Week 7 Assignment

This week our assignment was to find examples of the 5 master shots (parallelism, contrast, leitmotif, symbolism, and simultaneity) in film and television, and explain how they fit the description.

Parallelism - Grease (1978) 

This scene is an example of parallelism. In the first shot, the boys are all in the car in certain positions. The parallelism comes in when the shot cuts to a shot of the boys on the car in the same positions, but the car as changed. The composition and placement of the two shots are so similar that they mirror each other. 

Contrast - Reservoir Dogs (1992)

This scene is an example of contrast. In the first shot, the two men are talking about a getaway that one of the men made. Despite the topic of discussion, the discussion is relatively calm. However, once the shot cuts into the next shot, the contrast is apparent. The following shot is the actual getaway, which is faced paced and very loud with lots of action.

Leitmotif - Interstellar (2014)

The music in this scene is an example of leitmotif. The theme for this movie plays at important plot points in order to reference the importance of the action, characters, or plot developments. In this case, the music plays beneath the astronaut as he attempts to dock to a spinning spaceship. The action is important to the film overall, and the music is used to signify that importance. 

Symbolism - The Big Lebowski (1998)

This scene is an example of symbolism. In the first shot, the man is sleeping or simply resting. As the other man goes in to deliver a punch to the first man, the shot cuts to a shot of a firework exploding in midair. The explosion and the sound are both symbolically used to demonstrate the feeling of getting punched. 

Simultaneity - Misery (1990)

This scene is an example of simultaneity. The essence of this scene lies between two different shots. the first one follows, from many different angles, the delivery of a package to the doorstep of a man, who is the subject of the other shot, who attempts to get to the door first. The shot switches back and forth between the package and the man, both of which are occurring at the same time.