Film Study ‘WALL-E’ Notebook - Contents
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Section 1
Contents
Section 2
Introduction
Section 3
Assessment details
Section 4
WALL-E Viewing Notes
Section 5
The Shot Tells the Story – Introduction
Section 6
The Extreme Wide-Shot
Section 7
The Long-Shot
Section 8
The Full Shot
Section 9
The Medium Shot
Section 10
The Close-up
Section 11
The Extreme Close-up
Section 12
The Shot Tells the Story – Wrap-up
Section 13
WALL-E Study Guide
Section 14
Movie Poster
Section 15
WALL-E Characters
Section 16
WALL-E Themes
2 Introduction
11/2/2012 4:09:00 AM
‘The Hurting World’ unit has required you to look at Geographic
information about people and issues affecting our world today.
Meanwhile in English you have studied Poetry and Magazine Feature
Articles.
The second phase of the unit is to watch and study a film that also looks
at environmental, societal and human issues, Disney-Pixar’s animated
film; WALL-E.
WALL-E was released in 2008. It was produced by the Pixar studios and
directed by Andrew Stanton. He had previously worked on such films as
Toy Story, Finding Nemo and then moved into live action directing John
Carter.
3 Assessment Details
11/2/2012 4:09:00 AM
4 WALL-E – Viewing Notes
5 The Shot Tells the Story: Intro
The Shot Tells the Story: Dissecting Pixar's 'Wall-E'
© 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
I’ve been wanting to do a series called ‘The Shot Tells the Story’.
Because that’s how I view visual storytelling and storyboarding.
In the post series ‘What’s Wrong With Your Storyboards‘, when it was all
said and done, I said all that was left was shot choice.
Sometimes your shot choice can be flat out wrong.
More commonly though, is the one you chose still works, but there may
be a better one to tell that part of the story.
So I’m going to go through all the commonly used shots and show you
when they are a good choice and what that shot ’says’.
In my series of Feature Favourites, a few people in the comments asked if
I was going to do a review of Wall-E. Since it’s now out on DVD (and I
bought it…yay) the question was posed again (thanks, t.sterling).
But I didn’t just want to do another story deconstruct (as much fun at
that is). If you want to know how I feel about Wall-E, here it is:
Love it, love it, love it. See it. Buy it. Love it too.
There.
So I’m going to use Wall-E as my little lesson plan. And I’m mostly going
to use the first half of the film when it’s all him (and Eve) and barely any
dialogue or sound. There is no better example of shots telling the story
than the first half of Wall-E.
How convenient is that?
So I’m combining the two ideas and giving you a series of shot examples
all using Wall-E. I may throw in examples from some other films too.
It’s either going to be really awesome or you’re going to hate looking at
the little guy by the end of it.
I sure hope not.
Here are the shots I’m going to explore. These are the most common and
each have varying degrees to them. You can always bookmark this page
if you like and they will be linked back here.
Extreme Wide Shot
Long Shot
Full Shot
Medium Shot
Close-Up
Extreme Close-Up
The Wall-E Wrap-Up
6 Extreme Wide Shot
The Extreme Wide Shot: Dissecting Wall-E
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
This is the first post of the series ‘The Shot Tells the Story’ using the
movie Wall-E as my lesson plan. You can find the whole list of shots in
the introduction post.
Now, you may not find the term ‘extreme wide shot’ in any film making
books (or maybe you will…who knows?). It’s kind of my own term.
Because I think ‘wide shot’ has too many variables. Therefore I’m
breaking up wide shots into ‘extreme wide shot, ‘long shot’ and ‘full shot’
(you may not find that term in any book either).
They’re all wide. They can all be used as establishing (or re-establishing)
shots. You don’t have to use all of them all the time. How wide you need
to go will be determined by the story you’re trying to tell.
It’s all relative. And I’ll try to explain that.
But what all of these ‘wide shots’ have in common is one thing. They are
answering the same question:
“Where are we?”
This is the first question you generally want to answer for your audience.
Now, I’m not saying a wide shot has to be the first shot. But it should
be pretty darn close to first. Again, it depends on the story and if there is
something you’re trying to hide from the audience on purpose.
But I’m going to keep it pretty basic for these lessons. So I’m saying give
your audience a wide shot very close to the beginning.
Or as your first shot.
Or in the case of Wall-E, the first five minutes of your film. That’s right.
Except for one sequence where we see Wall-E scooping up the garbage,
almost all of the shots in the first five minutes are ‘extreme wide shots’.
Why?
Because of the story they’re trying to tell us. The shot tells the story and
here’s what these shots are telling us.
Above: “Space. Gotcha. We’re in space. Space is big.”
“Earth. Cool. This story is told on Earth.”
“Big city. That’s a big city alright. Lots and lots of big buildings. Must be
tons of people living in that big city with all those big buildings. Pretty
foggy too.”
“Wait a minute. Those buildings look a little weird. Yes, there are some
real buildings, but the others look all jagged. Like stacks upon stacks
of…something. Why does it look so gloomy?”
