Boyhood

Boyhood

Camera Shots/Angles/Movement

1. In one scene, Mason is now a teenager, taking pictures of his school's football game. In between taking photos of the players and actual game, Mason turns his camera towards the net, blocking the ball from hitting him, and also the stands where you can see a happy crowd, cheering the team on. The camera then shifts from showing Mason to Mason's perspective through the lens of the camera. The audience becomes Mason's camera and he points it around, capturing a few artistic shots. I thought that turning the viewers into the camera was an effective way of grabbing one's attention. As an audience, we get to become Mason for a few seconds and really see what he wants us to see, which is not something that happens very often in the film.

Another scene where camerawork was used effectively was when Mason comes home late and is greeted by his second stepfather on his porch. In the scene, it is clear that his stepdad had been drinking and is very angry with Mason. He begins disciplining Mason, which is nothing out of the ordinary. However, for the first time, Mason stands up to him and essentially tells him off, arguing the all-too-typical "you're not my father." Every time the camera cuts to Mason, it seems to be using the handheld technique, perhaps to show the drunken state of the stepdad. When the camera cuts to the stepdad, as if Mason were looking at him, it is clear that a tripod was used to steady the camera. This effectively shows the difference between the state of mind of both characters. Even  though Mason is younger, he seems to have it together more so than his stepfather.

2. I think that the camera could have been used better in a scene that was fairly early on in the movie. In this scene, the two children are spying on their mother and father through the upstairs window. Their divorced parents are arguing outside and it becomes clear that their mother is forcing their father to leave. Samantha grabs a pair of binoculars to watch the dad as he turns for his car. The kids pass the binoculars back and forth, looking into them. I think that the camera should have done a point of view technique, zooming in on the father every time a child looked through the lens. That way, the audience could be put into the child's shoes, as they are later in the film when the audience becomes Mason's camera whenever he looks into it. Instead of this POV technique, the camera continues its consistent medium shot of the father. I almost felt that the binoculars were unnecessary without the POV shot, which would have benefitted the scene, in my opinion.

3. This movie is incredibly realistic, something that the director was really pushing for. Because of this, there is a lot of handheld and POV camerawork, that puts the audience into the movie, bringing each scene to life. Realism is a very important aspect of this film. If the movie were more Hollywood and used a tripod in every scene, I feel as though it would be boring. A movie about a boy growing up into a young man, from ages 6 to 18, where the boy is actually the same aging character is an incredible idea. However, the movie would not have been as successful if it were any less realistic than it is. Nobody wants to see another Hollywood coming of age film that is picture perfect and nothing like their personal life. There are just so many movies like that already. Boyhood really captures audiences because of its relatability.

4. Boyhood is an incredible story about the life of a maturing young boy. The movie is based on its realism and ability to be relatable. A similar movie that I watched recently was Napolean Dynamite that focuses on a young man and his strange home and social life. In both films, a lot of handheld camera work is used to show certain scenes, especially ones that involve movement, as realistic. There is also no real plot line in either film. There is no specific rising action, climax, and falling action as seen in most other films. Instead, both movies kind of take things day to day, showing the typical activity of both characters' lives.