Shot Types Within Up

There is a tendency to disregard the presence of a "camera" in animated movies. After all, as a cartoon, the camera isn't REALLY there; everything on screen was drawn, either by hand or on a computer. However, this thought process severely undercuts the importance of the director, who must still frame every shot as though he has a camera in hand. As such, a skilled director of animated pictures can employ all the complexities of camera work typically associated with live action films. Within its first fifteen minutes, Up provides great examples of all three types of shots Professor Ramirez-Berg discussed on Monday.

Long Shot

Up's opening musical montage is a complex piece of narrative, and its camera work follows suit. The most distinctive long shot found within the montage depicts Carl carrying Ellie to their new house, with the house positioned squarely in the center of the screen to immediately draw the viewer's attention. It is dilapidated, with overgrown grass and dense (but beautiful) foliage surrounding it, but its significance is already clear. This is the house where Carl and Ellie first met as children, and now they own it. By keeping the house in the movie, and framing it the way this long shot does, the house arguably becomes a character in and of itself, which is important throughout the story. The image depicted above is not actually the long shot I've been describing, but is an equally important one. It depicts the house after Ellie's death, showing all the work Carl and Ellie put into fixing it, but also the destruction that has taken away all the beauty surrounding it, and acting as our first indication that Carl is out of touch with the world around him. It is a parallel shot, deliberately meant to recall the first long shot of the house.

Medium Shot

A medium shot of Carl and Ellie fixing up their house follows almost immediately after the previously mentioned long shot. Unfortunately, I can't find an image of this online, but it is not hard to describe. It shows Carl and Ellie, still in their tuxedo and wedding dress, respectively, inside their home, beginning the work ahead of them. Carl is hammering nails into the wall, while Ellie is sawing a board. This conveys the information that fixing up the house is the first thing on the couple's mind, as they start immediately after the wedding. As well, although it does not convey the emotion an upcoming close up will, our ability to see the characters' faces tells us that they're completely happy with the work. This is exactly what they want to be doing.

Close Up

Although there are many close ups throughout the montage, the most powerful one comes toward the end. I can't find this image online either. Once again, all I can do is describe the shot. It takes place a long time after the other two shots, toward the end of Ellie's life. Both she and Carl have reached old age, but Ellie is dying, and is lying in her hospital bed. We see a balloon float toward her from the doorway, and then the close up on Carl. Everything we could need to know is conveyed in this one shot. Carl gives a broken smile, attempting to hide how he's feeling, but his eyes give it away. He knows Ellie is about to die, and is fighting with his emotions to be there and comfort her as much as possible. However, his heart is completely broken. After the montage depicting their entire married life together, this shot's power is amplified. While it was never in question, Carl's love for Ellie is best represented by this one shot.

The image used in this post can be found here:
http://oddgirloutblog.blogspot.com/

I wish I could have found images for the other two shots, but it's certainly understandable that I couldn't. You can't expect every frame of a movie to be online.