War of the Worlds Scene breakdown

[J.R. Hudson]

http://www.cineobscure.com/

Been awhile since I've done one/ I leanred a few things, hopefully you do to !:beer:

[Anhar Miah]

Nice, did you change your blog style again?

will read this article with delight later..

[metro2307]

Nice job, JR. The part with the handheld movement leading Tom and the audience in the scene was very interesting.

[J.R. Hudson]

Nice, did you change your blog style again?

will read this article with delight later..

I did

You know my ADD :)


Nice job, JR. The part with the handheld movement leading Tom and the audience in the scene was very interesting.

Tks Metro

I love the motivation of the camera that manipulates the audience and the character. Leave it to Steve and Janusz.

[Anhar Miah]

I have yet to see WOTW, I just had a question, from your opinion, the shots that are very action filled are probably done freehand (as opposed to tripod).

My question is;

"shaky" cam adds to the urgency of the moment, but what if the shots where "shakiness" is used are swapped with tripod shots (to show the precision of the matter);

what I mean is that an alien attack may be a chaotic moment from the victims perspective, but from the aliens perspective it is a precision moment (hence the straight and ruthless steady shot)?

[krestofre]

I'm glad you did this one. War of the Worlds has some amazing camera work throughout the picture!

[J.R. Hudson]

Tks K

I'm a huge fan of the film. Asides from the son surviving and showing up in the end of the film, it is perfect action/sci fi film.

Amazing camera work. Especially the transitions and invisible wipes that give us the impression some scenes are one long take.

[metro2307]

JR...I think I understand invisible wipes and transitions, but it might be nice to see a breakdown of that from a movie or two. I bet there is more to it than I'm grasping. Any chance of that happening on Cineobscure?

[J.R. Hudson]

I think I can do that !

Give me some time though !

One thing you can look at is

Snake Eyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_JAytRbIn4

This entire opening is steadicam and then using some visually trickery to make us think it is one long take.

[metro2307]

Thanks for the link. Looking forward to the new article!

[Everts]

Thank you Mr. Hudson.
I dont' love the story of WOW, but the Visual Language as you put it in this movie is so sweet that I had to watch it more than once. I've also seen the older BW version . I remember thinking about how the older version would have been much better with those insane camera moves.
By the way does anybody know how the shot on Free- or Highway where the camera turns "inside out the car " ( thats how I call it )was done ?
It looks like two different plates.

Thanks again J.R.

[Mark Johnson]

Damn fine job J.R.!!!!!!!!! I am a huge fan of this film except for the facile ending that really deflated me. Your analysis was exceptional and extremely helpful to me. Damn, you are the man. I'm in love with your blog, dude.

[Jay Rodriguez]

Hey John, nice blog homie!

[Erik Olson]

Having shot a huge amount of handheld, I read your write-up with great interest. Really good stuff - the camera leading observations and those on line / axis are dead balls accurate.

e

[aramikvideo]

Tks K

I'm a huge fan of the film. Asides from the son surviving and showing up in the end of the film, it is perfect action/sci fi film.

Amazing camera work. Especially the transitions and invisible wipes that give us the impression some scenes are one long take.

I love this film as well. When it first came out, I wrote a review for my company's monthly newsletter and was taken aback when a fellow employee remarked as to how annoying it was. To her, it was a movie about a girl screaming throughout and not much more. I saw it, among other things, as a dynamic example of how to tell a story. Viewing a film the way she did is like going to a fine restaurant with a sinus infection and no taste buds. Where's the enjoyment?

[Doc Bernard]

I too didn't care for the plot ending of WOW, but there was so much visual artistry in the movie, I overlooked that. To this day, one of the things that stuck with me was the "silent" lightning scene. The dramatic effect of that was amazing!