The Great Gatsby Opening Scene Analysis

All stories, regardless of genre, are basically the same. This is not always true in the most obvious aspects like the structure, main points, themes, and the traits of main characters, but it is always applicable to the basic plot of a story. According to Freytag’s Triangle, proposed in 1863, all stories, and even jokes with a punchline, follow the same sequence of events that create the progression of a story. This includes the exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement. The exposition is the beginning of a story that sets the scene and gives just enough background information to allow the audience to understand why the characters are in their current situations. From then on the characters …show more content…
There are four basic camera movements and they are all found in The Great Gatsby. The first is the aerial shot. This shot uses cranes to view a person or landscape from above and is used to see the subject in its entirety. Aerial shots provide a bird’s eye view of a place or object and is frequently used throughout the movie to introduce a new location or show characters traveling. For instance when Nick describes New York’s greedy population and strong business sense and a bird’s eye view of the city. Similarly the pan technique also shows movement. To pan a camera is set on a base and only pivots horizontally. Panning is most commonly used throughout the film to show a character walking or moving across a space and is used anytime a character is shown walking or running horizontally. The third most common camera movement is the tilt. Tilting is when the camera, once again set on a stationary post, pivots. Unlike when a camera pans, tilting entails the camera moving up and down or vice versa. This particular technique is used in the film to introduce characters. It is most often used to show the wealth or status of the character and is usually used specifically for Jay Gatsby, Daisy’s love interest, and her husband, Tom. A tilt most times goes from bottom to top when introducing characters but …show more content…
For instance, if two characters are having a conversation, the camera might pan from one to the other, but conversations aren’t always held when the speakers are facing one another. To show a person talking to someone behind them or a person talking to someone in front of them then an over the shoulder angle would be used. This allows for the profile or back of the head of the person in the back to be seen while the front or farther away person’s entire face or back can be seen and is used when Nick Carraway talks to Gatsby on his dock for the first