House, Season Four, Episode 15: "House's Head" Shot by Shot Analysis

This scene takes place shortly after a bus crash House has been in. Here he is just beginning to wake up after he hits his head hard. This also does not take place in real time. This is a memory House is attempting to relive.

In order to convey the state of confusion House is in, much of this scene continually goes in and out of focus. A lot of the shots are only partially in focus if at all. The shots are not level to give the viewer the sense of disorientation that House would be feeling. Additionally, the shots tend to stay tighter on the actors and reveal very little of their surroundings. Most of these shots take place very quickly, and the few movement shots that take place are handheld and jarring. However, most of the movement involves the actors moving in and out of focus instead of the camera moving.

The lighting functions on two levels. The constant flashing and flickering of lights suggests that there is commotion going on outside the bus. Presumably this would be the rescue effort in place. It also functions as a reflection of how the victims on the bus might remember the events that took place. Everything is a little bit hazy, and the lights flash in and out to give the feeling of someone grasping at memories.

(Shot)01.(Part)01

The first shot fades up from black into this close up of House's face. The light here is very blue and nothing in this shot is in sharp focus.

02.01

There is clear depth of field here as the foreground is blurred out and the woman becomes more in focus in the background. There is still that same bluish tint from the first shot. Again, nothing is completely in focus here.

03.01

Here more of House's immediate surroundings are revealed. However much is still blurred with the same blue tint.

04.01-04

This pan shakily movies from the bus floor up this womans body and eventually lands on her face. The light here moves with the pan: starting out dark and eventually growing brighter as the pan reaches her head. Still the shot does not come into clear focus.

05.01-02

House is washed out by the light in the first picture. The light is still very blue, but fades as his eye comes into clearer focus as he starts to regain consciousness of what is going on around him. The eyelight also helps pull the focus of the viewer directly to his eye. His face is tilted in the shot so he still is not entirely clear what is going on.

06.01-02

Here is his focus: Amber. Depth of field is played well here. Her legs take up the bottom right of the screen and are well out of focus creating depth through foreground objects. By doing this, distance between her and House has been established. Also, the lights here fade out sharply on her and she goes out of focus quickly.

07.01-02

The same effect here with the lighting takes place as the previous shot of his face. In this shot he is more level with the ground. Things are beginning to make more sense to him, so he is framed more level with his environment. In the second picture, the light once again draws focus to his eye as it creates a circle around it in highlight.

08.01

More even lighting and a closer, clearer shot of her face show House's clarity coming back. The way her head is tilted and her line of sight motivates the next shot. Also, by keeping the light with lower contrast and having her arm create a shadow over her forehead, the severity of the wound on her head is not yet revealed.

09.01

Which is a close-up of her main injury. Here the pipe itself is more in focus than anything else in the shot.

10.01

Moving back to her face the lighting has changed to create higher contrast and show that House now sees the extent of her injuries. The high contrast clearly shows depth in her head wound.

11.01

And by moving the shot out even more, it is revealed that the pole is actually going straight through her leg. This series of shots is a clever way of leading the viewer into the situation. At first it is clear that she is injured, but moving, so it might not be that bad. However, each shot builds upon the last to create a sense of severity to her injuries.

12.01

Once again the same eye stays in focus while the rest of the image is out of focus or probably blurred by some sort of filter. The light is still hitting around that left eye.

13.01

While the first shot of Amber established distance between her and House, this shot fully reveals just how far he has to go to get to her. Her leg with the pole sticking out is out of focus, once again creating depth of field. The white thing on the left of the frame bothers me. It is just so bright it attracts my attention to it too much. This could have been used to pull focus toward House's face, but it still seems to pull the viewer's attention away from him.

14.01-02

The lighting here 'flares' up as she goes from in shock to realizing her pain.

15.01-02

This is interesting because the bus is slanted, but house is somewhat parallel to the frame of the picture. Notice how the light (probably a search light of some sort) flares up particularly bright at this point, but House's face is within the dimmest beam of light to hold focus on him.

