shows the Spartans six packs that would please the female viewer.

During these shots it is shown in slow motion, I feel this is to make the scene more dramatic, lengthen the film and to also capture every kill as each one is different, it just simply wouldn’t have the same effect if it was played in normal speed.

Overall this scene is not historically accurate but I don’t think people would mind as a lot of people don’t know what really happened anyway, and it also makes the film much more watchable and enjoyable to watch with the added slow motion and variety of kills.