“Wow. It looks like those ‘buildings’ are made from piles and piles of
garbage. Look at them all!”
“It’s piles of garbage alright. Oh look! Something’s moving way down
there. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it’s Wall-E because, you
know, I saw the movie trailer and all.”
“This big city looks abandoned. He’s driving around this big city and it
doesn’t look like there’s anyone else here. Is there?”
“Ugh, big box store. This place got overrun with those big ass stores,
right? Buy, buy, buy.”
“Buy n Large. I get it. They own the gas stations? One big business owns
them too, huh?”
“Holy moly! Looks like that one company took over the whole city! Think
this happened just in this city?”
“Is there anyone else here? Wall-E keeps on driving along and there
doesn’t seem to be anyone else here. Looks like there’s lots of other
robots just like him all broken down.”
“Nothing is moving. It looks like everything has stopped. Except Wall-E.
Can this be true?”
“Abandoned. We saw the video screens and this big, vast place is totally
abandoned except for the robots. Is Wall-E the last one?”
Get it?
This particular story has to tell us all these things. And the best way to
achieve it is all of these ‘extreme wide shots’.
It’s a story with a ‘big picture’ to lay out for us. And they drive it home.
Over and over. We have to get that.
And we do.
Now as I said, it’s all relative. Would you need to show space, earth and
all of these really wide shots of the city to tell a story about ants? I mean,
that takes place on earth too doesn’t it?
No. You don’t.
Because we take that as a given. Unless aliens are coming down, it’s
probably useless to tell that story with shots of earth. The widest shot
you may ever need for a story about insects is a park. And that’s fine. It’s
all your story needs to establish that world.
But Wall-E is about earth. It’s about the whole damn planet. And space.
So it’s necessary.
All of those shots answer the question “where are we?” over and over
again. Because we, as the audience, have to slowly realize the scope of it
all. And that takes some time.
It really eases us into the story.
Here’s another great little sequence that shows us just how much work
Wall-E has been doing over the years. All the other robots have conked
out. But our little guy is still at it.
Seeing him start a brand new ‘building’ really shows us just how long he’s
been working cleaning up the place.
The use of dissolves between the shots and seeing the shadows change,
lets us see a typical work day for him. Such dedication, huh?
I’ll leave you with this last ‘extreme wide shot’. It comes after all the
action of him scrambling to get away from the fire blast and the landing.
We figured out it’s a spaceship. And there are fairly wide shots before this
of the ship’s blaster thingies.
But giving us this one very long shot gives us the big picture. We want to
see the whole ship. Give us the whole ship.
“Wow. It’s big.”
Don’t be afraid of the really wide shots. You may not need to use as many
as Wall-E did to tell your story. But use them to answer the question
every audience member wants answered:
“Where are we?”
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the purpose of the Extreme Wide Shot?
2. Why are these shots also known as ‘establishing shots’?
3. Why is it important for a film director to answer the question, ‘Where
are we?’ for the audience early on in a film?
4. Describe the main pieces of information offered to the audience by the
Opening Sequence of WALL-E.
7 The Long Shot
The Long Shot: Dissecting Wall-E
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
This is the second post of the series ‘The Shot Tells the Story’ using the
movie Wall-E as my lesson plan. You can find the whole list of shots in
the introduction post.
In the post about extreme wide shots, I said those shots answer the
question “where are we?” for the audience. This time I’m talking about
the long shot.
What’s the difference between the extreme wide shot and a long shot?
It’s closer.
Wow, right?
“Gee Karen, never woulda figured that one out.”
OK, so I’m not really blowing your socks off here. But I’m not trying to.
I’m just pointing out the differences and help you pick your shots.
Remember, it’s all about shot choice.
So if the extreme wide shot answers the question, “where are we?”, what
does the long shot do?
While the long shot can answer that question too, I feel it’s making more
of a statement. That statement being:
“Oh, there they are.”
If you look at the last post, Wall-E is in some of those shots. And when
you watch the movie you can see him (my pictures are pretty tiny).
But those shots aren’t really establishing Wall-E himself. They are
showing us the big picture.
With the long shot, you’re not establishing the ‘world’ so much as
establishing the character(s) in that world. So the audience finds
themselves saying, “Oh, there they are.”
This is a good thing. The audience always wants to know where
everything and everybody is.
“Hey, there’s Wall-E in his house. Look at all the stuff he has.”
“Oh look, there he is at the base of the spaceship.”
“There’s Eve stretching out her arms and flying around.”
“Whoa! Eve just shot at Wall-E!!”
“There’s Eve searching and searching.”
“Oh, there’s Wall-E watching Eve through the tire.”
Now I did mention in the last post about it all being ‘relative’. What may
be a long shot for one element may be an extreme wide shot for
another.
Like this one.
Is this an extreme wide shot of Eve? Or a long shot of the ship
exploding?