16.01

17.01-02

In the first picture the brightest light is behind House, creating a halo effect around his head and body. From Amber's point of view this is her seeing him as a vision until he becomes more real as the light fades again and he is engulfed in more natural shadows. This lighting is emphasized by the low camera angle since she is looking up at him.

18.01 - 21.01

This starts out with the reverse shot from the above shot of House. Here the camera is looking down on here and the lighting has gotten colder again, washing out her face to highlight her fear. Again we see the close-up of the pole in her leg as House decides what to do about it.

22.01-25.01

Here comes a jerky movement shot as he pulls the scarf from around her neck and then back to him. These shots are still in perspective, but not as extreme as when he first crawled over to here. They are more even with one another.

26.01

Here she says something along the lines of "I'm cold". There is some sort of gobo being used in the light here to cast a pattern on her face. The pattern makes her skin look transparent as though you can see her veins. It gives the feeling that she really has gone 'cold'.

27.01-03

House says "Stay with me," and the lights follow this as they fade in and out as he says the line. From her point of view he is fading in and out.

28.01-02 - 29.01

The camera follows her line of sight as it pans down her waist and then cuts to House tying the scarf around her leg.

30.01

Another close-up of her wound. However, this time the focus is on the actual leg, blood, and scarf instead of the pole. This creates nice depth of field. This is important due to an earlier scene House had when trying to remember these events. At the time it was not clear to him why his vision was asking him to tie a scarf around her leg. Now, with everything but the pole in sharp focus that earlier scene becomes clear to him.

31.01-02

As House begins to lose consciousness again almost all light on him fades out and the background provides only ambient lighting. Here he is slipping into darkness and the next series of shots happen very fast as a series of fade in and outs to suggest passage of time and a shaky memory.

32.01-02

Once again the entire image is out of focus, but her face is in most focus with everything around it going into a blur. This is probably a filter of some sort. And as mentioned before she too fades into black.

33.01-38.01

These series of shots are all either over-exposed or under-exposed. She is his focus and what he is trying to stay awake for, so her shots are bright as he struggles to stay awake. While the men that are coming in to take her away are silhouetted by the light coming from the opening behind.

39.01-02

Again, a close-up of House's face. Now we see all of it. The shot starts out dark and then lights up as he 'wakes up' again. There is very little of the blue light on his face this time suggesting a different level of clarity. At this point, his colleagues are trying to wake him up from this memory and so this is suggesting a bit of present time starting to creep in as he pulled away from the lighting around him.

40.01

The last glimpse he has of her being carried away. Everything is in focus. He doesn't want to let her go.

41.01-03

This is my favorite shot in this scene. It starts with the focus on his face as he reaches out for her as she is being carried away. Particularly his eyes are lit up here to draw focus to his face. The light changes to suggest the moment being taken away from him and the focus is pulled from his face to his hand as it is the last effort of trying to reach her.

42.01

She is being taken into this bright light here. It is very intense as if she is leaving the world House is in and moving on. This foreshadows her death later on.

43.01-44.01

The next shot is again House's hand reaching out for her in focus. Here, the camera stays still and the actor pulls himself into focus instead of the camera moving. The final shot shows her completely gone and he is left washed out in the bright light.

My Thoughts on James Cameron's Avatar

I went to go see Avatar with low expectations. I had heard everyone complaining about how 'terrible' the storyline was, and how it was all hype with little follow-through. However, I left the theatre confused about why everyone seems to think it was such a bad movie.

Movies are made for a variety of different reasons. Some of them are made to tell a story, promote a cause, entertain, create a movement... and on and on. Personally, I feel that Avatar was made to do two things: entertain & tell a story. Yes, it was a basic story. Yes, it had few (if any) twists and turns. Yes, James Cameron could have done with a better of a script. However, what was said was hardly the point of the movie.

