The speech scene from Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf On Wall Street has garner many attention since the release of the film probably due to its realistic and inspiring speech about being rich can solve their problems.
The scene mainly includes medium close up and close up shots when Leonardo Dicaprio speaks. As he speaks in a more intimidate manner, the camera goes into a closer shot of him and to the person he is speaking to. When he raises his voice, the frame widens to show that Dicaprio wants to emphasise on the importance of that dialog to his fellow employees. Because the whole scene is mainly Dicaprio speaking, Scorsese includes both J and L cut to show that the employees are listening. The shots of the employees are includes both medium and long shots. Long shots are to usually shown when the employees cheer loudly together. The medium shots are used when something Dicaprio said meant a lot to the person who was listening and to show their reaction towards those words.
The camera movements are only used on Dicaprio’s frame because he is the only character is moving. The shots of the employees are static. This is to show Dicaprio’s character is the dominant character in the scene. He mentions, “There is no nobility and poverty. I’ve been a rich man, and I’ve been a poor man. And I choose rich every fucking time.” Basically that phrase tells everyone that he has experienced more than anyone in the room. His movements are fundamentally circling his employees together and he gets everyone’s eye on him. The movement of the camera can also be the employee’s perspective or their eyes. What we are seeing is what they are seeing. It somehow gives me an idea of loyalty because the whole scene focuses on him and they are all tracking shots of Dicaprio.
The last thing that intrigues me the most it the use of sound. Martin Scorsese is known for not using any sound to intensify a scene from making it creepy, romantic, violence, and even feelings. Lets compare one of Scorsese’s films with a movie he remade; Infernal Affairs and The Departed. In the scene where the antagonist and protagonist picks up their phones and listen to the silence from each other, Infernal Affairs uses music to intensify the moment. However, in The Departed, Scorsese uses silence. It works. So does in this scene of Wolf on Wall Street. The scene consist of purely Dicaprio’s voice and the audience’s cheering. This is to get the viewers to focus on the dialog instead of just ‘feeling the moment’. However, sometimes some directors may use it in the wrong way. For instance, take Superman 1978, when Superman lost Lois in a car accident, there was a moment of silence to show the character’s loss and the silence remains with him. In 2013, Man of Steel, the silence never works; because it’s not really silent. There is always music underneath. Furthermore, there is always a reward after the silence. If you watch the whole movie, you’ll notice every time there is silence, he gets a hug.