What I See

This week's assignment is to watch a feature length film and write about it. I love movies, but there are some movies that just aren't very interesting, some that aren't fun to watch, and some that are just terrible *coughPromNight(2008)*

That's why I chose something I enjoy to watch: an adult film called Single Mom and Cable Guy. Now I know what you might be thinking... it might not be appropriate for this assignment. But don't worry! Thanks to today's medical innovations, the actors in adult films can now last long enough to reach the feature length. So there's no trouble there.

You might also be thinking of something else that is wrong with this film just by looking at the title. Well don't worry, because it bothered me too. Why would she want a cable guy when the Verizon FiOS guy has clearly been taking over? I mean I'm sure we've all seen the commercials. I guess she's too busy being on TV to watch TV.

Well now that I've got all the potentially problematic stuff out of the way, I can finally start talking about the film. Single Mom and Cable Guy starts out with okay I'm just kidding, I'm not trying to fail the class here, lol.

The film I really chose is Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Ocean's Eleven is about a team of 11 guys who are trying to rob the collected vault of three Las Vegas casinos. The problem is they have to "get into the cage and through the security doors there, and down the elevator [they] can't move, and past the guards with the guns, and into the vault [they] can't open... [and] walk out of there with $150 million in cash on [them] without getting stopped." Oh, and there are security cameras.

Ocean's Eleven has a mischievous, comedic, and fast-paced feel. This is achieved through director Steven Soderbergh choices of camera movements, lighting and editing. It also shows how the team is well organized and how they don't waste time.

Every time there is a new setting, there will be an establishing shot; like when they finally get to Las Vegas, the cameraman made a shot of the city from an airplane or a helicopter. When there is an item Soderbergh wants us to focus on, and is being carried and transported to another location, there would be a medium close-up tracking shot of the object. For example, when the team walks out of the casino with the money, the camera is focused onto their duffle bags.

There is usually a low-key lighting for the characters in this film, which adds to the mischievousness. As the film ends, the team walks out of the darkness from the shadows of their hideout. Although it's nighttime, they and are all very well lit.

Unlike the successful team, the distressed Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), owner of the three casinos, waits for the elevator to come down. He is lit with a very low key lighting. When the elevator arrives, his girlfriend, Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts) walks out of it and breaks up with him. Tess is very well lit because she finally realizes Terry isn't good for her. She then decides go back to her ex-husband, Danny Ocean (George Clooney), who is also the team's co-leader.

Telephoto lens are often used in casino scenes, because there are a lot of stuff going on in the background, but Soderbergh wants us to focus on the speaker. The telephoto lens helps him achieve a shallow depth of field so the background of the busy casino is out of focus while the speaker is in focus. On the other hand, in scenes like the one I mentioned of the guys walking out of their hideout, we can see everyone clearly because a wide angle lens was used.

This film also has a lot of fade-ins and fade-outs to suggest time has passed. After all, Danny and co-leader Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) had to go to all these guys to get them to join the team. If Soderbergh showed all those flights and drives, that part of the movie would have lasted a few days; Tess wouldn't have been able to have a flashback, and we would have to wait "Three to six months later" for the final scene of the film.

I think on a deeper level, this film teaches us a lot about the advantages of continuity editing. When Terry watches his vault's robbery through his security monitor, it's actually the footage of the previously recorded, staged robbery of a replica of the interior of his vault. The team hacked into the casino's security monitors earlier to show the staged footage. The security guards didn't notice a difference because what they saw on the monitor seemed to suggest continuity, which is from before they were robbed. While Terry watches the footage, he thinks the robbery is actually going on, but in a different way, which is how the team was successfully able to walk out safely with the money.

Ocean's Eleven is one of my favorite movies, and has an incredible cast. Three other actors I didn't mention but want to mention are Matt Damon, Elliot Gould, and the late Bernie Mac. Please go see it, or watch it again if you've already seen it. I've watched this movie like over 10 times already.