Anyone can be a film critic. My problem with critics is they do not actually make the movies. How can you critique something you do not understand the process of? Everyone seems to expect all movies to be these huge psychological masterpieces. There was a ton of hype around Avatar, but the hype was not about it's compelling storyline; it was all about the technology that went into the movie. There IS a story in Avatar, and that story is in the mind-blowing beauty and detail of everything in every scene of the movie. Sure, I felt like this was a grown up version of Pocahontas at heart, but all that was forgiven when I found myself engrossed in the story of the world James Cameron created. This film was a sort of experiment and a platform upon which others can further develop and expand.

Avatar was about being entertained. It was about being transported to another world. The 3D element of the film was used not to throw things in your face and shock the audience; it was used to pull you into the world of Pandora. At times it was hardly used except to emphasize depth of field. Other times you simply felt like the world was not simply in front of you on a screen, but that you were somehow there with the characters in the foreign place. Considering the struggle to create a 3D environment within a 2D artform that in itself should be enough to make Avatar an advancement and not just another gimmick movie. James Cameron did not just use 3D technology; he used it correctly.

It is easy to hate James Cameron because he took a mediocre story and made loads of money off of that story. However, I hardly think this man is overrated. For that matter, the movie itself was not overrated. Honestly, hate the man because he is smart, not because his movie 'sucks'. Avatar does not suck. I am fairly positive that if the Lord of the Rings trilogy had not been a respected set of books before the movie was made it would have received the same set of criticism. Peter Jackson distracted the audience with cutting edge technology from the weak spots in his scripts, and no one seemed to really mind then. So then why is this any different?

James Cameron took the technology that was used to create creatures like Gollum in LotR and expanded upon that to make the Na'vi incredibly believable as another species. There was motion capture, and layers and layers of work in order to create the finished product. James Cameron was able to actually direct all of the CGI work by a camera that allowed him to see his world in a low-resolution real time rendering of the environment his characters would actually be seen in on the screen. This was all done with his actors on green screen. He was able to generate the shots in a more organic way as any other director might. He could move the camera how he wanted and get the shots he wanted instead of trying to convey this to someone who would then have to generate it solely on a computer.

In my opinion, James Cameron was not tackling the challenges of story-telling. He was focused on an entirely different aspect of filmmaking. There are plenty movies that have compelling story lines that keep you on the edge of your seat, but they were not dabbling in experimental filmmaking either. Eventually, someone will take this technology and move it to the next level, but I hardly feel this movie fell short of where it should have been. It is amazing for what it is, not what it is not.

I generally try to avoid reviews and hype about a movie before I go see it. I am starting to find that most people are more willing to tear something apart before they are willing to look at it for what it is. Furthermore, I would like to see all these nay-sayers in James Cameron's position. Take on a project that huge and tread in waters that may or may not swallow you. Then it is okay to throw stones. Everyone needs criticism, but criticism without considering all factors of a project is not really useful for anyone. This is especially true if the criticism is coming from someone who has not even seen the movie. Just because you want to sound like you are some sort of film connoisseur does not mean you have the foresight to hate something before you have even set eyes on it. (This is a general 'you' of course. I have heard this from many different sources.) There are many different genres of movies in the world. There is a reason I rarely give my opinion about horror movies: I tend to not enjoy them regardless of how well made they are. Therefore, I feel like I could contribute little in the way of constructive criticism. Avatar is a 'western' of sorts. It is an 'epic'. The story is going to be predictable. It is supposed to be predictable. If viewed in this light, Avatar far surpassed anything I could have hoped for, and I am excited to see the avenues it has opened for filmmakers of any genre.

Beauty in Light

The first few of these look pretty rough because my scanner didn't really do them justice.

I am fascinated by Geisha and their art. The way this is lit and silhouettes the dancers is beautiful. It really outlines their shape and form.

This looked much, much better in the book it came from, but I love how orange the sky is and how that natural beauty mixes with the modern street lights coming from the stores. It is a mix of man-made and nature.

Yet another that was scanned in and sadly downgraded in the process. I love the spotlight and intensity of the sun coming in through the windows. It creates almost an unearthly feel.

This is a picture my boyfriend took. How the sun still shines through the flag and almost makes it transparent is quite striking. The tree completely in shadow in the foreground is nice as well to contrast the brightness behind it.