I choose ship exploding. This shot is no longer about Eve, it’s about the
ship. So this is a long shot of the ship.
This one too. Is this a close-up of the shelf? Or a long shot of the
cockroach inside the Twinkie? In Wall-E’s world, it’s a close-up, but in
the cockroach’s, it’s a long shot.
I choose long shot for this one because at this moment, it’s all about the
little cockroach.
“There he is, inside the Twinkie!”
And so on.
“Look, Wall-E has brought the ’sleeping Eve’ outside.”
“Aww, Wall-E is protecting ’sleeping Eve’ from the rain.”
“And he’s taken her on a sludgy boat ride. Isn’t that sweet?”
“Oh look, he’s brought her to that bench to watch the sunset.”
Yes, all my little quotes are super-obvious.
After the fact.
But when you’re faced with the blank page, this is what you need to say
to yourself. Then show that to the audience with the appropriate shot.
If we need to see the big picture, the world where it’s taking place, we’ll
go extreme wide shot. When we need to see the characters and what
they are doing, the long shot works great.
Too wide and we can’t see the ‘who‘. Too close and we can’t see the
‘where‘.
The long shot gives us both.
“Oh, there they are.”
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the purpose of the Long Shot?
2. If the extreme wide shot is designed to create setting, what extra
information is offered by the director using the Long Shot?
3. What does the audience learn about the character WALL-E in the
opening scenes via the use of the Long Shot?
4. How is EVE introduced via the Long Shot? What does ‘she’ do and what
does this tell you about ‘her’ mission?
8 The Full Shot
The Full Shot: Dissecting Wall-E
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
We’re at the third post of the series ‘The Shot Tells the Story’ using the
movie Wall-E as my lesson plan. You can find the whole list of shots in
the introduction post.
We’re now at the full shot. You may not see that term in any film making
books. It is very often referred to as a long shot. But I like to separate
the shots more.
So what’s the difference between the full shot and the extreme wide
shot and long shot?
It’s even closer.
(Yup, that is never gonna get old .)
How close? I define it as a full body shot of a character. There will be
some ‘air’ (or space) above and below them inside the frame. No part of
them is cut off (unless they are behind an object).
In the post about extreme wide shots, I said those shots answer the
question “where are we?”. The long shot made the statement, “Oh,
there they are.” What does the full shot say?
“Look at me.”
The extreme wide shot was all about the environment. It told us the big
picture of where this story is taking place. The long shot had the perfect
balance between ‘where’ and ‘who’. It gave us a closer look at who the
story is about and where they are in their environment.
In the full shot, the environment (or the ‘where’) falls much more by the
wayside. This shot is all about the ‘who’. This shots wants us to look at
our characters. It’s the ‘big picture’ of just that character (or
characters).
We should already know where they are by the time we get to a full shot.
So this shot isn’t about Wall-E inside his house. It’s says:
“Watch me watch TV.”
“Look at me recharging myself with the sun.”
“Look, I’m spying on Eve.”
I’ve split this up into three panels because it involves a camera move. It’s
Wall-E’s P.O.V. (point of view) of Eve while he is spying on her. It gives a
great reveal of Eve.
“Look, there’s a floating pod of some kind.”
“Oh wait, look! It’s another robot.”
You can see how this shot gives the character some breathing space.
They have room to move or stretch or dance while it still keeps them as
the main focus.
Here’s an example of being hidden by an object, but I still consider it a
full shot. If you removed the object, you would still see all of Wall-E.
“Yup, I’m still spying on her. I can’t help myself.”
And shots can be combined by putting someone in the foreground and
someone in the background. This is a full shot of Wall-E but quite a long
shot of Eve. We are aware of Eve, but our focus is really on Wall-E.
“Oh Crap! Did you see that? Did you see how I almost got blasted
to bits??”
“Look at me search and search with my cool scanner ray.”
And the full shot has room for two characters sometimes. You still see the
full bodies of both of them.
“You see me pointing my blaster at this little guy? Do ya feel lucky
punk? Do ya?”
OK, a little bit of Wall-E is cut off here. But it’s certainly not close enough
to be considered a medium shot (see next week!). And this one also uses
a closer shot of Eve in the foreground. But again, it’s all about Wall-E.
“Look what I found! Isn’t it pretty?”
“Look at Eve’s blue beam taking the plant away from Wall-E.”
Like I said before, it’s all relative. In Wall-E’s world this would be an
extreme close-up. In the cockroache’s world, it’s a full shot.
“Look at me. I’m cute too!”
“Aw, shucks. Look at Wall-E holding ’sleeping Eve’s’ hand. He
seems so happy.”
You see how I never mention anything about where they are? Because
for this shot is doesn’t matter. It’s all about the characters. We should
already know where they are, so don’t forget to use those wider shots to
show us that.
But to draw our attention to them, get a little closer. Use those full
shots to give us the ‘big picture’ of your characters.
And give them the attention they deserve to tell us their story.
“Look at me.”
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the purpose of the Full Shot?
