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Lens and camera use in "The Graduate".
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"The Graduate" is a great example of a film in which lens and camera choices were used effectively to convey directorís point of view. It seems like every choice made by Mike Nichols (director) and Bob Surtees (director of cinematography) was justified and the outcome of each shot played an important role in shaping the message of the film. The cinematography of Bob Surtees is very complicated and thoughtful but at the same time seems poetic and spontaneous. In order to explain the techniques that were used in "The Graduate", I decided to focus on one scene and examine the choices that Mike Nichols and Bob Surtees made.
The scene I am describing starts the day after Ben and Elaine went on their first date. Ben drives in the rain outside the Robinsons' house and a pair of women's legs run up to the car. They are not Elaine's legs but Mrs. Robinson's - she intercepts him before he can get out of his car. Projecting menace, she hysterically threatens an ultimatum - she will unpleasantly divulge "everything" about their affair if he continues to show any interest or have contact with Elaine. During the whole scene we see that it is raining very hard outside. The scene in the car was filmed in a very interesting way. At first we see a view from the front. Two characters sit on the opposite sides of the frame. The image seems very flat. The viewer canít focus on anything but characters faces. The depth of field and a depth of focus are very small. One of the reasons why this scene was shot like that was because of the rain. Mike Nichols wanted this scene to take place in a very rainy day. Of course no one would ever think about waiting for a real rain in Beverly Hills during the summer. They had to make rain by themselves. The crew set up a rainmaker over the car in which the actors were riding. They shot from alongside and from in front using a 500 millimeter telephoto lens which threw the background so far out of focus the it is impossible to tell whether it is pouring in the distance or not. This is a great example of a practical use of lenses. "The Graduate" however, is rich in many experimental uses of camera that were mainly chosen to more directly describe charactersí states of minds. The following shot presents a good example.
Thinking that confessing the truth to Elaine will solve everything, Benjamin makes a major miscalculation. He rushes towards the house with Mrs. Robinson pursuing close behind. Here again, the scene of Ben running towards the house was shot with a telephoto lens. This lens was chosen to create an illusion that rain is present everywhere, not only over Benís head. The use of telephoto lens and the movement of the camera created another very interesting effect. The moment when Ben is running was shot from the larger distance. One can notice it when the camera hardly keeps up with the character. A couple of times Ben almost runs away from the frame. Then the camera catches up and Ben runs away again. The movement of the camera is very jerky. The whole shot was intended to be like this in order to create a feeling of insecurity, panic and paranoia that Ben experiences at that moment.
When Benjamin runs into the house and up the stairs we see the first shot with a large depth of field. The camera is positioned upstairs and is not moving at all. The viewers eyes follow Ben entering the building and running upstairs. The depth of field is created by having two major plans within a frame. The wall and the door have a function of a background. Upper steps and railing present the foreground. Here, on the other hand a wide lens was used. We can clearly notice that while Ben very fast covers the distance from the distant door to the first floor. We can also notice a very deep depth of focus. As Ben comes very close to the camera, we can still see a sharp image of rain in the door downstairs.
As soon as Ben gets to Elaineís room, he begins to confess the identity of the "older woman" of his affair. Glancing at her mother and then looking back at Benjamin, Elaine's out-of-focus face slowly comes into focus as she realizes the woman is her mother. In this case focus was used to graphically present the moment when Elaine realizes the fact that Ben had an affair with her mother.
Totally offended, Elaine refuses to speak to Ben and orders him out. Mrs. Robinson bids him goodbye as the camera pulls back from her black-clothed image in the corner of the white hallway. In this case zoom was used to emphasize the psychological distance that suddenly occurred between Ben and Mrs. Robinson. Once so close to each other, they suddenly become enemies.
There are many other examples of creative use of lenses throughout the movie. I think that both Mike Nichols and Bob Surtees succeeded in moving the story and conveying the themes of film by using visual medium. Because of the extraordinary cinematography, the themes of "The Graduate" became more clear and the film as a whole aesthetically pleasing.
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