The Effects of a Push in VS. Pull out

[Jacob Mitchell]

Hey everyone!

 

Wanted to open up a discussion of the subliminal effects on an audience/contrasted moods that are conveyed in a push in versus a pull out. I've been thinking a lot about them lately, and of course there's the typical application of these shots opening/ending scenes in a very traditional matter.

 

What does everyone think about these shots from a mood building and emotional point of view?

[Max Field]

Push-in: subtle intimacy, tension rising, importance

Pull-out: uncertainty, exposition, deflating severity of in-universe action

[David Mullen ASC]

Also, pushing in from a group shot to a single close-up isolates the individual from the crowd, and pulling away does the opposite, folds the individual into the crowd. Spielberg, who is known for his push-ins, does a serious of pull-outs at the end of "Close Encounters", from a single face to a group of faces, to suggest a shared emotional experience taking place.

 

Pulling away from an individual to show empty space around them creates a feeling of isolation and loneliness, abandonment or rejection.

 

In the early part of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", there is a push-in on Indiana Jones as he contemplates how to remove the gold idol from its stone base, and then a pull-out as he decides what to do and does it, which is sort of a red herring, a false relaxation of tension because a moment later everything is going to go wrong.