2. Look closely at the various film still images in this post, choose THREE
and describe how the use of the Full Shot by the director has informed
you about the characters (WALL-E & EVE) via this particular shot.
3. The opening 20+ minutes of the film WALL-E includes virtually no
dialogue, yet the audience becomes familiar with and starts to genuinely
care about these characters (WALL-E, EVE and the cockroach). Why do
you think this happens?
4. Neither WALL-E nor EVE have complete facial features or expressions,
they are also robots (meaning they do not possess a distinct gender), yet
their ‘friendship’ is presented in an almost romantic way. Explain how
Stanton’s use of full shot sequences has created the impression that
WALL-E is male and EVE is female and they are developing a romantic
relationship.
9 The Medium Shot
The Medium Shot: Dissecting Wall-E
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
We’re at the fourth post of the series ‘The Shot Tells the Story’ using
the movie Wall-E as my lesson plan. Again, you can find the whole list of
shots in the introduction post.
We’re now at the medium shot. It is a very common, widely used and
let’s face it, pretty self-explanatory shot.
If a full shot is a full body shot of a character, then the medium shot is
about a three-quarter to one-half shot of a character. Meaning you will
have the full head in the shot and it will end anywhere between the ribs
and below the belt-line.
Or thereabouts.
There’s actually not a lot to say about this shot. It is what it is. I consider
it a ‘work horse’ shot. It has a million uses and is usually never a bad
choice.
So what does this shot say?
“I’m gonna show you something.”
It’s when you need to get a little closer. A little more intimate with the
character, but not too intimate.
The background is not important. It should have already been established
and we know where we are. It’s all about the character and when they
are doing.
It’s also great for when you don’t need to see their feet. Which makes it
an awesome ‘cheat shot’ for animation. Why animate a walk cycle if you
don’t need to? Just pan the background.
I love a good storyboarding cheat.
The medium shot is your trustworthy friend. It will never betray you and
will always be there for you.
Let’s see what these shots are going to tell us. Sometimes, it’s not rocket
science.
“I’m lifting my arm and reaching out.”
It doesn’t have to be dramatic or exciting. What is Eve going to show us?
“Watch me turn my head. I’m looking around.”
“See the glow all over me from the rocketship taking off.”
Changing your camera angles just adds to the usefulness of this shot. You
still have room to add in some crucial background elements if you need
them.
“Yes, I see my ship taking off. It’s all good.”
“See me peeking out. I’m not afraid, but cautious.”
“Watch me light up this light bulb all by myself. Cool, huh?”
Yes, this one was a toss up. But just a little too much of Wall-E was cut
off to be a full shot here. So I put it in the medium shot file. I’m still
flip-flopping on it.
“I’m holding these wires and going to try give Eve a jump start.”
“I’m staring up at the sky. I’m listening to my music. I feel.”
It’s more involved with your character than the full shot but not as much
as the close-up (next week).
The medium shot is a great ’staple shot’.
It’s the dried pasta of shots. Keep it around, pull it out whenever you
need it, add whatever you like to it and it will always feed you.
Pretty simple.
But supremely useful.
“I’m gonna show you something.”
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the purpose of the Medium Shot?
2. How are the Medium Shots of WALL-E in the opening sequence (when
he is going about his daily ‘work’ routine employed to show what his
existence is like?
3. Describe the ways the Medium Shots are used to show that WALL-E
‘feels’ lonely.
4. Explain how the use of Medium Shots ‘tell’ the audience about EVE’s
primary mission and that it is important.
10 The Close-up
The Close-Up: Dissecting Wall-E
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
OK, I’m back and I’m going to do this post because it’s the last day of
2008 and it’s cool to put up a post on the last day of the year.
Or my analness is just showing through. Whichever.
So! We’re at the fifth post of the series ‘The Shot Tells the Story’ using
the movie Wall-E as my lesson plan. Yet again, you can find the whole
list of shots in the introduction post.
We’re now at the close-up.
Ooo, the close-up.
The close-up is an ‘information giver’. An ‘emotion teller’.
A ‘look at this-er’.
But to really sum up what this shot says, it would be:
“This is important.”
When framing a character, the close-up is usually the full head (some of
the top can be cropped off), the neck and a certain amount of shoulder
showing. The way NOT to frame a close-up is just a full head and no
neck.
This gives you a ‘head in a box’ look and it ain’t pretty. Don’t be slicing off
your character’s heads and putting them in boxes please. Just. Don’t. It’s
all sorts of wrong.
You can crop closer, but that is an extreme close-up which would be,
you guessed it…next post.
This shot is all about the subject, be it character or object. It’s telling
us something. It’s showing us something. Something important.
Use it wisely.
Let’s take a closer look at the close-up.
“Look, I collect stuff and put it in here.”
When combined with camera movement and a focus change, this shot
tells us what to look at.
“I’m staring at something off-camera.”
“This is what I’m staring at. Look at that.”
“I’m touching it gently. It’s delicate.”
