Cinematography In Birdman

Soh Wan Qing
U1430464B
Mr William Phuan

CS8119: Cinematography in Birdman (2014) This essay talks about the use of cinematography in the scene where the protagonist – Riggan Thomson enters a room and had a conversation with his daughter in the film Birdman. Birdman is set in New York City in a time where theatre shows were losing their significance in the entertainment industry. The film is about Riggan trying to salvage his career through a Broadway show while his ego portrayed as Birdman threatens to bring it all down. On top of the brilliant acting from the actors, Birdman was well known for its trademark illusion that it was filmed in a continuous, long tracking shot with no cuts. This scene begins with Riggan returning to the theatre

In this scene, there is a shot where Riggan stood outside the door and spoke to Sam before entering, this shot was framed such that the audiences looked at Sam over the shoulders of Riggan. This generated a feeling where the audiences were separate from Riggan and peeping over his shoulders to look at Sam as he does so. It created a feeling of curiosity as we wondered what we were going to see and experiences in this room. Following that, we followed Riggan into the room and see both characters in a frame as they seemed to be having a normal conversation and tracked in closer to Riggan as he started to sound more emotional in his speech. As the argument begins to unfold initially, the camera leans in from a medium close up to a close up on Riggan. Then it pans to a close up on Sam and leans in as the intensity of her dialogue increases. It acts as a subjective narrative which observes the protagonists’ argument from an emotional point of view. The director intention was to allow the audience to be fixed on the emotions of the characters through their eyes, hand movements and facial expressions. Through such close ups, the emotional distance between the audience and characters are reduced. It encouraged audiences to experience the intensity of the argument by staring at the actors expressions. It also suggested the importance of what the characters were saying. With

Colours and lighting were also used strategically to support and add to the emotions that the characters were undergoing and to affect the emotions of the viewers. Being portrayed as a continuous take, a more intimate relationship and understand was formed between the viewers and the protagonist. The fluidity of the camera movements significantly adds intensity to the viewing experience. Overall, such techniques did not overshadow the experience of the film and the movie looked