JEllen
Posts 9
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6/13/2007 11:11 AM
posted awhile ago
Overhead Shots - Top 5
What are the five most impressive overhead shots you remember? My list is: 1.The Untouchables - The shot where Capone is getting a shave. 2.Psycho - The murder on the stairs. 3.Elizabeth - shots in the castle straight down which make the figures tiny. 4.LOTR Return of the King - It's a tracking shot where the camera starts at Gollum's eye, and pulls straight up through the ring. 5.American Beauty - shot of the suburbs. I also recall a movie, or several movies, with straight down overheads of big cities - but I can't remember the names. Maybe I'm remembering Koyaanisquatsi?
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joem18b
Posts 583
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6/13/2007 4:33 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
Does an overhead shot have to be straight down? I googled it and looked at the images and there were some straight down but also just some long shots from a crane. Can the overhead shot be POV? That is, for example, somebody looking down from a helicopter? Does it have to be static or can it be a pullback, like at the end of MIB? For long shots from a crane, I immediately think of the final shot from Once Upon a Time in the West and the cornfield shot from North by Northwest. Seems like I've seen a lot of movies that start at night over Manhattan, looking down at the buildings sticking up, with a siren in the background and music in a minor key. Cop movies and other action movies.
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JEllen
Posts 9
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6/13/2007 4:52 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
Good questions! The type of overhead shot I had in mind was straight down or close to straight down. But then American Beauty was more of a crane shot wasn't it? Tracking is fine by me, the LOTR one is a pull back. Point of views from helicopters are pretty common, I wouldn't necessarily count those, especially if the helicopter is part of the plot. Is that too arbitrary, LOL?
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joem18b
Posts 583
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6/13/2007 9:55 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
OK, great. Now that I've asked the questions, I realize that my film memory for overhead shots is non-existent. Never mind 5 most impressive; I can't remember one, impressive or not.
IMDB lists 15 movies with the overhead keyword and I've seen 9 of them, but duh. Except for North by Northwest, and that's because they discussed it in the commentary..
183 YouTube overhead clips, but the ones I looked at weren't from theatrical movies.
However, nothing deterred, here is my Top Five list of overhead shots that should be there, whether they are or not:
1. The Hustler, The Color of Money, Rounders, Cinncinati Kid - The tables.
2. Dante's Peak, Volcano - The eruption.
3. POTC III - The whirlpool.
4. Apollo 13 - The launch.
5. Hannibal - Ray Liotta's head.
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joem18b
Posts 583
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6/14/2007 12:04 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
Watching Requiem for a Dream last night, spotted an overhead shot of a couple on a bed. Slowing revolving. Appeared to be POV of a ceiling fan.
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Risselada
Posts 1362
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6/15/2007 2:03 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
There are a lot of overhead shots in that amazing final sequence in Taxi Driver. That's the one that really stands out in my memory!
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Jymkata
Posts 141
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6/15/2007 4:44 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
I guess mine would also go well with the thread on opening shots, but the most memorable overhead shots for me are the opening shots of The Player and Touch of Evil. Both directors, and cinematographers, used the crane to perfection to make very striking one-take scenes fromover the action.
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joem18b
Posts 583
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6/18/2007 4:50 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
Was watching Seraphim Falls last night. Brosnan is up a tree looking down on a guy standing below. Of course, this being an action movie, something is going to be dropped on the guy's noggin. Made me wonder if there is not a whole catalog of shots looking down on someone, pre-dropping something on their head. In Three Stooges movies, for one place, if the shots aren't to hard to get. This as opposed to shots where something comes straight up from below. I'm reminded of a Van Damme movie where he is up in the top of a stadium while a hockey game is going on. Lots of overhead shots until somebody drops all the way to the ice. I think I'll turn on the commentary for the Brosnan scene and see if the director has any comments on getting a camera up the tree...
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joem18b
Posts 583
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6/20/2007 12:02 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
Watched Oldboy last night. Ends with an overhead shot. No particular reason for it that I could see, except that it looked cool; the commentary is in Korean, so no clue there. But also overhead shots while the protagonist is locked in a room, lying on the floor, etc.
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walktheearth
Posts 26
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6/28/2007 4:22 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Overhead Shots - Top 5
It is the complete oppisite of an over head shot the scene during the opening creidts of Millers Crossing taken from the gorund of the woods and moving slowly forward.
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