“See this light. I can’t grab it.”
“I can be threatening. Don’t mess with me.”
“Hot! Hot! Hot!”
“I’m capable of emotion. Watch me laugh.”
“See my wipers wipe away the dust. Cool, huh?”
“I see him, he sees me, you see us.”
“I’m fixing the videotape.”
“I’m watching my movie intently. I see them hold hands.”
“This plant is causing me to react. What’s happening?”
“Watch my eyes.”
The close-up is much more intimate than the previous shots we’ve
looked at.
We can smell the character.
We can get inside their head.
It’s taking a step closer to someone and them whispering something to
you.
It tells us the important stuff we need to know to understand the story.
If the audience needs to see something, grab them by the nose and drag
them to see it with the close-up.
“This is important.”
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the purpose of the Close-up?
2. How does the use of Close-up move the plot of WALL-E forward?
3. Describe the ways Stanton has employed the Close-up shot to develop
WALL-E and EVE’s relationship in the first third of the film.
4. Identify THREE subjects (be they characters or objects) in the opening
twenty minutes of WALL-E that Stanton uses the Close-up shot on to
highlight their importance to the story.
11 The Extreme Close-up
The Extreme Close-Up: Dissecting Wall-E
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
Well, I’m still busy, busy, busy as a storyboard supervisor and being all
drunk with power and stuff.
*clears throat*
But anyhoo, here we are! The final post of this long-ass Wall-E series
known as ‘The Shot Tells the Story’. As usual, you can find the rest of
the shots here in the introduction post.
Actually, there might be one more wrap-up post. Because I thought it
would be fun to string the shots together. Don’t ya think?
We find ourselves at the Extreme Close-Up. You can guess what this
shot looks like. It’s a Close-Up.
A really close, Close-Up.
In the last post on the Close-Up, I told you that getting close like that is
very intimate. It’s getting very up close and personal with your character
or subject matter.
So you’d think with the Extreme Close-Up it would be super-duperintimate, right?
Sometimes yes and sometimes no.
It can be super intimate or it can just be a very useful information tool.
It depends what you’re showing and why. I find it to be much more of an
information-teller myself. Because to me this shot says:
“You need to see this and ONLY this.”
In this shot, nothing else matters but the subject matter. And it’s usually
going to be a particular part of that subject matter. Backgrounds are
unimportant (or unrecognizable) in the Extreme Close-Up.
It’s all about one particular thing. One particular part of your character.
The eyes. A hand. The mouth.
This is when it can be a super-intimate shot.
Pair an Extreme Close-Up with a pair of eyes and a voice saying, “I love
you.” or of a mouth saying, “I hate you.” and you’ve got yourself a pretty
intense moment there.
Sidenote: One of my biggest pet peeves is the ‘one-eye shot’. I guess it
comes from looking at too many student films (usually in Anime style)
that tried to use it to be all deep and stuff. Ugh. It never worked. If there
is no good reason for showing just one eye. DON’T.
On the other hand, if you’re showing an object, the Extreme Close-Up is
a very effective information-giver. This is when you’re really telling the
audience, “You need to see this and ONLY this.”
This is the one shot that can really save your butt in the ‘don’t lose your
audience’ department. Using this shot in the right place keeps your
audience informed. It keeps them comfortable. They have all the
information they need.
Let’s take an even closer look at the Extreme Close-Up and what
information the shot provides.
“Look, I press this button and to make the conveyor move.”
“Hmm. Part spoon. Part fork. Which side?”
“Here’s how I recharge.”
“Eeck! I squished you. Are you OK?”
“I’m pressing my little red record button.”
“Ooo, shiny diamond ring in a little box.”
“I’m mimicking the holding hands I see on my movie.”
“See this cool little component.”
“I’m reaching out. I won’t hurt you.”
“See this red light. See it? You better.”
“I’m trying to hold Eve’s hand like in the movie.”
“Plant symbol equals REAL plant.”
“I’m suddenly shutting down. You can see it by my eyes.”
“This plant symbol is important. I’ve shut down and it’s all that’s
left.”
You have quite a range in these samples. Some are emotionally charged.
Some are just general (but important) information. And some have really,
really important information the audience has to know.
Go through the movie and mentally remove these shots. You’ll lose the
story really fast. You’ll find yourself saying, “Huh? What? What’s going
on? Why’d that happen?”
These shots prevent that.
So use them in the right place to prevent that. Don’t ever make your
audience go “Huh? What?” when they shouldn’t be.
Give them the information they need with the Extreme Close-Up.
Because:
“You need to see this and ONLY this.”
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the purpose of the Extreme Close-up?
2. What does the Extreme Close-up convey to the audience? Why is this
important?
3. Explain how Stanton uses the Extreme Close-up shot to convey WALLE’s ‘feelings’ about EVE.
4. Describe how the use of the Extreme Close-up shot is used to
communicate the environmental theme of WALL-E.
12 The Shot Tells the Story Wrap-up
The Shot Tells the Story: The Wall-E Wrap Up
All images © 2008 Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures.
