The best way to show the vastness of the Great Land (Alaska) is through panning with a wide angle lens. When Chris first arrived in Alaska there were alot of wide birds eye views of the moutain filled Talkeetna Range. This really helps give the viewer a sense of space and the size of the surrounding area. There were also many rack focus shots. The one that really stands out to me is when the shot starts out with a black and yellow caterpillar and Chris out of focus in the rear and then it switches to focus on Chris. That really emphasized the smallness of a human in the large natural landscape. One thing this movie seemed to repeat was the use of zooms. The seemed to always focus on a large natural scenic background and the then zoom in on the character fairly quickly or start on the character and zoom out to capture the background. The dutch angle technique was used a few times in this film. Once to emphasize his dizziness after getting beat up with a billy club for illegally riding on freight trains. Another time to show the disorienting and nauseating effects of a poisonious berry Chris ingested. There multiple low angle and tilt shots of Chris from the ground up, during the times when he is exploring the "real" Alaska outside of his "Magic Bus". I like that some of the low angle shots are stationary and almost buried in the snow, so as Chris is walking around it's very "matter-of-factly" as if nature was observing him. As Chris hitchhiked in the lower 48, many scenes tracked him as he walked when he was near highways and roads. There was a really cool point of view scene at the end when Chris was going to die and he stared up at the clouds in the sky. I started to feel if I was laying down myself and staring into the sky. Another prominent scene I remember is when Chris was kayaking down the river, it was filmed partly by handheld camera infused with dutch angles and rapid transition through both (I think they are "jump cuts") which added to the chaotic waters and Chris being all knocked around. This film was perfect to learn about camera angles and cinematography!
Kerstin D.
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Fantastic journal, Kerstin! I love how you point out the names of the Alaskan landmarks, as I feel the film at times generalizes Alaska, don't you? We never get names of regions, even the name of that river would have been enough, eh? You do a great job here of noticing details and analyzing the camera work. Your interpretations are spot on and his is very well written. Thanks!
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