Greatest Shots list

[Leon Rodriguez]

I wonder if we could each list the greatest or most impressive shots each you can think of. Maybe it's a shot that touched you personally or maybe it's a shot that inspired you to be a shooter. Was it movement or lighting or composition or performance that rang your bell? I'd love to hear what inspires other cinematographers. Maybe we could arbitrarily list ten (10) to keep us from staying up half the night listing hundreds of them. Not manditory.

 

Don't answer right away. Think about it. This is a valuable survey for all.

[Jonathan Spear]

Hey Leon,

 

One of my favorite shots of all time has got to be the last scene in Men in Black #1, where the camera zooms out from planet earth, then out of the milky way and then out of the universe...until finally all of our inifinte universe fits neatly into a small marble. Just a little reminder that size (usually) doesn't matter.

[David Mullen ASC]

Here are some of mine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm surprised how many are effects shots...

 

I'd also add the crane shot in "Gone With the Wind" that pulls back to the Confederate flag over the train yard of wounded soldiers, King Kong on the Empire State Building, the Death Star exploding, the train going down the collapsing bridge in both "The General" and "Bridge On the River Kwai", Kane's lips saying "Rosebud", the girl's legs dangling in the water in "Jaws"...

 

I've sort of left out foreign language films and anything made after 1980 for now... these are just what comes to mind. I figure the images have to be pretty iconographic.

[DavidSloan]

 

 

[Mike Panczenko]

This is not one of the greatest shots ever, but I think it is wonderful and vastly underrated, and personally, it is one of my favorites. In Dazed and Confused, when Matthew McConaughey's character walks into the pool hall with the others flanking him, with the overcranked camera and Hurricane playing in the background. Everthing in that shot works for me- I love it.

[Max Jacoby]

David M.

 

I recognize all the shots, except the last one. Where is it from?

 

David S.

 

Same here, all the shots but the last one.

[David Mullen ASC]

I recognize all the shots, except the last one. Where is it from?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You've never seen "Close Encounters"?

 

My two "big screen" moments in the a theater as a teenager when I was in total awe was the flyover of the star destroyer at the beginning of "Star Wars" and the arrival of the Mothership in "Close Encounters" -- definitely something that will not have the same impact on a TV set...

 

In "Lawrence of Arabia" the tracking shot of the battle of Akaba that ends at the guns pointed uselessly at the sea is a one of the great designed shots in epic films.

 

There are many images from foreign films to include, the ones from "The Sacrifice" but many others, like the stairway at the end of "8 1/2" or Kim Hunter leaving on the stairway to heaven in "A Matter of Life and Death" (OK, that's an English film)...

 

So many great images in Kurosawa films but one tends to remember them as a sequence like the battle in the rain at the end of "Seven Samurai".

[Ignacio Aguilar]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2005 by Ignacio Aguilar

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

This is a tough one Leon. I just decided to post some from one of my favorite films of all time "Fiddler on the Roof", but I can think of many, many more.

 

This is probably the icon shot of the movie:

 

 

I love this shot in every way:

 

 

This one is classic and reminds of a Van Gogh painting:

 

 

They did a great job depicting autumn and winter. In this first shot in Autumn you can just see the weave stocking Morris had on the lens.

 

 

A winter shot:

 

 

The wedding scene is is flooded with a beautiful soft warm light, with delicate back lights:

 

 

 

 

 

[Chris Keth]

The one that I usually think of above all others is the opening shot of Apocalypse Now. I just love the overcranked shot where the yellow smoke is swirling around and on cue to the soundtrack at "This is the end..." the napalm hits the trees.

[Felipe Perez-Burchard]

not necerarily the greatest, but some that I have already pulled into my computer for reference on projects i've done that have influenced me (but there as so many more its embarassing not to mention them).

 

-felipe.

[Brad Grimmett]

Here are some of mine:

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

David,

What's this shot from? I love it, but I don't think I've ever seen it before.

Thanks.

[DavidSloan]

@audiris...all those shots are from Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice. I think Tarkovsky films have bar none impacted me the most. I tried looking for images from Stalker but couldn't find much.

 

I just wrapped a short film last weekend that I wrote/directed that is heavily influenced by Stalker....we shot on S16 in a most wonderful and desolate location. The only thing though is that I'm now in MAJOR DEBT!!! :o Desperately need post money! lol

 

BTW, I posted a pic of my self on my avatar can anyone see it, cause I can't?

[DavidSloan]

David,

What's this shot from?  I love it, but I don't think I've ever seen it before.

Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

@Grimmet: are you serious?

[Brad Grimmett]

I'll mention a few that are more recent. My favorties are based more on camera movement than anything else.

Goodfellas--The steadicam shot of Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco on their first date when they go in the back door and through the kitchen of the restaurant.

 

Gerry--Some great creeping camera movement in this film. There's on very long crane/dolly shot at the end of the film that is great.

 

Elephant--Another Gus Van Sant/Harris Savides film. There is some amazing steadicam in this film. Nothing too technical, but extremely solid and beautiful. Lots of inside to outside and vice versa. One particular shot looks as though it's a lock-off and stays still for what may be a minute or two before following a character down a sidewalk and into the school. I still can't figure out how the operator kept that frame so still for so long before the move began.

