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Some of the stylistic features that stand out from the movie include camera placement, movement, editing, and space.
The movie was shot in a documentary-like manner, revealing details of a gang of bodybuilders at the Sun Gym in the US who engaged in crimes such as kidnapping, murder, torture, and extortion. Camera placement is therefore a very important element in this aspect as it enables us to get an insight into the events as they happened. Various camera angles have been used to bring out a wide range of emotions among the audience. The shots capturing the violence in the movie have been creatively shot to enable the audience to find it amusing despite the heinous acts of violence such as torture used by the criminals. The use of different camera angles also enables the viewers to be drawn into the film by understanding the context of the narrative (Peter and William, 79). Both foreground and background shots have been used in various scenes in the movie. Since the movie is based on real-life events, the different camera angles are very instrumental in helping the audience to follow the events as they unfold and be exposed to a chunk of information on the real crimes as they happened. The director Michael Bay is recognized in the movie industry for his use of untraditional camera angles and hyperkinetic movements to evoke different emotions from the audience. Deep focus (Peter and William, 215) has been used so many times throughout the movie with the cinematographer using different lenses and lighting while shooting some of the scenes to bring out different effects.
The movement aspect in pain and gain helps us to capture the events in the movie as we move from one scene to the next (Peter and William, 56). There is a great sense of continuity in the series of events as they happen in different scenes. This enables the audience to understand and follow the documentary-like events without the necessity of narrations to explain each scene.
Pain and Gain also employ continuity editing technique which is one of the main techniques used to advance the storyline of the film. The transition from one scene to another enables the audience to follow the story effectively (Peter and William, 106). There are also some elements of continuity in the background of the movie that also help us to follow the movie’s storyline and relate the action in the various scenes. The editing of the movie has also been fundamental in fostering the understanding of the movie (Peter and William, 380). In some of the shots with notable graphic images of torture and fighting, the editor employed the use of noir shots (Peter and William, 256) to help bring out the mood encompassed in the scenes although with a slight sense of humor. The sequence of the scene and the continuity involved in editing make the storyline of the movie easy to comprehend without necessarily having verbal explanations of the events taking place in various scenes.
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