The Usage of Camera in Mel Gibson's Brave Heart - Movie Review Example

Running head: THE USAGE OF CAMERA IN MEL GIBSON'S "BRAVE HEART" The usage of camera in Mel Gibson's "Brave heart" Abstract This paper depicts the usage of camera in Mel Gibson's "BraveHeart" (1995). That's a movie where Mel Gibson is present in both sides of camera. Paper brings out the various usage of camera like: camera angle, camera position and camera movement in that movie. It also outlines various camera shots. And finally, conclusion summarizes the facts. The usage of camera in Mel Gibson's "Brave heart" Introduction Movie is not only all about the motions one is observing onto the screen rather, the contributions of the personalities behind the camera bears a lot. It's nothing but a process of conversion of director's vision into reality. Though special effects somewhat gives the sensation but unless and until a good direction and camera are co-operating, everything turns to be a flaw. One simple instance can justify this statement and that is character movement. If a character walks away in a room, camera must be moved or positioned to frame his movements adequately. If it's a scene where one wants to show the whole image of a ship or a building then aerial shot is preferred where track won't serve the purpose. Aerial shots are done with crane or helicopter. A minute mistake during camera can lead into wrong understandings. If there is a shot where person is getting surprised and it is taken as either long or mid shot then the actual feeling of astonishment may not be clear in frames. Camera usages stand a very important tool in one movie making. Braveheart (1995) is a movie which shows an excellent art of direction and camera that gave it to the honor of five Academy Awards in the 68th Academy Awards ceremony, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. It's the camera and only the camera which can take one movie either to Oscar platform or out of its market. Camera operators need good eyesight, artistic ability, and hand-eye coordination. They should be patient, accurate, and detail oriented. Camera operators also should have the ability to hold a camera by hand for extended periods. Braveheart is the partly historical, partly mythological, story of William Wallace, a Scottish common man who fights for his country's freedom from English rule around the end of the 13th century. Braveheart: An Example of Creativity For one film, the starting and ending shots are two important aspects. As "first impression is the last impression", first scene of movie is very important to generate interest into viewers' minds. It tells about the movie basic, means its category whereas ending scene should summarize the whole story into a single scene. If it starts with murder or attempting to murder scene that means movie is more likely of thriller type. Braveheart starts with the natural views: high hills and dense forests; camera was done from helicopter and using crane. If it was not done so then it would be impossible for someone to get the feeling in depth. This is giving a message that it's a movie related to the lifestyle of people during ancient times and warlike nature. Story begins with a little boy William, who grows up and later becomes the central character of the story. In his childhood he lost his father and only brother. The art behind the camera can be explained by few examples. In one situation William was alone and no one was there with him except one little girl. In the shot it was shown by placing the boy alone and crying, before him his father was being buried by someone else and other villagers were leaving the place except one little girl, with her face turning towards William. All these emotions were captured into a single time shot. A good director is one who can express most of the ideas in least amount of time without losing its interest upon the audiences. Instead of doing in a single one if multiple slots were taken, frame might have lost its natural rhythm. After that, boy got a company from his uncle and found one sword with him, now he will take it and accept the coming challenges. There are many ways to frame this incident. The best way and what Braveheart did is like that; boy picks up the sword and thinks about his responsibilities, which has been shown by cut-in shot which is a close one emphasizing more on the shining edge of the weapon. These small-small things beautified the movie overall. Next the boy has grown up and returns to his childhood place; the same place which he left many years back. The beauty over here is both the departing and returning scenes were taken as extreme wide parallel shots with having no such changes in environment. It is a very necessary factor for one video. One movie takes a lot of time to make and edit, and during that duration director should not lose his concentration as well as his vision. Vision is one that will be mapped into film. Whatever he sees through the camera at this time should be the same for later moments too. And the above mentioned movie has that feature. If one person turns and cameraman wants to take it in two separate frames then the angular movement till what the man turned in first frame, must be resumed from that into the second one. Otherwise there will be a discontinuity in movement which can be easily detected by normal eyes. Discontinuity and timing mismatch are basic drawback of most of the movies. There is a limit of transition speed, exceeding which may result into discrepancies in human eyes normal behavior. Mel Gibson did a masterful job on both sides of camera maintaining the above constraints. It has grasped in its lens romantic moments too. William meets one girl and falls in her love. To make the spot lovelier, they were placed at the top of hill, time was evening time when he expresses his love and camera slowly zoomed outs leaving the lovers alone into the darkness. There are certain situations when more than one person is in the picture and the other(s) either walk away or moves out of camera screen. In the movie this thing has appeared many times. One such incidence is after their marriage and before heroine dies, when hero comes to meet her. Within a short while hero comes out of screen but camera still focuses to heroine who stands more important at that time. The camera angle and position must be taken carefully when two sets of objects, one at a distant end and another closer to lens come into the picture. In movie when English peoples were chasing Scottish men and other Scottish people came to save, at that moment camera was positioned in such a way so that human figures on the top of hill are also quite visible. Most acrobatic performance was shown during the war. Geographic area was so chosen to have a convex shaped land, in order to get visible the upper portion of body first as compared to the rest to make it adventurous. To get several frames with various angles al together, more than one camera has been placed at different point of spaces and places. Horse movements have been captured using forward-backward, left-right tracks and ground shots. Whenever it is required to get the picture of whole army force, crane is taken. In order to make the war livelier medium close-up shots were preferred as it gives more insight of aggression. If the character moves with an adequate speed camera also must be equipped to move with them; generally it is done using track, but sometimes vehicle is also used. There should not be any speed mismatch unless and until it is intended. Arc shot is also one sort of track shot but here camera axis is like an arc. During Arc shot one thing must keep in mind that camera must not go beyond 180 of the axis. Otherwise it may create a lot of ambiguities to the viewers. Movie also incorporates bottom-top shots for some of the actions like something is falling from top or alike. . Braveheart: attains its goal Main goal of a movie is not only the revenue. Its objective is something else; to impact good attributes to the society. Braveheart is not an exception. Excellent performance by all the casts and members associated with this movie led it to the peak of success. In the box-office Braveheart is the 271st largest grossing film worldwide with total revenue of $75,609,945 in US and $210,409,945 worldwide. On opening weekend, Braveheart grossed US: $9,938,276. The film's presentation of the Battle of Stirling Bridge is considered as one of the greatest in cinema history. Not only that in 1997, a statue of Gibson as "William Wallace" was made and it stands outside of Wallace Monument (Noah, Sanders 2007) though later on it was the reason of controversy. Conclusion A single picture tells about thousands words. Camera is all about imaginations; visualizing whole story into one single frame and then splitting it into fragments according to the concerned person's skill that varies from individual to individual. This determines the perfection which can't be improved and has no alternative. Braveheart is nothing but one ideal sample of it that bears many things to let others to copy. Finally, there is a lot of difference between knowing the path and going through the path. Holding camera is like a journey which never ends like our Passions. References Prince, Stephen R. (2000). Movies and Meaning: an introduction to film, Published in 2000, Allyn & Bacon, Incorporated. "The best -- and worst -- movie battle scenes", CNN, 2007-03-30. Retrieved on April 1, 2007. Noah Sanders (2007). "GREAT MODERN BATTLE SCENES - UPDATED!", Double Viking, 2007-03-28. Retrieved on April 2, 2007. Gibbs. John, Pye. Douglas (2005), Style and Meaning: Studies in the Detailed Analysis of Film, Published in 2005, Manchester University Press. Read More