Movie Analysis: Spider-Man (2002)

Greetings bloggers! For this post on movie analysis, I chose to watch Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). I chose this movie because it is a childhood classic and I thought it had a lot of interesting shot choices. 

Scene 1: Peter getting his powers

In this scene, Peter Parker is laying on the floor and obtaining his coveted web-slinger powers for the first time. A tilted angle is used for the whole scene as the camera gradually zooms in on his face. Just like Peter, the viewer will feel disoriented, and anticipation is built up throughout the scene as visuals of Peter's DNA changing appear on the screen.

Scene 2: Peter swings for the first time

In this scene, Peter is trying out his new powers for the first time, leaping across various roofs with inhuman strength. There are brief POV shots alternating with high angles, which serve to give the viewer the same sense of adrenaline and excitement that Peter is experiencing. The trucking shots used also display Peter's extreme momentum as he bolts across the rooftops.

Scene 3: OSCORP Introduction

This scene introduces the OSCORP building. An ominous presence is given to the building through the use of an establishing wide shot, as well as the shot taking place at night. These give the viewer a sense of dread as they gaze at the building, as they know nothing good will come from there.

Scene 4: Spider-Man's Impossible Choice

This scene shows Spider-Man about to decide who to save between Mary Jane or a bus full of children. A high angle is used to show Spider-Man looking up at Green Goblin, who is shown with a low angle. The contrast in low and high angles gives the effect of making Spider-Man look helpless, and Green Goblin as the apparent victor.

Scene 5: New Yorkers vs. Green Goblin

This scene shows Green Goblin getting attacked by a crowd of angry New Yorkers. A low angle is used to show the whole scene, dwarfing the might of the Green Goblin established a few scenes ago and giving the spotlight to the New Yorkers in the distance. This, in turn, gives the viewer a sense of unity and victory as they watch the villain being defeated by common people.

Shot Transitions!

Welcome back! In this post, I experimented with transition effects, creating 3 different videos, each comprised of 2 clips with a different transition effect.

Transition One: Fade

In this clip, I used a fade transition to cut from a POV shot at my school to a POV shot in my bedroom. I think the fade shot works really well here, as it changes from such a bright scene to a dark and unsettling environment, indicating that a change in place and time has occurred.

Transition Two: Dissolve

In this clip, I used a dissolve transition to cut from an establishing wide shot to a close shot of my classmate. Although unexpected, the transition still works as intended, showing a change from an introduction to the scene to the main plot.

Transition Three: Eyeline Match

In this clip, I used a cut transition with a twist. I used a match called an Eyeline match, where one shot shows a subject looking off-screen and the second shot being what the subject was looking at. Although the subject in this scene is unusual, the transition works well, especially with the reveal of what the subject was staring at.

Experience

At first, I had no idea where to begin with making transitions. The closest thing I had made to a transition in the past was PowerPoint transitions, which wasn't going to work well at all for this post. That is until I found out how to use a software called iMovie from a friend. When I put my shots into iMovie, it automatically made a transition between the two shots, and I was able to change it however I wanted. This made the editing process over a thousand times easier than I thought it was going to be. I had ideas for filming, where I'd use a combination of new shots and old shots to create some interesting twists, so that was not an issue at all for me at the start. Editing would have taken me a long time, but thanks to iMovie being so easy to use, I was able to compile all of these clips in under 10 minutes.