Analyzing Technical Elements

 In this project, I reviewed the technical elements of a film, and I chose the film "Goodfellas" by Martin Scorcese. I am a big fan of Scorcese's gangster movies and with Goodfellas being his most acclaimed there are many technical elements to review within it. There are many different uses of camera angles and shots throughout this movie but it is best known for its dolly shots which are seen multiple times throughout the film. 

In this first scene, we are given a close-up shot of the protagonist's eyes as a child. This is used to establish that at a young age, he was always inspired and wanted to be a gangster. This allows the audience to understand the dreams and goals of the protagonist, and since it is the start of the movie it sets the film in direction. This is further shown by the non-diegetic sound of the narration, something that this film uses very often and is a staple of Martin Scorcese's films. 

In this scene, the young protagonist is trying to show off his new suit to his mother. In this, the camera tilts down slowly showing off the suit. This gives the audience a sense of how expensive the suit is and draws connections to how he got the money for the suit. This is in line with how the mother thinks and likely how she looks down the suit stating in the end "You look like a gangster."

In this scene, there is a two-shot of the protagonist and his brother and then a shot of the helicopter in the sky. From how the protagonist looks in the two-shot to the zoom-in on the helicopter the audience picks up a sense of paranoia. This is heightened by the diegetic sound of the helicopter in the sky. 

In this scene, a dolly shot is used to move around the restaurant where all the gangsters and mob bosses hang out. This dolly is used as a representation of someone as well almost like a pov shot as we see the gangsters talking to the camera. This is used to give the audience a sense of connection, that even though these are criminals who can and will backstab each other they are all connected in some way. This also furthers the protagonist's almost fairytale-like ideas about gangster life. 

In this scene, the audience can see the rule of thirds being used to position the unknown man in the dark room. This adds a sense of suspense as the audience doesn't know what's in there or what the intentions of the man are. Then right after a crane shot is used to tilt from closer to the ground to high up to get a higher angle of both characters. However, the man who is talking to the lady is far away and hardly seen. This can give a glimpse into the audience's eyes of how the lady is feeling as she has a feeling of mistrust for him.