 

Kill Bill Volume I--I disliked the movie, but the camera movement is great. There is an incredibly tough steadicam shot in which Larry McConkey steps on and off two different cranes (one is a ceiling rigged crane "system") in the same shot, following Uma Thurman in and out of the bathroom and up and down stairs. Really amazing.

 

The Birdcage--The opening shot. There is a step off from a crane that is on a boat onto the ground and travels down the street and into a club.

 

Boogie Nights--Another opening shot. Starts on the sign outside club, moves around outside before going in the club and introducing us to all the characters in the film. Great shot.

 

Snake Eyes--The opening shot again. It was "suppossedly" a ten minute "one'r", but it wasn't. It's still a great shot though.

[Brad Grimmett]

@Grimmet: are you serious?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You know, instead of trying to belittle me because I'm unfamiliar with something you could just tell me what it's from. But you take the time to post just to make fun of me? That's really nice of you. Thanks a lot. <_<

[David Mullen ASC]

It's from "2001", the hominid Moonwatcher's POV looking up at the monolith.

[DavidSloan]

You know, instead of trying to belittle me because I'm unfamiliar with something you could just tell me what it's from.  But you take the time to post just to make fun of me?  That's really nice of you.  Thanks a lot. <_<

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

TAKE IT EASY! I wasn't trying to belittle you..I was honestly not sure if you were joking or not; considering how famous that image is. My bad!

[Brad Grimmett]

Sorry, I guess I took your comments the wrong way.

Hmm, I've seen 2001 a few times but don't remember that shot. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I think my old age is getting to me. Memories are fading fast. :blink: I guess it's time to watch it again. It's been a while.

[Guest Alex Taylor]

Excellent idea for a thread! Here's my contribution, from Godard's Contempt:

 

 

 

 

 

One of the many long takes in Godard's film, this conversation tracks back and forth from Paul to Camille. In between them is a lamp that Paul keeps flicking on and off. The camera slides at seemingly random moments, creating an interesting feeling of discomfort.

 

 

I just love the colours in this film, especially towards the end at the villa. There are so many strong compositions with vibrant, mediterranean tones.

[Lise Camp]

My favourites are mostly recent. There are a million other shots that I love! I think that along with camera movement, composition, etc the soundtrack really motivates me! When a beautiful image is accompanied with wonderful music it just gives me emotional bumps! :lol: I also like the final shot of Life As a House. It's brilliant!

 

Lise :blink:

[Sam Wells]

Also from Tarkovsky, but from "My Name Is Ivan" - the shot of the horsecart being upset and apples falling on the ground - I don't quite know why this shot gets to me like it does; it's not a complex shot, just has that amazing "something" about it.

 

A few others, the first from another Tarkovsky film - the nude women crossing the river on St. John's Eve in "Andrei Rublev"

 

The slow transition from B&W to color at the end of "Good Men, Good Women" (Hou Hsiao-hsien w/ Li Ping-bin as DP) when the 'film within the film' simply becomes the film we are watching.

 

The astonishing shot through the eye socket of the candied skull with light glinting off the ferris wheel in the background from "Que Viva Mexico"

 

From "experimental" cinema, the shot of the power station looming across the straight from Victoria BC, in Brakhage's "The God of Day.." and, the 'famous' floating plastic bag in Nathaniel Dorsky's "Variations" (as imitated on DV in "American Beauty" and doesn't even come close..)

 

The final (?) shot of Dreyer's "Gertrud" where he actress playing Gertrud moves through Henning Bendtsen's lighting, looking in succession like Falconetti in "Jeanne D'Arc" and then Lisbeth Movin in "Day of Wrath", then Gertrud herself, as if she embodied in some ghostly way Dreyer's prevoius heroines...

 

There's a handheld shot by Agnes Godard near the end of "Beau Travail" of a train recceding into the African landscape that I was pretty jealous of when I saw lately !

 

...then we could talk about "The Lady From Shanghai" or "The Conformist" but instead of writing a book here [!!] , I'll leave it with the maybe not quite so well known examples above..

 

-Sam

[Andy O'Neil]

These (8) were all I could fit.

 

Edited January 31, 2005 by Andy O'Neil

[Andy O'Neil]

It's hard to believe that this topic was started over a year ago. I enjoyed revisiting it. The screenshots I chose, I loved because of their context within the story, how they made me feel, not necessarily because of their technical qualities. The "Black Hawk Down" image is not as telling as I had remembered a year ago. I was hoping that more of you could submit your favorite shots.

Edited January 28, 2006 by Andy O'Neil

[Brant Collins]

This is a great topic I will have to re visit some of my favorite films. Instead of shots how about scenes. It is hard to pick individual shots. For example...now don't anyone laugh, but I love the movie "Predator" in the begining of the movie there is a scene when they are in the helicopter listing to Little Richard, as they pan to each charactar you really get a sense of who everyone is, no drawn out explination or backstory, just a quick look at who these people are. Very good econemy of story telling.