Blog #3: Relationships Between Shots

For this assignment I chose to analyze the final scene in the movie Whiplash. The scene is about five minutes in length (and ended up requiring three pages of shorthand notes just to capture shot by shot) so I chose to skip over the first part and analyze instead once the beat slows and then picks back up, beginning at 3:20 with the close up shot of the sticks hitting the drums. The shots also move at an incredibly quick pace, so I chose to skip over certain shots for the sake of word count.

 The sound and action on screen are meticulously synced, as the only audio is the drum solo. The stage lights bathe the drummer in a warm yellow light, which remains throughout the scene, though sometimes dimming and brightening for emphasis.  The sequence of shots is meant to emphasize three things: the drummer, his drum set, and his connection with his conductor. Their relationship feels tangible through the use of extreme close ups and the focusing of the camera, which catches the texture of each shot. The pacing of the shots is meant to keep pace with the rapidness of the drumming.

Beginning at 3:20:

The close up shot of the sticks on the drum cuts to an over the shoulder shot, with the blurry outline of the drummers shoulder in the foreground, a more in focus cymbal in the middle ground, and the conductor himself fully in focus in the background, all along the Z axis of the frame. The conductor motions for the drummer to pick up the pace and the camera cuts back to a close up of the sticks on the drums, slowly increasing the tempo. A close up tracking shot follows the conductor’s hand as he raises it from by his side to above his head, until his entire face is in frame. The camera cuts back to the over the shoulder shot from the drummers POV, as the drummer watches the conductor raise his arm. The drummer’s hands begin to hit the drum with increasing speed until they blur, in another close up of the sticks against the drum. This cuts to a high angle shot of the drummer, whose brow is dripping in sweat, indicating the intensity of his focus.

The drummer continues to play furiously, increasing speed until the scene culminates with a rapid succession of extreme close ups of each part of the drum set as the sticks hit it, one shot showing blood and sweat dripping on a cymbal. The drumming then suddenly ceases and there is silence. The camera cuts to an extreme close up of the drummer looking to the conductor. An extreme close up of the director shows his eyes locking with the drummer, and as the shots switch back and forth between the eyes of the drummer and the conductor, we see the smile lines on the conductors face begin to stretch and widen in approval. Still in silence, a quick cut back to a close up of the drummers full face shows him smile in amazement at the conductor, and at the conductors cue he begins to drum again, this time joined by the rest of the band. The final shot in the scene is an over the shoulder from behind the conductor, as the camera zooms in on the drummer and his set, until it cuts to black right as the drummer raises his sticks to hit the drums one last time.