Week 4 Assignment

The Martian

The opening shot of The Martian reveals a lot to the audience. First of all this shot is from a bird's eye view and is an extreme wide shot. It reveals the environment the adventurers have to combat against. This shot also reveals how desolate and barren the surface of Mars is, revealing how truly hard it is for the stranded astronaut to battle the elements and grow food off of the extremely nutrient deprived soil.

This next scene shows the struggle of the actor from a close-up, eye-level camera angle. After the first scene, the camera shows a tracking shot as the actor travels back into the rocket. The point of using this shot is to show the struggle the astronaut is going through, and how difficult it is to wait any longer. The audience is shown her reaction as to see that she feels bad about leaving her comrade behind, but how it is a necessary sacrifice or else everyone will die in the sandstorm.

This scene is easily one of my favorites from the whole movie. The emotion of the actors, their sadness over leaving their not only a teammate but a friend too, behind. This is another close up of the actors, and also a panning shot. The best part about this scene, in my opinion, is the high angle shot, where the camera points down on the cockpits seats. This is because of how it emphasizes that they are all their, except one. Doing this shot before the close up of the actor's faces was an incredibly smart decision, as it shows why the astronauts are so stressed.

This is another incredibly well-done scene, the aftermath of the storm. This reveals how bad the situation is, and what Damon has to deal with currently. I also enjoyed the extreme wide shot at night, with the light circling the compound, like a lighthouse, surrounded by rough waters. I like to think this is the director showing how trapped Damon is and how little chance there is of his escape. Another interesting event is that further into the movie, they talk about how mars is pretty much international waters, and how Damon is the first to colonize it. He also starts to call himself a pirate, further showing how the compound is his life raft/lighthouse in a vast ocean.

Another great shot, the camera soars over the mars terrain, as of a bird looking for food. All of the scenes showing mars from above are great in my opinion, and a good way to show the transition from earth events back to mars. Another good part of this extreme wide shot is it shows the day, how long Damon has had to deal with mars. Also, there is an over the shoulder shot before the bird's eye views to show his new home. The lights flashing on and off are a good add-on to show how bad the station's current position is. 

This part as a lot of different camera shots, it starts off with a dolly shot moving backward as Damon walks forward, showing that he has an objective that he is looking to complete, followed by a slight panning shot as he leaves the room. The Extreme wide shot mixed with the bird's eye view is once again a beautifully done seen, something I did not get tired of throughout the movie because it shows how beautiful the land is, even without life. The sunset pops out, but not enough to cover the rocky terrain actually looks pretty small in the distance. I like this as it makes me think about the universe and space, how small we are compared to such a vast universe. The next scenes, consist of arcs shots (when it surrounds Damon when he is in bed), and a low angle shot (when we see the rover from below the rocket). These are both well done and makes the audience see that Damon is being very objective, just how hard he is working to survive this encounter.

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Great movie 10/10