123 School Work

All the Presidents Men

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  All the President's Men
  A Scene Analysis
       
  All the President's Men, a 1976 film directed by Alan Pakula, is a riveting and insightful look at the uncovering of the Watergate scandal by two, young Washington Post journalists. In watching one particular scene from the movie, we the viewers can find numerous examples of many interesting film techniques and constructs used by Pakula, which aid him in telling this great tale of government corruption and dishonesty a tale which has greatly changed this Nation. This particular scene takes place when Bernstein and Woodward return to Judy Hoback's house for the second time with the hopes of tricking her into revealing who "P" is.
  To start, we must first look at the general use of formal components that Pakula uses in this scene. The set is arranged in deep space, meaning that there are different visual planes before the camera at any given time some near and some far. The lens, however, appears to change over the course of several shots. At the beginning of the scene, it appears to be a wide-angle lens that is used, which allows for the objects in all planes of vision (both near and far) to appear in sharp focus technically referred to as deep focus. This can be seen in one of the earlier shots within the scene where Bernstein, Woodward, the pitcher of tea, Judy Hoback, and the trees/houses in the backyard all appear to be quite clear and in sharp focus. However, the camera lens seems to change as the scene progresses. Once we get into the sequence of medium close-up shot/reverse shots, the camera seems to switch to a telephoto lens, which focuses solely on the character and leaves the entire background surrounding him/her quite fuzzy and undistinguishable...