So back to business and Wall-E and all that fun stuff.
This is a bonus post to the long ass series ‘The Shot Tells the Story’
where I used the movie Wall-E as my lesson plan. You can find all the
links to the breakdowns of the six shots I discussed in the introduction
post.
For this post, I wanted to grab a short sequence and take it shot by shot,
exactly how it is in the movie. That was easier said than done because
even a short sequence could end up making a mega-long post.
So a few things to keep in mind.
First off, this doesn’t start at the beginning of the sequence. I started a
little further in. So there are no really wide shots straight off the bat.
There’s only one and it’s later on. You wouldn’t start a sequence like this
without going wider sooner, OK?
And I only grabbed one frame for each scene. It would have been nice to
see more, but it was getting way too long.
This means looking at the shots the way I have them, there appears to be
some jump cuts and stuff. There really aren’t because in some of the
shots, Wall-E ended up leaving the shot at the end. So it’s a kind of
‘condensed version’ of the sequence.
But that’s OK because this is really all about the shots and not the action
or anything.
Cool? Good.
So let’s see a full sequence and what the shots are saying.
(And see if all of my previous posts made any sense or not.)
“Oh, there they are.” Here we have a Long Shot. This is in the middle
of montage-type sequence so it stays on these for a while.
It’s showing Wall-E going through assorted objects in the junk pile. Lots
of fun stuff going on here and nice little gags throughout.
“Oh, there they are.” This shot was good for these because it’s wide
enough to see where he his and close enough to see Wall-E and his
actions. The audience plays the observer. We’re hiding out in the junk pile
watching him.
“You need to see this and only this.” Then, zoom! Right in for an
Extreme Close-Up of the little box and the sparkling diamond ring. It’s a
nice break from the wider shots and you need to get this close to see the
tiny object.
“I’m gonna show you something.” Then it’s on to the Medium Shot.
Why? It’s close enough so we still see the ring box and wide enough to
see the upper body of Wall-E.
We need that room for when he tosses the ring and plays with the box.
We don’t need to go any wider.
“Look at me.” It’s all relative, remember? So this is a Full Shot on the
cooler. It gives enough space around it for us to see the objects being
thrown into it.
Too close and our eyes wouldn’t catch them.
“Look at me.” These could have been jump shots (because they’re both
Full Shots), but they work because they change the angle of the camera
and the angle of the cooler. So it’s cool.
“I’m gonna show you something.” Now it gets a little closer for more
tossing. Notice this ‘cooler bit’ is in three shots.
Three is the magic ‘funny number’. He’s been tossing many things into
the cooler. The last one gets closer and drives it home. It makes it
amusing.
“Look at me.” Now we have a Full Shot of Wall-E. It serves to make us
watch how precisely he places his blocks of trash row by row. We need to
see his full body and his ‘legs’ for this.
“Look at me.” Another Full Shot. It’s important we see what he’s
holding, yet wide enough to get the action of the extinguisher going off.
Works great.
“Oh, there they are.” This Long Shot on the trash pile and the cooler
gives lots of ‘air’ to see the extinguisher come flying in and out of shot.
It shows us he had no intention of getting it in the cooler.
“Where are we?” Finally! Now we have our Extreme Wide Shot. Like I
said, there was one of these much earlier on. I just couldn’t show it. It
reminds us of ‘where we are’ like a good Extreme Wide Shot should.
“Oh, there they are.” We’ve seen Wall-E working all day and now he
gets to this refrigerator. We need the space to get the whole thing in
because it’s important.
“You need to see this and only this.” Nice and close with an Extreme
Close Up from inside the fridge. Very ‘in our face’. Then the doors fall
away to reveal the next shot.
“This is important.” Which is a Close-Up of Wall-E. We see his eyes
adjust and him stare off-screen. We get the sense something is up.
“Oh, there they are.” Now we’re back wider. The timing of him staring
and then approaching the fridge gets our curiosity up. What is in that
fridge?
“This is important.” Another Close-Up of Wall-E staring. Yes, this
certainly feels important.
“You need to see this and only this.” This shot changes from a CloseUp of Wall-E to an Extreme Close-Up of the plant. The change in focus
makes it so, even though we still see him in the background.
We really need to see this plant.
“Look at me.” All relative again. Since nothing else enters the scene, I
feel this is a Full Shot of the plant. Take it all in. We also need to be wide
enough to see it’s growing in a pile of earth.
“This is important.” Another Close-Up. The plant is out of focus, so it’s
all about Wall-E and him staring. So many close shots definitely make us
feel all of this is important.
“This is important.” Wall-E scooping up the plant. At first we almost
think he’s going to crush it. But no. He’s going to take it home, of course.
“I’m gonna show you something.” This shot was a toss up. It is close
but because of the angle and Wall-E’s arms, to me it feels like more like a
Medium Shot.
I guess “this is important” was getting redundant. But it still IS important.
