Camera Angles in "Starstruck"

 

I have chosen the Disney movie “Starstruck” that many people are familiar with. It has a good plot about an ordinary girl surprisingly falling for her sister’s celebrity crush. I used an over the shoulder shot, medium shot, close up shot, cutaway, and an extreme long shot. 

This is a close up shot midway into the movie. A close up shot is a shot from an isolated part of a subject or object, such as a head or hand. This exact moment you can see Jessica’s hand which is holding a pamphlet of Los Angeles. That was the point of this shot was to focus on the pamphlet to really emphasis on where they were and how they are doing tourist things where a pamphlet is needed. This part of the movie is to specifically show the way they are traveling around California and trying new things.    

For this over the shoulder shot, the two main characters are talking in the car and we, as the viewers, get to see from their view . They are driving home from a crazy night and she is showing him the way to her grandparents house, which she is staying at. The over the shoulder shot is letting us see the back of the characters head and the other character in the background of the frame. It makes the people who are watching feel as if they are in the car with them while it is happening. This movie has lots of over the shoulder shots in it especially in this particular scene.

 This exact shot is known as a medium shot. Where it is focused on Jessica’s torso. A medium shot can e identified by a shot where the subject is shown from the knees up. In this shot Jessica is about to go to sleep until she hears knocking which is what her reaction is showing in this frame. The knocking is from Christopher Wilde so he can ask her if he can sleep in the garage for the night because he can’t go home due to paparazzi. It could also be a follow shot because the camera followed her through the kitchen while she is looking for the knocking.

This is a cutaway shot because it cuts away from the main performance to show clips of the audience. There are many shots like this in the movie but I chose this specific one because it is showing Christopher Wilde’s mom and dad. He is singing at a house party an unreleased song by his pool. The audience is memorized by his talent and he is the focus of this scene. Lots of business people and parents friends are here at the party interacting and he is meeting most of them. This will be the first impression that they get from him and he is making it a good one.

 This is an extreme long shot where it is setting the mood for the scene and showing the Malibu beach in California. You can see the entire environment and view of an airplane. This scene is showing how Jessica and Christopher Wilde are walking around and exploring the Malibu beach and enjoying a sunny day. There is a song playing during this shot which was written by Christopher called “something about the sunshine”. The lyrics are shown at the top of the screen. It goes with this shot because you can clearly see that it is a day full of sunshine on the beach and it gives off a happy vibe.