The last post! The last movie! I decided to make it a good
one, without knowing it, as I randomly chose the 2013 family/coming of age
drama Standing Up. It’s about two outcasts, Grace and Howie (also known as
Bonnie and Clyde), who decide to run away from their camp after being bullied.
The two find a best friend in each other, while finding ways to survive…or
avoid returning to their camp.
While focusing on camera movements, I’m also going to focus
on eyes in this post. Not only because one of the two scholars I am using
focuses on eyes in his article, but also because this movie is very emotion and
eye-heavy. The two kids on the run are outcasts, which means they don’t fit the
norm of all the other kids. To cut to the chase, they have glasses.
Many of the times we have a close up on the faces of our
main characters, and because of their large-rimmed frames, their eyes are the
focus. According to Erik Knudsen’s article "Eyes and narrative perspectives on a
story: a practice-led exploration of the use of eyes and eye lines in fiction
film", this is not a problem at all:
“Eyes as revelation, eyes as expression, eyes as a window,
eyes as a mirror – all are metaphors that give an indication of the complexity
of the role of eyes in the interaction of sentient sighted beings. In this
paper, we are specifically concerned with eyes as part of a cinematic
expressive language and how this role relates specifically to create a
perspective on a story. As we can surmise from the example of the eyes in a
close up, and the seeming biological imperative to engage with eyes, empathy is
one important aspect of eye contact. In order to fully engage with someone, we
need to preferably engage with their eyes, and when dealing with a medium
strongly aligned to notions of verisimilitude – the strong relationship between
the iconic signifier and the signified – engaging with a character’s eyes takes
on a heightened role in generating empathy with characters.12 And empathy is a
critical component in narrative perspective,” (Pg. 6).
There’s not much to say other than the close-up of the eyes
are significant to tell the emotion. In each of these shots there is confusion,
sadness, hope, and curiosity. All from the eyes.
The first fifteen minutes is very rich in camera movements
and angles. I’m reluctant to mention this without providing video clips, but
screen shots obviously wouldn’t cut it. There are tracking shots, POV shots, and
slow push-ins that truly kept me engaged, appreciating the art of film.
Personally, I think the cinematography is what truly made this movie effective.
The above frame is very telling. It’s the point in the film
where the duo is staying in a hotel room, undermining everyone in the process.
They take on a adult roles, as if they are a married couple. Notice their
glasses in the middle separating their bodies. They are at a point in their
friendship where they feel sort of awkward, as they are exposed, not only
without their glasses, but because their innocent (as the audience sees it –
they’re just kids!) feelings towards each other are being realized. In
addition, we are looking at them straight on, which is read to be sort of
uncomfortable to us.
Katherine J. Thomson-Jones’ article “Narrative in Motion”
discusses a lot about the narrator. However, in this film, we don’t exactly
have one. Although, we receive voice-overs from Grace in the beginning and the end, questioning on why scientists chose a specific monkey for an experiment, if
that monkey was to be more special than the others. This is obviously a
parallel to Grace and Howie’s lives; why are they the ones chosen to be picked
on? And that’s a question they ask each other, as they come to the conclusion
that they are easy targets and want to simply be liked.
Standing Up is very shot rich, and while it's hard to explain the shots without visually seeing them, the mere focus on eyes in connection to emotion in the film is enough to conclude the film is overall captured very, very well.
Works Cited:
Knudsen, Erik. "Eyes and Narrative Perspectives On A Story: A Practice-Led Exploration Of The Use Of Eyes And Eye Lines In Fiction Film." Journal Of Media Practice 15.1 (2014): 3-20.Thomson-Jones, Katherine J. "Narration In Motion." British Journal Of Aesthetics 52.1. (2012): 33-43.
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