So yeah, it could be a Close-Up.
“This is important.” Definitely important. Definitely a Close-Up. The
gentle touch he gives the plant tells us so much about the human-ness of
Wall-E.
His instincts even tell him “this is important”.
So there you have it.
Better late than never, right?
I hope you enjoyed this Wall-E series as much as I did. I didn’t even get
sick of him!
It was a great movie to break apart and take a closer look at. Especially
that first half. It really proved what I believe as far as visual storytelling
goes.
“The Shot Tells the Story.”
13 WALL-E Study Guide
THE FUTURE ACCORDING TO PIXAR:
A WALL-E STUDY GUIDE.
Group Discussion question:
What do you think Earth will look like in 700 years?
That is the question that the animators of the Disney/Pixar film WALL-E
(Dir. Andrew Stanton, 2008) have tried to answer. The animators used
contemporary issues like garbage disposal, obesity problems and the
effects of big corporations and excessive consumerism as the basis for
their science-fiction story. Although the film is certainly aimed at children,
its themes are quite sophisticated.
WALL-E provides us with a wonderful opportunity to understand the
language of film, while, at the same time, celebrate the terrific art of
animation and the storytelling process. At the heart of WALL-E is a love
story. The plot revolves firstly around the loneliness of the robot WALL-E,
and then his attempts to win over the hard-to-get object of his affections,
fellow robot EVE. A subplot involves a plant that WALL-E has saved apparently the last living thing on Earth. Little does WALL-E know that
EVE has come to Earth in search of that plant, her mission being to return
it to the humans living on a super ship in space.
PLOT Earth is a different looking place 700 years in the future: humans
have abandoned it and the only things left are trash, a garbagecompacting robot named WALL E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth
Class) and his pet cockroach. In the background is the ever-present
mega-corporation Buy n Large (BnL). Earth's inhabitants are now living a
life of luxury on the spaceship Axiom, where they spend their days
floating in chairs, watching television and having their every request
fulfilled, including eating and drinking as much as they like. WALL-E
compacts the trash but is curious enough to save some of it in a special
place. He is mesmerized by a videotape of the musical ‘Hello, Dolly’ (Gene
Kelly, 1969) and is affected by the apparent love of the two characters he
sees holding hands on screen. WALL-E now longs for a companion. He
gets his wish: another robot is sent to Earth looking for signs of life and
WALL E instantly becomes enamoured. His new companion, EVE
(Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaiuator), is looking for signs of life and has
been programmed to bring any she finds back to the Axiom. WALL-E just
happens to have collected what might be the last living plant on Earth,
and when he shows it to EVE, she saves it, recalls the spaceship that first
brought her to Earth and deactivates. When EVE begins to depart, WALLE can't stand to see her go, so he hangs on for dear life, going into outer
space and eventually to the Axiom. This sets in motion a plan for Earth's
inhabitants to return; something BnL does not want to see occur. How will
WALL-E, EVE, a host of other robots and the ship's captain stop BnL? With
a mutiny!
ACTIVITIES: WALL-E MOVIE POSTER
1. After seeing the film, what do you think WALL-E was designed for?
2. What might the colours in the poster represent? (Have a close look at
the poster)
3. What might WALL-E's body language and the position of his right arm
mean? What planet is portrayed on the poster? What are the clues?
4. Discuss the importance of the rocket ship on the right and the launch
of EVE in the upper left corner.
5. Why is WALL-E looking up, and what he is looking at or looking for?
6. What do the words in the upper right-hand corner refer to? (After 700
years of doing what he was built for, he'll discover what he was meant
for.)
7. Is it clear to you what is happening in the picture?
8. What do you think is happening with the hose going from the vacuum
cleaner to WALL-E?
9. How about the slogan? Do you know which other movie it is referring
to?
Answer: The tagline for Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) was 'In space, no one
can hear you scream.'
10. What does the film tell us about the effects of too much garbage in
the environment?
14 WALL-E Movie Poster
NOTES on the MOVIE POSTERS
1.
2.
3.
15 WALL-E Character Questions
WALL-E Character Questions
1. Look at the three characters on the attached Word docs and create a
list of adjectives to describe their appearance.
2. What do the names WALL E and EVE stand for?
3. What purpose does the cockroach serve?
4. What is WALL-E's purpose?
5. What is EVE's?
6. The lack of dialogue or facial features is a real challenge for animators
when creating expressions and hoping audiences understand the
character without the use of words. How do the animators resolve this
problem so the audience is emotionally affected by WALL-E and EVE?
7. Which character is the antagonist in the film? What is the filmmakers
saying about technology by making this character the “villain” of the film?
8. What is the purpose of the various damaged robots who end up
becoming WALL-E’s hero partners? Why does Pixar suggest that
“damaged” or “handicapped” individuals are the heroes?
9. What is the role of the human characters in the film? Consider the
Captain, and the man and woman who first start talking to each other.
