Camera Work In The Graduate And Dead Poets Society

The Graduate and Dead Poets Society are both coming of age films that convey a story about growing up. The directors of these movies had different approaches with their use of camera work. The Graduate used camera work as an obvious element to the movie, whereas Dead Poets Society had more muted shots. The Graduate used different camera shots frequently to express the emotion of the scene, while Dead Poets Society used the shots to enhance the impact of the dramatic scenes.
Dead Poets Society uses subtle camera shots throughout the movie, except during dramatic scenes that are crucial to the plot. An example of one of these scenes is when there is a montage of close ups of boys’ faces during the speech Mr. Keating gave about seizing the day. …show more content…
The Graduate relies a lot on the emotions that the viewer picks up on from the scenes. Many scenes do not even involve words, only actions and deliberate camera work. The different shots are used to enhance the emotions of the characters, and help portray the themes of the movie. An example of this is in the opening scene of the movie. It begins with a close up of Ben, and then the camera zooms out. Next, is a long sequence of a medium close up of the side profile of Ben on a conveyor belt. These shots are used to portray that Ben is somewhat lost and dazed. Ben does not speak at all during this montage, but you can infer his emotions from the camera shots, and Ben’s body language. Ben is slightly awkward, and does not always convey his emotions well through his speaking. Therefore, the camera shots are used to enhance the viewer's knowledge of his feelings. This is shown in the scenes when Ben is alone with Mrs. Robinson in the hotel. He does not know what to say to her, so instead the camera does a close up on his face to show his emotions. The darkness in the room also adds to the tone of the