Apocalypse Now anylitical

Apocalypse Now is an intensely visual film. The shots were filmed with many different things in mind such as lighting, color and framing. With those basic cinematographic concepts, the filmmakers created a great cinematic experience.

The film has a wide variety of shots ranging from extreme close-ups to broad crane shots. The long shots, like the helicopter attack, were stunning. The point o view went from seeing the helicopters flying across the sky to views from the helicopters looking down at the fighting. Together, the scene really makes you feel like your experiencing the fight first hand.

I also noticed that different sections of the film were dominated by different colors. The beginning o the film had an unsaturated green and yellow ting to it which I felt invoked an uncomfortable feeling. Some scenes, like ones in the forest had strong blue colors to them. The overall mood of the film changed as the colors did.

Coupled with the colors was the lighting, especially in the second half of the film. When the main characters arrive at the last army outpost the lighting is so dark that it is hard to see. This actually works very well for that scene because it makes look as horrible as it is supposed to feel. Also, the initial lack of lighting on Colonel Kurtz helps to extend the tension already built up on his character.

Apocalypse Now is a perfect study in good cinematography showing how all the elements make or break a good shot.