‘Wall-E’ Characters
Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class)
Eve (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator)
Captain B. McCrea
On the Axiom, the ship's original human passengers and their
descendants have suffered from severe bone loss and become morbidly
obese after centuries of living in microgravity and relying on the ship's
automated systems. The commanding officer in charge of the ship,
Captain B. McCrea, does little, leaving control of the Axiom to its robotic
autopilot, Auto. WALL-E follows EVE to the bridge of the Axiom where
Captain McCrea learns that by scanning EVE's plant sample with the ship's
holo-detector to verify that Earth is habitable again, the Axiom will make
a hyperjump back to Earth so its passengers can recolonize. However,
Auto orders McCrea's robotic assistant GO-4 to steal the plant as part of a
secret "no return" directive, codenamed A113 and secretly issued to
autopilots after BnL incorrectly concluded in 2110 that the planet could
not be saved and humanity would be better off in space.
John & Mary
John and Mary are two humans aboard the Axiom who are lost within
their own worlds of holographic screens and automated service as they
coast along in their hover chairs.
John "wakes up" when he thinks WALL-E is a waiter-bot there to take his
empty cup and the little robot accidentally knocks him off his chair but
helps him back up.
Mary also met WALL-E on the people-mover. Both Mary and John had
their screens turned off and noticed the world around them for the first
time. They also both see WALL-E and EVE space-dancing outside and then
they notice one another and fall in love.
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WALL-E THEMES:
Life and companionship.
Writer/director Andrew Stanton says of the early development of the
plot: We thought: ‘What If mankind left Earth and somebody forgot to
turn the last robot off? Wouldn't it be sad if that robot kept doing the
same thing forever, not knowing it could stop? This little robot has the
desire to understand what living is all about while the people who truly
have the gift of being alive have lost it. I loved the poetry in that.'
The youngest audiences who view WALL-E may see the film as a simple
love story about a lonely robot who longs for a companion. Older
audiences may understand the subtext: Earth in the future is a desolate
place, whose inhabitants have gone on to a bigger and better
environment. This little robot has the desire to understand what living is
all about while the people who truly have the gift of being alive have lost
it. I loved the poetry in that; the environment of Earth of the future is full
of garbage left by humans who have abandoned their home for what
appears to be a relaxed life of leisure. However, the price of this choice
becomes obvious once the inhabitants of the space-cruiser Axiom are
seen. WALL-E's only mission is to collect the garbage, compact it and
stack it. In some cases the stacks are as tall as high-rise buildings. This
seemingly endless pattern is only interrupted if ‘he’ discovers items of
interest, which ‘he’ duly collects.
Theme Questions: Discuss these with a partner and write an
extended response to each.
1. Several times in the film, WALL-E opens his solar panels in order to
recharge his battery. Are the filmmakers advocating alternative energy
sources or just foretelling the future?
2. The core of the film is EVE's mission to locate life on a lifeless planet.
She must scan the planet, locate life and return it to the floating ship.
This is where the conflict in the film originates.
Consumption/consumerism is represented as being inherently damaging
to our planet. Do you agree with Pixar’s evaluation of the environmental
issues facing Earth today? Explain your answer.
3. Earthlings, who live aboard the floating spaceship, Axiom, are seen as
grossly overweight slobs who never leave their floating lounges. They
watch video screens just inches from their faces, with their every request
fulfilled by robots. What do you think the filmmakers are saying about
consumerism and the desire of humans to have the “easy life”?
4. ‘Buy & Large’ (BnL) is the mega-corporation pushing human
consumption. How is BnL presented in the film? Are there any aspects of
BnL that remind you of present-day corporations? List any and all aspects
you can think of.
5. Commercialism. In addition to the references to big business, WALL-E
also pays tribute, albeit subtly, to Apple, manufacturer of computers and
other electronics. As one commentator notes: Apple products physically
appear in WALL-E only a few times - an iPod that projects a favourite
movie, the sound of the Mac start-up tone signaling that WALLE has fully
recharged and one-button mice scurrying around a garbage dump.
Interestingly, Apple CEO Steve Jobs owned Pixar for twenty years before
selling the production company to Disney, so the animators might have
included these references as a tribute to their former boss. Why is it ironic
that the film WALL-E is satirical in its treatment of commercialism, yet
Pixar is owned by Disney (one of the most commercialized companies
ever created) and was originally owned by Steve Jobs (Apple is currently
the largest corporation in the world!)?
6. Even the name EVE seems familiar - in the Biblical story (Genesis) a
serpent tempted Eve with fruit form the Tree of the Knowledge of good
and evil, known in pop culture as an ‘apple’. Is EVE tempted by new
knowledge from WALL-E in the film? What is this ‘new knowledge’ or
experience that WALL-E brings to her?
7. Does Apple's iPod MP3 player remind you of one of the characters in
the film? How is this character represented in a positive way?
8. Watch the end of ‘WALL-E’. What in your opinion is the meaning of the
imagery showing the development of human civilization while the credits
are running? What is Pixar’s final message to the audience?
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