Scene Analysis - "The Aviator"

"The Aviator" Cinematography

The film “The Aviator” is from the historical genre. This film tells the story of a man who spends his time designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing various aircrafts. In this analysis we are looking at a particular scene where the main character ‘Howard Hughes’ time trials one of the planes he has designed and invested in.

There is a clever use of cinematography in this film “The Aviator”, especially in this particular scene. The intro to this scene shows a wide camera shot, panning over the land, showing the location that the action in this story is taking place. There are mid shots showing the main object within the scene, the plane. Still on the mid shot, the character climbs up and into the plane. A shot is then shown from a viewpoint within the plane front of the plane, it is a low angle shot, showing focus on the characters first impressions of entering the plane. They use a bird’s eye view and several mid shots to show the plane being prepared for takeoff. Then there are a few more close ups on the character before changing to a close up on his hand (which is in focus) switching and turning on dials in the plane (which are out of focus). The next shot is very interesting, it begins on a low angle from inside the plane looking up at the actor, the gearstick in the centre is in focus and the actual person is not. As the actor slowly grips his fingers around the gearstick, the audience can gather a feel for the importance and power he would feel just by clasping it in his hands. With some more close ups on dials and buttons he presses and a mid-shot of the sparking plane. We are ready for lift-off.

There is then shown an extreme long shot of the land with the plane appearing, it then comes to a halt as we see a close up of the expression on the characters face. A variety of different angle shots of the plane are then shown one-after the other. We then see another low angle shot from inside the plane, looking up on the actor, this gives them a sense of power and importance; to show us they are bold and courageous with what they are doing. There is a shot beginning with a close up on the wheels, which moves to a mid shot and then a long shot as the plane accelerates. As the plane takes off we see a shot from directly in front of the plane. The plane flies up and over the camera, which then twists and shows a shot that is upside down before straightening back up. When the character is up in the air we are shown a long series of close ups on the characters face with the moving ‘landscape’ in the background. While this is going on we see close ups on different parts of the plane rattling, like they are old and timid. We can conclude by watching this that the plane is not totally safe and it could break at any moment.

There is a shot from the ‘position’ of the front of the plane as it flies back around to the take off runway. Then an extreme long shot of the men all standing in a large cluster as the plane flies above and past them. Next is an interesting shot where the camera films the men standing and watching the plane. It passes on a sort of rounded angle and then zooms out, quickly moving away. Then there is more footage of the plane in the air, more close-ups on the character and objects. In the midst of this is a long shot of the plane in the air. The camera starts straight and then begins to tilt anti-clockwise. Footage is also shown of the plane (at an extreme long shot) doing circles in the air. When the plane comes back down onto the runway the camera zooms in on the timer in one of the men’s hands, at which point he stops it. The plane flies on and at one-point shows a birds-eye view shot of the plane flying, with the blurred landscapes underneath. This shows how quickly the plane is moving and points out how difficult it must be to get it to stop. Next, through a series of close-ups on determined facial expressions, mid shots on the plane, and close-ups on objects and dials within the plane, we see the character trying to slow the plane so it can land on the ground. In one swift motion, the camera captures the plane flying back over the runway and straight into where the camera is situated. It then zooms in rather quickly the runway where the plane is trying to land. The fast pace that these shots are thrown to the audience at, give a feel of high intensity and excitement, as well as danger. Suddenly, we see close-ups of the fuel tanks empty and on a low angle shot looking upwards we see the plane plummet towards the ground. The camera then looks down toward the ground as it zooms in, giving the idea that the plane will be hitting the ground with a high amount of impact. We see a mid shot of the landed plane cutting quickly through the grass and because the camera is moving with the plane is seen as moving at an extremely high speed. When the cars arrive they use a long shot and zoom it in to a mid shot as the conversation between the two characters begin.

By watching this scene we can conclude that using a variety of different angles and camera movement we can create a very interesting and exciting scene that is visually pleasing to the eye. The range of different camera action in this scene makes it enjoyable and entertaining, as well as correctly conveying the right scenario, themes and genre of the story.