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Discussion
So I missed A Little Princess (1995) back when I was a kid, but my five and eight year-old had recently enjoyed watching The Secret Garden with me, so it seemed like a logical next movie to try. We put it on, and while the film has some delightful use of color and decent acting, the story is a little saccharine and full of convenient coincidences. A couple of scenes did get to me, but I can't say there is a ton for a 40 year-old dad in there.
That is until this scene where the protagonist Sara finally stands up to the overbearing Miss Minchin. I guess maybe it's a little on the nose, but you can watch the scene yourself and see how the camera pans tilts up and down to emphasize the power dynamic. At first the camera subtly pans tilts up on Sara and down on Miss Minchin, making Sara appear smaller and Miss Minchin larger. Minchin is in charge. She is laying down the law.
Then Sara hits her with the question about Minchin's own father and BAM, the pan tilt suddenly reverses. Sara becomes a giant looming over the frame, while Minchin shrinks to the child-like stature Sara previously occupied. Eleanor Bron's performance also does a magnificent job of portraying the transition. The whole production works together to illustrate the exact moment Miss Minchin loses control and the roles are reversed.
So of course I had to pause the movie and yammer like a maniac to my kids about what just happened. They were confused at first, but I gave them a quick break down of the mechanics and then played the scene back again and they were so excited to see it for themselves. I looked up the director later, and sure enough, it's an early Alfonso Cuarón film. For the second time, he snuck into a children's film I was watching and blew me away.
So thank you to Mr. Cuarón for taking kids seriously, and for giving my children and me an exciting moment to share together.
EDIT: When the shot moves up/down it's a tilt not a pan.
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Q&A
Have you watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yet? I think you would really enjoy the way he creates an ominous atmosphere in that one. It doesn’t feel like a kids movie even though it sticks to its theme. Big departure from the first two films in the series
I saw it in the theaters back when I was still young(ish). I was immediately blown away. It was years later that I learned who Alfonso Cuarón was and that he was the reason that one Harry Potter film is weirdly better than all the others.
You saw Azkaban when you were "young(ish)" and now you're teaching your kids about cinematography?
I've just aged one thousand years.
Time marches ever onward. Prisoner of Azkaban came out twenty years ago.
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Lmaooo it’s the same for me… Idid my book report on the novel and now I am showing my toddler the first film!
If you think that makes you feel old look up a picture of Daniel Radcliffe's grandchildren
Where’s that saving private Ryan meme?
Up and down camera moves are called booms (technically rising and lowering). Panning is turning the camera left or right.
Thank you! Though I think it is only a boom if you use a counter-weight? Not sure of the mechanics of how they achieved this shot, so I edited it from pan to "tilt".
It’s not just a tilt, but a combination of rising and tilting down and vice versa. They prob had the camera on a Fisher dolly and used the hydraulic arm to rise the camera up and then tilted the camera down with a geared or fluid head.
pretty sure it's called a pan, bro
My bad
Props to Alfonso Cuarón for sneaking in some serious cinematography lessons into kids' movies - had me geeking out with my little ones!