In this essay about Hotel Rwanda I shall be talking about the different filming techniques which are used in Hotel Rwanda and how they work the techniques that I shall talk about in this essay will be camera angles, camera shots, filters, music and sound, camera movement and special effects.
HISTORY
Hotel Rwanda is a movie from 2004 about the civil war in Rwanda after the Belgians left the country and no longer controlled it. When they left the two sides which the Belgians made Hutu (who where defined as darker skin and bigger noses) and Tutsi (who where defined as lighter skin and smaller noses).
CAMERA ANGLES
In the movie Hotel Rwanda the director has used camera angles very effectively to change the atmosphere of a scene by using a wide verity of camera angles to show the emotion of the subject. The director (Terry George) has achieved this by using the following camera angles : HIGH ANGLE, LEVEL ANGEL, LOW ANGLE, OVER THE SHOULDER AND POINT OF VIEW. The only main camera angle which has not been used in this scene is the BIRDS EYE VIEW. So as you can see the director has used a wide range of angles to film the scene and I believe this is because the directors aim is to through you off track and make these things become more surprising and unexpected this also adds a lot of suspension to the atmosphere. All of these angles help to add emotion and feeling to the scene but I think that the best angle combo is a level angle with a close up shot and then a P.O.V (point of view) angle. I think that this is the best combo because when you have a close up shot of Paul’s face you can see the emotion strongly in his face which can show us an image of what he might be looking at. It also adds suspension to what could be in front of him. Then when it changes to P.O.V what Paul is looking at is revealed and we can see why the emotion on Paul’s face was put there. This combo I think really brings us into what it would be like to be there in real life.
CAMERA SHOOTS
surprisingly the director has also used a wide range of camera shoots the following are some of the main shoots which have been used by the director: CLOSE UP, MID SHOT, LONG SHOOT AND A ESTABLISHING SHOOT. The only main shoot which has not been used is the EXTREME CLOSE-UP. I believe that the director (Terry George) has used a wide range of camera shoots to but you off track again it is the same type of scenario as the camera angles I think this because of the combo which I think is most powerful which is the close up then long shoot I say this because if you take a close up of Paul’s face you can see a emotion which Paul will have on his face and the expression might be miss leading to what is happening because you can not see anything around Paul. So when it changes to a long shot you can see Paul’s surroundings and you can see what is happening.
FILTERS
Filters are a very critical part of movies and filming as they add a lot of atmosphere to the movie for example in the scene where Paul drives down next to the lake it is dark that is a filter effect. If it would not be dark the atmosphere and entire scene would be completely different to what it is with filters because we would be able to see that they would be driving over dead body’s which would take away the suspension from that scene. Also the filter which has been used is quite a blue colour which gives it a gloomy effect but we can still see the main outline of the established shoot.
MUSIC AND SOUND
Fascinatingly in this movie scene there is a lot of sound effects for example at the beginning of the scene when Paul leaves from getting supply’s the general bangs on the car this adds a anger to the scene and tells us that the general is not happy. Also later on in the scene some mysterious music plays after Paul gets out of the car which adds obviously a mysterious effect but it also adds a effect which tells us that something unnatural has happened where Paul is. For me one of the most important sound effect is a blade being pulled out from a sword case I think this is important because it tells us that a sword has been used for something and with what has happened in the movie so far we know that it is death. That is why it is important to have sound and music in a movie.
CAMERA MOVEMENT
Interestingly there are a lot of camera movements in this scene of hotel Rwanda. But I personally think that the most important camera movement in the scene was when Paul opened the door of the car and fell out. When this happened the camera stayed for a while looking at the door instead of moving with Paul what this does is create tension and suspension because we do not yet know what has happened to Paul. Also the camera with a delay behind Paul makes it seem as if Paul fell faster then he really did which is a good camera movement technique and shows that the director (Terry George) knew what he was doing.
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Hotel Rwanda does not have very many special effects in this scene but there are one or two special effects in the scene. For example when Paul leaves the general and takes the back road to the hotel it is dark and misty these are both under special effects. The mist adds a touch of mystery to the scene like in horror movies in grave yards and the director has used this technique well to cover up all the body’s adding suspense to the scene. Darkness also helps to cover up the body’s scattered over the road and it also is a form of pathetic fallacy which tells us something bad is about to happen because it reflex’s what is happening.
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