Most perfectly composed shot in movie history

[adolfwolfli]

I think this thread is pursuing the wrong topic. Single shots aren't as important as the sequences they belong to. It's a part, not a whole. We should be talking about great sequences.

I think this thread is pursuing the wrong topic.  Single sequences aren't as important as the movies they belong to.  It's a part, not a whole.  We should be talking about great movies.

I think this thread is pursuing the wrong topic.  Single movies aren't as important as the movements they belong to.  It's a part, not a whole.  We should be talking about great movements.

La la la la...

OK, enough of the sarcasm.  No point in arguing about this, but film is a visual medium, and isolating certain compositions, even single frames, is a worthwhile topic of discussion.  

I'll use my example, Days of Heaven.  Simple, almost nonexistent plot, little or no dialogue, a certain aimless, meandering quality to the structure (which comments on the aimless, meandering lifestyle of the main characters), but ANY frame from this film can be captured and printed and would be a work of art on par with some of the great landscape painters of antiquity.  

A single composition from a great film can create enormous emotional impact, an impact that is beyond words, beyond editing and time, beyond any of the film conventions that are carried over from theater (scenes, dialogue, acts, etc.)

Look at 2001: just a series of brilliant, breathtaking, eerie compositions that work on their own as much as they work in tandem with others...

[©brad]

Fine, then I'll create a sequence thread

no chance in hell you are!

ha. u rule mogs.

if i could make caps i would put

-sum of the opening shots in rashômon.
-the helicopter flying sequence over the water in black hawk down, esp. the overhead shot of the two helicopters playing chicken.
-opening sequence of 25th hour

[Pubrick]

i really enjoyed the graveyard bits in rushmore, thanks to Mac we can all bask in their warm glowing warming glow:


isn't it neat? max is totally sinking into the ground in all the shots.


here it's perfect how the kerb of the path behind murray's head lines up exactly and his head is caught outside the boundary of the grave, and max is still sinking.


his head below all the gravestones in the background, and when the tree fell later, it's like a supergravity hole in there. luvit.

[MacGuffin]

Here's another contribution (all thanks to mog for hosting), this time from "Last Temptation of Christ".

Love this long, slo-mo shot of Jesus carrying the cross on his way to death, based on the Bosch painting, "The Ghent Christ Carrying The Cross".



Watch the progression of Jesus put in position. Camera is mounted on the back of the cross causing a very subjective idea of what it's like to be up there (notice the lens flares too):

[©brad]

cbrad: you have to be more specific about the black hawk down shots...

sweet caps! tanks.

okay, as for black hawk, there were two in particular i was looking for. one was an overhead shot of the 2 helicopters, when they're talking w/ eachother on the radio about playing scrabble, and as they pass eachother there is a really neat overhead shot.

also, sum of the shots during the sequence near the beginning when all the the helicopters r going in, the irene part. the helicopters r going over the water, and there's no sound, just music.

[Pwaybloe]

also, sum of the shots during the sequence near the beginning when all the the helicopters r going in, the irene part. the helicopters r going over the water, and there's no sound, just music.

Good stuff.  There's one shot in particular that I like in that sequence.  The camera is mounted on the side of a huey and facing Eric Bana, and there's a dust cloud of some sort that forms into a circle in the huey's wake.  I even remember that shot in the trailer.

[©brad]

yes yes yes! those r the ones!

ridley scott is a pimp.

[picolas]

well, i finally figured out how to cap (thanks to the capping one) so i just picked out a couple of the most obvious great-looking films to me and capped away.

first, some PDL.

too many perfectly composed shots to name, but one of my favourite sequences visually is this deally right here..





feels like Barry is being reborn. it's looking like he's seen the light at the end of this tunnel, or void.. a very interesting shot that i haven't seen the likes of anywhere else..



Matricksss..so much greatness composition-wise, stemming from the comic-book background.

really one of my favourite shots ever, here. really really.




(/\ this frame by itself is just so freakin' dynamic..diagonal shoulders, too..i love it..)



it's too hyper and sharp and quick to not get the audience excited..

another one that sticks out.. though it's kind of a split screen.. so many lines, a great perspective..






and finally, some R and J



eerily beautiful, but still kinda cold and dark..Romeo's getting lead straight to the end of his fortune. epic looking, and even though there's so much to see, your eyes can't help but be drawn to the poor kid and what's coming towards him.. thanks to the lines and the crosses which act as this incredible, repititous framing..



more framing, but in a very beautiful and somewhat unconventional way..



beauty. but not really anything to do with composition.. more face, fish, and colour..

[MacGuffin]

MMMMMMMMatrix:

[Pubrick]

picolbug knows what he's tlaking about.. and u can't go wrong with matrix.

i wanna say sumthin about this pdl shot where the light pushes through the walls:


the only other place i've seen anything similar is in Spirited Away when the little girl goes to the pig farm to visit her parents, she goes through these flowers, i think sumone here had that bit as their av, well they do a similar "walls splitting" thing. it's this bit:


*click for larger image


animation is miles ahead in composition and beautiful shots, when real action is inspired by it then u get classic stuff like the requiem bathtub scream.

[picolas]

animation is miles ahead in composition and beautiful shots, when real action is inspired by it then u get classic stuff like the requiem bathtub scream.

tru dat. all about the no-real world constraints like actual height and width and actual size.. or the camera and how you can't just squeeze it anywhere. plus with animation you're essentially looking at moving storyboards, so the images appear almost exactly the way they were concieved..

Mac, i also really like this 'ne from the rain/car part..



it's like, HOW MUCH STUFF CAN YOU FIT INTO ONE FRAME?!

[©brad]

that fishtank part in romeo&juliet is great. while we're on baz, there r sum great great shots in moulin rouge. perhaps the cap monsters could provide more. (the tango sequence and ... well pretty much any shot in the entire movie, esp. the beginning 20 minutes)

[Alethia]

are they connected by a little guy named PTA?  

[Pedro]

are they connected by a little guy named PTA?  

so?

Three of them are in the 2:40:1 aspect ratio

[Alethia]

don't u roll ur eyes at me........

good observation tho....i just went for the obvious one

three of them have two cups of coffee in them.....

wait are three of them in the same cafe?  the QUALITY CAFE?