In the short extract we watched from ‘pirates of the Caribbean’ they have used many different camera angles/shots which have all been used for a reason. The first shot I noticed that they used a lot was the ‘high’ and ‘low’ angle shots on people, this shows their status. For example they used a low angle on ‘Geoffrey Rush’ when he was giving orders to show he was in charge of that ship. A ‘high’ angle shot was used on the other ship mates to show that their status was less powerful. The next shot I noticed was an extreme long shot; this is shown to show us both ships heading towards each other. Another shot they use effectively is the point of view shot shown by ‘Jack Sparrow’ when he is locked at the bottom of the ship. The shot is used as he looks through the hole then we see what he is seeing which is the other boat coming closer. This shot is used to make us feel like we are in his shoes, which is very effective. Another use of this angle is used is when ‘Geoffrey Rush’ is looking at the other ship which is coming towards them.
The next shot I notice which was used very effectively was a tracking shot going around ‘the evil pirate’ on the old/dirty ship. This is where the camera is placed on a track and it circles him. As this happens the actor is stood very still watching the other ship while everyone else around him is rushing around. This is used to show his power and status which he has on the ship. Another shot I think was used effectively was the ‘Dutch tilt’; they used this angle when showing the front of the ship bouncing in the waves. This is very effective because it makes the sea look more dangerous and it also looks the ship look more chaotic because you can see all of them running around. Next in the scene is a great use of a ‘focus pull’. What happens is you see the two pirates loading their cannon when you hear something hit the wall then a focus is used on the fork so we pay attention to this and the man in the background is looking at the fork but is blurred. This is used so we pay attention to the fork and so we know what he’s looking at. Then the focus pull is used when the focus changes to his face and the fork is blurred. And then they use another one when another sound is made to show his friend. This is very effective because really makes you focus on what they want you to see.
For the mise-en-scene in this clip the first thing I noticed was the setting, because it’s set on an old pirate’s ship this tells me the film is set a long time ago when pirates were more common. Because the ship is made out of wood and has sales to drive it instead of an engine this also tells me the time its set. The next important mise-en-scene which tells me that it’s set a long time ago is by their costumes. There all wearing old, plane and colourless rags, which tells me it is biased a long time ago when they didn’t have much ‘pattern’ clothing and clothing brands. They have dark make up on to make them look dirty because they won’t have showers on board the ship back then and the woman featured in this has very slight make up to show that they didn’t have much make up back then especially on a pirate ship. Everything they have is old and mostly made out of wood, for example props like a bucket aren’t made out of plastic like they are now, there are made out of wood and metal.
