Blog # 3

     For this post, I had to focus on a scene from a film, and so I decided to focus on a favorite of mine, the binary sunset scene from Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). The scene opens with a wide shot, where you see the sunset on the horizon, and then see the protagonist, Luke, come out of his home. We only see his back, as he walks ahead towards the horizon. This shot stays put throughout this action, as a form of establishing the surroundings. Then it cuts to a medium shot of Luke, who has come to a halt and is looking ahead. The camera seems to be in a bit of a low angle, and once again stays fixed in place.

   Then it cuts to a close-up but can very much be an extreme close-up, since the shot frames the two suns in the sky very tightly. Clearly, it is a point of view shot as well, as the camera lingers on the sunset. This POV shot is telling the audience what Luke is focusing on, as it switches back to a medium shot of Luke, still staring at the suns. However, this time there is more of a reaction and emotion being stirred in the character’s physicality, all captured on the fixed medium shot. Each shot lingers for some time since the music in the background is also a form of character in this scene as well. The scene ends in that fixed medium shot as Luke looks down and walks out of frame.


While this scene was very simple and emotional, the editing did follow the 180 rule, since during the medium shots the camera leaned on Luke’s right and the wide shots were centered. Also, the editing focused on continuity and highlighting the composition of the scene. The lighting of the sunset and paired with the music gave the scene plenty of emotion. 

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