After my consultation with Paul, I have been watching clips of awkward encounters and conversations between people in particular films. One of these films that I want to focus on is Napoleon Dynamite. Napoleon Dynamite made a huge mark on me when I was a kid, because it was a film about the awkward misfits in high school, instead of the cheerleaders and the jocks. It also embodied the idiosyncratic behaviour of these kids in its filmmaking, which I found really refreshing, as a kid who borrowed a film everyday from the video store. Here are some scenes from Napoleon Dynamite with lists of filmmaking and editing techniques that I really like and that may inform my final project:
What I particularly like about this scene is:
- How their conversation at the lockers continues outside seamlessly through editing. So Napoleon asks Pedro a question indoors, and Pedro answers it outdoors. This is an interesting way to cover a simple conversation.
- The closeups of the bike when Napoleon admires the shocks and pegs on Pedro’s bike. Really simple, but effective in continuing a stilted conversation between two awkward teens getting to know each other.
- When Pedro goes off the jump on his bike, The jump is centred in the foreground so that the bike goes across the shot in front of Napoleon, who is centred in the middle ground, and Pedro’s house in the background is also centred. I love symmettry.
- The crash zoom in on Napoleon after Pedro jumps, which ends in a mid shot of Napoleon, flanked by a statue of Mother Mary and Jesus in the background, out of focus. Of course, I didn’t notice Mary and Jesus in the background when I first saw the film, but it’s a really lovely detail about Pedro’s house.
What I particularly like about this scene is:
- How Napoleon walks into the first shot. Just him walking and holding a casserole tray and looking down at Kip is so stylised.
- The shot of Kip being pulled into town by Napoleon, how the shot is composed with Napoleon in the foreground and Kip behind and to the left, and also how they are both wearing light blue shirts.
- How all the extras in the Rex Kwan Do class are wearing white or grey shirts, which makes Napoleon and Kip’s light blue shirts and Rex’s American flag pants, bandana and decor really stand out.
- The mirror behind Rex that shows all the people sitting and listening to him. This is a really interesting shot because you don’t need to do two shots to cover the room, you can do it in one whilst still focusing and drawing attention to Rex. They only cut to his students when there is a close up of Napoleon.
