This scene from the 2017 movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi builds incredible suspense. It feels very similar to the scene from the old Star Wars movie where Palpatine tests Anakin's loyalty by asking him to kill someone important to him while monologuing about power and the dark side. In this scene, there are back and forth medium shots between Snoke and Kylo Ren. The lighting appears to be from underneath, and bluish which adds stark contrast to the intensely red walls surrounding the actors. It also makes them seem cold and intimidating. Rey pops up in between them, adding another aspect of dimension between the conversation. A slow push in shot on Kylo Ren's face gives us a peek into the pressure he is feeling. A couple similar push in shots of Snoke follow and show similarities between the two. A very threatening shot of a black leather gloved hand picking up a black lightsaber against a dark red background makes the audience fear for what's about to happen. Kylo Ren rises up in front of Rey in an over the shoulder shot. A push in shot as Rey looks up illustrates the fear she is feeling. A shot from slightly below Kylo Ren makes him look big and intimidating, as Rey would see him. Back to Rey with Snoke in the background demonstrating his looming over the scene. Even though Rey is on her knees in these shots, the light on her face is still coming from beneath her. Another interesting choice was to put Rey's face on the thirds line, but facing the outside of the screen. Usually subjects put on a rule of thirds line are facing the center of the screen, allowing the eye to be drawn there. Using her placement in this way makes the audience see her as very exposed. The scene switches between three shots; a close up of Snoke monologuing, a medium shot of Rey close to the camera and Snoke on his massive throne in the background, and a medium shot of Kylo Ren looking down at Rey. At this point, a crucial decision occurs in the scene, well illustrated by the shot. A pan as he turns the lightsaber from the lightsaber in his hand to his other hand, gloved in black leather, and thus still intimidating, rotating slowly. Knowledge of the Star Wars franchise allows the audience to assume he is using the force for something, and it is revealed by the next shot. The whole time this is happening, Rey is looking up helplessly. A close shot of the lightsaber next to Snoke turning slowly helps build suspense while at the same time bringing relief that he doesn't intend to kill Rey, but rather his, as Snoke is saying in the background "true enemy." A shot from above shows Snoke's face with the lightsaber in the background. As Snoke announces Kylo Ren's intention to ignite the lightsaber, a shot of Kylo Ren's hand at his side closing quickly, the cutting to a close shot of Snoke's face, as a blue light travels across his face from underneath, combined with a lightsaber sound effect and the shocked expression lets us know what happened. The next shot is a shot on floor level as Rey drops and quickly turns to see what has happened. Snoke looks down, as the camera moves backward to reveal the blue lightsaber, emitting the same eerie cold blue color of light as the regular lighting, through Snoke's body. A shot of Kylo Ren's hand beckoning toward him, and then it goes out of focus as the lightsaber rushing towards him comes into focus. In the same shot, Rey's arm from the floor shoots up and grabs the lightsaber; the universal arm up and clenched fists sign for "yes!" subtly reflects the emotion of the scene. As Snoke falls off his throne dead in the background, Rey stands and turns to face Kylo Ren. In the background, guards light their weapons. A medium shot of Kylo Ren then a medium shot of Rey looking at each other as the classic Star Wars theme plays gives the audience hope. The shot returns to Kylo Ren, and a lightsaber sound occurs as a red light flashes across his face. The plain grey background makes it so that the red light is not too much. A shot of Rey holding her lightsaber casting a cold blue light on her face shows her nervousness. The contrast between the red light on Kylo Ren's face, and the blue light on Rey's face illustrates the side they are fighting for, even though the begin to fight together. The next shot is a wide shot of them standing back to back as guards swarm around them as the Star Wars theme fades out. There is more to this particular scene but it's a typical Star Wars battle scene with lots of lightsabers and lasers. I felt like the majority of the reason I picked this scene was because of the first 2 minutes. There was a lot of very cool contrast and lighting. The fact that there wasn't a whole lot of variety as far as types of shots, but that there was variety with which shots were on which people at which times added a lot to the scene. I feel this scene was well done especially because of the way that it makes you feel as hopeless as Rey is feeling, and then changes your mind as Kylo Ren turns the lightsaber, even while subconsciously reminding the audience of his evilness with the black leather glove. It's also a crucial scene in the movie because it reveals that Rey has been right all along and that Kylo Ren isn't all bad.
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Star Wars:
The Last Jedi
The link to the scene that I chose to critique. My critique is of 0:00 to 1:50
The shot of Rey on the rule of thirds line facing the outside of the screen.
The shot of Rey on the rule of thirds line facing the outside of the screen.
The shot of Rey grabbing the flying lightsaber and making the "Yes!" sign.
The shot of Rey grabbing the flying lightsaber and making the "Yes!" sign.
The shots of the red and blue lighting on Rey and Kylo Ren's faces demonstrating the contrast of the sides they are fighting for.
Documentary Review
The Documentary I chose to watch was CNN's "The History of Comedy" which is a series at this point 2 seasons in length. I have seen some episodes but have not seen many, however, I did very much enjoy the episodes I have watched, so it seemed like a good choice. The episode I chose to review was called Carnal Knowledge. It was all about sexual humor, and how it changed the boundaries of comedy. It starts off with a couple comedians talking, very graphically, about why sex is so funny, and it cuts to an intro. This is an effective way to draw the audience in and hook them immediately. Then it starts at the beginning. Throughout the whole documentary, there are comedians being interviewed. They explain things about different eras and different breakthroughs in sexual comedy, and then different examples are shown from those time periods. It starts in the 1950s when it was taboo to say "pregnant" on TV, and then moves on to important films for comedy, such as Borat and Brüno, that shocked the audience into a new era. There are comedians being interviewed who talk about the importance of women taking part in sexual comedy, and what that meant for women, to feel they could be open about sex. An important time discussed in the film was when the Pill came out. Finally women could talk about sex too.
I thought the use of comedians being interviewed and shots and scenes from actual comedians or movies from the time being mixed in with each other was very effective both at telling the story, and at drawing the audience in. The shots of the comedians being interviewed varied largely, from being in a house, to being in an empty club. However, none of them had plain backgrounds, they all had slightly out of focus backgrounds that consisted of the rest of the room, which made them much more interesting than lining someone up against a wall. This would be good to remember for my own interviews. At the same time as lining up what they were saying with each other so it made sense to move from one person to the next, they also made sure to get variety with where one person was framed to the next, and if they couldn't, they at least inserted a clip of a movie or a comedy show that matched what was being talked about. This made it much more pleasing to watch.
I would probably recommend this documentary to others, but I would say that the other episodes I have watched were better, simply because they were more interesting. Sex comes up in the media a lot lately, and I felt like this documentary didn't necessarily say anything new about it, but they tried to, and it felt a little bit forced. However, some of the other episodes really make you think and show you new ideas or reasons why things in comedy happened like they did. Every episode I have watched does a great job of tying in current events over the years to why certain things shifted in comedy. So while I would maybe not recommend this episode in particular, I would absolutely recommend the show.
I watched the documentary through my family's xfinity account and I can't find any clips on youtube from the episode I watched, so this promotional video for the show was the next best thing.