Shot by Shot Scene Analysis

02/10/10

            For my shot by shot scene analysis, I decided to examine the opening scene of the Coen brother’s cult favorite The Big Lebowski. The movie opens with various Extremely Long Shots of landscapes and scenery around the Los Angeles area while Sam Elliot’s character is introducing the main character. The opening scene I will be discussing starts directly after the Extremely Long landscape shots with a Long Shot of the main character walking down the dairy aisle in the grocery store. He starts as far away from the camera as possible and slowly walks forward while Sam Elliot gives a little background information on Jeff Bridges’ character, “the dude”. This shot shows visual evidence of what Sam Elliot is explaining about “the dude”. It shows his loneliness and apathy to the world and his basic laid-back, still-living-in-the-60s vibe. The lower angle the shot is taken from uses excellent diagonals with the top and bottom of the aisle descending to a vanishing point where we see the dude walking towards us. This shot enhances the idea of “the dude” being central in the story because it shows his importance from a low angle. He stops and opens a milk carton and proceeds to drink it while the camera slowly moves closer and pans to his upper body.

            The next shot cuts to a Medium Close Up of the cashier at the grocery store. She appears on the right third of the frame and has plenty of look room on the left side. Then, another Medium Close Up of “the dude” with milk in his mustache. The next shot shows an Extreme Close Up of “the dude” writing a check for .69 cents. Both of his hands are seen below the check book and a credit card on the upper left third brings the shot better composition. Cut back to a Medium Close Up of “the dude” looking over the shoulder of the cashier, apparently interested in something in the back ground. The next shot is a Frame within a Frame of George Bush Sr. on a television set talking about how he won’t stand for the aggression in Kuwait. This shot seems to give a sense of time and when the story takes place. Every shot with “the dude” in the grocery store seems to further his sense of general disregard for what is considered the norm.

            The next shot shows “the dude” from behind with a Long Shot of him walking through his apartment complex. Then it cuts to a Long Shot of him from the front approaching his apartment. This shot starts out at a low angle and then pans up to his upper body as he unlocks his door. Throughout this entire shot, the camera keeps good head and look room while the camera pans left and up. Another Frame within a Frame shot from the interior of the house shows “the dude” entering his apartment and shutting the door. The interior of the house is completely dark until he turns on the light to reveal a front Medium Two Shot, where a man is leaning up against the wall directly next to the door. “the dude” is in the foreground and as he slowly turns to the man in the background a man jumps on him from the right side of the frame. This shot was an excellent reveal, because there is no conflict up until the point in the movie where “the dude” turns on the lights to reveal a menacing man who had been waiting for him. This also tells you something bad is about to happen when we can see the man at the door but “the dude” can’t.

            The man who tackled “the dude” shoves/drags him down the hallway towards his bath room with two different door frames providing an excellent Frame within a Frame shot showing the action until they reach the bathroom. A low angle Two Shot, basically from the floor of the bathroom, shows the attacker holding “the dude” from the back of head over a toilet that is in the left third of the frame. The low angle of this shot provides the attacker with a sense of authority and power. An Over the Shoulder Two Shot shows the attacker dunking “the dude” into the toilet repeatedly asking him where his money is. A Frame within a Frame shows the first man that was revealed walking into the bathroom through the two door frames. This shot is also seen from the bottom of the floor low angle and is a reverse angle opposite of the first Frame within a Frame. Keeping this low angle every time the attackers are shown throughout the scene shows the two attackers being more dominating and powerful. Another Medium Close up from the same low angle shows the attacker pulling “the dude” out of the toilet followed by the same Over the Shoulder Two Shot where the attacker is dunking “the dude” back into the toilet. Another low angle Medium Close Up shows “the dude” being repeatedly dunked in and out of the toilet. Another Frame within a Frame from the same low angle shows the first man revealed walking back into the living room through the two door frames. Another low angle Medium Close Up shows “the dude” being brought out of the toilet water where he makes a smart ass remark. Again followed by an Over the Shoulder Two Shot where “the dude” is pushed back down into the water. The repetition of these two shots followed in close secession to each other shows the will power of the attackers to get the money they want. However, in the next low angle Medium Close Up, with the toilet still in frame, the attacker throws “the dude” onto the floor.

This time the camera is switched to the opposite side of the room showing “the dude” sitting on the floor next to the toilet recovering from his ordeal. His position is mainly on the left third of the screen and provides good head and look room. The next shot is from the position of “the dude” on the floor looking at the first attacker peeing on his living room rug through a Long Shot Frame within a Frame. The man peeing is seen through the two door frames and has good head room. A Medium Shot of “the dude” is seen from a high angle making him seem helpless and at their mercy. In this shot, “the dude” is centered in the middle of the screen and doesn’t provide very good composition. Another Frame within a Frame shows the attacker still peeing on the rug from the position of “the dude”. Another Medium Shot of “the dude” is followed by a low angle Medium Close Up of the attacker who dunked “the dude”.  Another Frame within a Frame shows the man peeing looking back at “the dude” and laughing. After that, a Medium Close Up of “the dude” sitting next to the toilet offers too little headroom. A low angle Close Up of the dunker cuts off part of his head, but as we discussed in class, it is all right to cut off the top of the head in a Close Up. Another Medium Shot of “the dude” has good look room as he reaches into the toilet to pull out his sunglasses. A low angle Medium Close Up of the dunker shows him reaching to pick something up off of the ground.

The next shot is a little more difficult to explain. The shot is an Over the Shoulder shot from behind the dunker looking at “the dude”. But the camera angle is waist high, so it is more of an Around the Waist Shot. This shot shows “the dude” casually sitting on the toilet talking to his assailants. These shots of him convey a general lack of interest because he has no idea what money they are talking about. The object the dunker picked up was a bowling ball in a bag and the next shot is a Close Up of the ball dropping and breaking some tiles on the floor. The ball dropping and breaking symbolizes when the attackers realize they have the wrong guy. A low angle Medium Close Up shows the dunker again followed by the Frame within a Frame of the pisser turning around to face them from down the hall. A Close Up of “the dude” shows his face dripping wet and his glasses and hair askew. This shot is used to convey the confusion of the events that have just taken place. Another low angle Medium Close Up of the dunker shows him yelling something to the pisser and cuts to the Frame within a Frame of the pisser making a smart remark to “the dude”. In a Close Up of “the dude”, he pulls his shades down to reply. The Close Up is used to show the emotions on the face of “the dude” to show his bewilderment and apathy. Another Frame within a Frame shows the two attackers exiting the house followed by a Long Shot of “the dude” sitting on the toilet. The Long Shot is almost comical because after all of the events that took place, he’s just sitting on his toilet dripping wet and the sound of a door closing signals the opening credits.