Frame of Reference Karthik Sunil | Mechanical | B.Tech. 1
Since the dawn of time, the biggest debate known to mankind has been whether the movie is better or the source material is. Even though it hurts the fans’ ego, they have to accept that movies make it easier to comprehend the story and do not take an eternity to complete. Using the freedom of the extra dimension to their advantage, directors try their best to deliver the intended experience to us. The director’s ability to present a plot in the best way possible is what makes him/her stand out. Looking at Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (2012) you realize it’s a flawed movie, but it was entertaining and quite a thrilling ride. Scott’s brilliant ability of using foreign colors among monochromatic backgrounds makes the viewers uneasy and reinforces the idea that the astronauts are where they are not meant to be. On the other hand, a movie with an amazing plot can be ruined in the wrong perspective, leading to a mess
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which nobody wants to sit through. The critically acclaimed Les Misérables (2012) was fast paced which restricted viewers from getting in touch with the characters’ feelings. Directors try their best to innovate modern approaches through which they can completely immerse the viewers. Tarantino has made a name for himself with his signature “trunk shot”, where the audience is put in a low angle, lookingup POV shot. It intensifies the victim’s feelings, putting us in the mercy of the director. In Kill Bill Vol.1 (2003), Sofie Fatale’s pain is amplified when being tortured by Uma Thurman, thanks to this technique. Apart from the camera angles and shots, even the editing can spark emotion. The audience derives more meaning from two back to back shots than from a single shot, an effect observed by a Soviet filmmaker, Lev Kuleshov and
popularly known as the Kuleshov effect. In the opening sequence of Jurassic Park (1993), as the shot cuts between the dinosaurs and the characters, you can see the shock and awe in the doctors’ eyes when they see the live dinosaurs for the first time. The frame of reference in movies is as significant as it is in physics, it gives us the foundation from which you develop ideas from. We have all been there when we finish a question surprisingly quick only to find out we were light years from the answer because we took the wrong reference point. Being the heroes behind the camera, they need to make sure they avoid this so that an innocent movie like Toy Story doesn’t talk about a bunch of slaves locked in a dark room hoping their master will use them for pleasure.