I really like fashion photography for how highly stylized it can be. I just love how white and soft this picture is. It gives a very pure emotion to it and the model looks like porcelain. (Of course this is probably due to photoshop as well.) The bright spot in the top left that spills over her face a bit gives this a dreamlike quality as well.

I love this man and he is such an interesting subject to photograph. I really like portraits of people, and he does them so well. Especially in the second photograph the light is hitting him stronger on one side of the face so it creates these wonderful shadows around his nose, eyes and forehead wrinkles. His face really comes alive like this and shows expression. Even his hand has a lot of texture and depth to it.

I chose this picture because I love how the neon lights in the background cast this hazy glow over Beale Street. I absolutely hate bad flash pictures because it ruins the ambiance of a place and this was definitely the feeling of the night.

This is a picture I took New Years awhile back. The way their faces are a little over exposed and the corners gradually get darker gives the feeling of a fading memory.

This was the result of me playing with my camera and the Christmas lights on the tree. I love suggesting movement with light in still photos, and often this is seen in night time shots of cities where cameras are left on long exposures and captures the cars moving through the streets. This is the same thing except I was moving the camera instead of the lights. I came up with a lot of crazy patterns, but I am particularly fond of the circular patterns. This might not be 'beautiful' lighting, but it most certainly is funky, and I tend to be drawn to the whimsical.

These are two pictures I took of my cat, Mozart, when he was still a (big) kitten. I suppose it's fairly clear I have a thing for windows and natural light coming in from them. The first I like because of the red tint cast because of the curtains. The second, I love how the sunlight falls on his face outlining him. He looks really angelic (looks are deceiving!). With the dark curtain and wall on the edges of the frame it really feels like you are looking in on him.

Puppy Love

Puppy Love from UA, Telecommunication and Film on Vimeo.

Pups & Portraits

This project made me realize how incredibly frustrating any sort of documentary type filmmaking can be. I am the type of person that likes to formulate a clear picture of something in my head, and then plan it out in detail. I quickly found out that when filming something as unpredictable as puppies (the subject of my piece), everything you had in mind can quickly go out the window. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do for my portrait; when it came to actually creating that image in my head it was a completely different story.

I could not tell Ramona (my DP) to frame up a MCU of someone's face or what not. I had to think about how to communicate with her the feeling of what I wanted to come across. Most of my direction to her came in the form of sentences like: "I want this to feel rough but at the same time cuddly." No tripod shots. Everything needed to feel organic. I could not really tell her specifics. Instead, I just put my trust in her judgment of what would look good in respect to my overall vision. Since we could never predict exactly what the puppies would be doing, it was all reaction. There were moments when I would look at Ramona and say: "Hey get this shot of my face getting puppy kisses." I also discusses broad ideas like making sure everything was shot low from the level of the puppies. I did not want many shots looking down on them, instead I wanted it to be more from their level. We took a TON of footage. We were out there for hours, and most of it was simply us running around trying to coax the puppies into doing something at the right time with the camera in the right place. Now I've got tons of footage to shift through to find out those moments where everything worked out the way I had imagined. For the most part we just left the camera rolling so we wouldn't miss anything.

However, in all of this documentary style footage, there were a few shots that we spent quite a bit of time trying to get just right. For the most part, however, I wanted the moments I captured to be spontaneous and void of and sort of contrived interaction. Ironically, creating something in a controlled environment that is make-believe is easier than pulling from the real world.

Run & Gun

The "run & gun" exercise was a huge frustration for me. I am still 'clumsy' when it comes to dealing with the cameras. I tend to get so caught up into worrying over making sure I white balanced correctly or what quality or format I'm recording in that I lose focus on what is actually going on in front of the camera. Most of this will go away once I get my hands on cameras enough to feel comfortable knowing exactly what I am doing. I am not the type to learn from a book; I am a full hands-on/visual learner. I feel fairly confident in understanding the various concepts of different shots and how to compose them, but once again it is fluid application of those concepts that trips me up. I love challenges like this a lot, but I found myself more worried about how I was doing something rather than what I was doing.