American+History+X


 * In the movie American History X directed by Tony Kaye, camera shots, angles, distance, movement were all skillfully implanted to help make the points Kaye wanted to make.**

When Danny tells Derek that there is a black male outside their house stealing their car, Derek reaches for his pistol and storms down the stairs. The camera was at a worm's eye view as it moved along with Derek when he went down the stairs. The reason for this shot was to establish Derek as a overpowering figure as the worm's eye view and the pistol in Derek's right hand makes the audience feel Derek's power, intimidation even.
 * Choice 1**

After Derek shoots at the car that gets away, he walks back towards the injured black man and Danny. Derek starts off from a medium shot as he turns back however he walks back in slow motion into a close up without the camera changing once. I think this was meant to show Derek's power. The reason being is that he is walking back to the injured black man in slow motion as he is about to cruelly end his life. The entire shot with him walking back has some sort of angelic music being played, it made Derek look like a walking god.
 * Choice 2**

In Danny's school when the three black teenagers bullies the white boy, a worm's eye view is used on the three black teenagers when the white boy is on the ground to show the three black teenager's dominance and power over the white boy. This was very effectively used as during the worm eye shots, the black teenagers take up most of the shot making the audience, once again, feel powerless towards these three big black males that take up the entire screen at a downward angle.
 * Choice 3**

When Derek argues against his mom's new boyfriend about race issues, the camera shots start of with medium to close shots however as the conversation intensifies, the camera shots start to become close ups only of both Derek and his mom's boyfriend. The reason for this is to show the audience that the conversation is intensifying and it feels as if it will "break" soon. The camera keeps going in closer and closer until its going to be impossible to go any closer, that's when it breaks out of that constant zoom as Derek flips sh**t and stands up.**
 * Choice 4**

After the fight with Derek and his mom's boyfriend, Derek's mom goes out and apologizes to her boyfriend. As her boyfriend leaves, she slowly walks back to the house. The camera shot used here was a wide shot of her walking back to the house. Notice that the house dominates a big portion of the background. This gave of a feeling/vibe that she was walking into something terrible, something like hell. In other words, she was going back to the house which could represent hell where Derek (Satan) was at. Those are just my metaphors though.
 * Choice 5**

When Derek talks to Cameron, Cameron is sitting down while Derek is standing up. Though Cameron is technically supposed to be the powerful one, the shots used in this scene made Derek look more powerful than Cameron as he had more height and the worm's eye and bird's eye views portrayed that very well. When Cameron gets up after Derek says he will quit, Derek hits Cameron back down on the floor, definitely showing who is more powerful in the room.
 * Choice 6**

During the flashback of Derek's prison time, he leaves the white supremacist group and he sits on his own during lunch. The shot used when he sits alone is a wide shot and it was used to show his loneliness as there was no one around him. If it had been a close up of his face as he sat alone, that would have showed expression but it would not show the loneliness and isolation around like a wide shot would.
 * Choice 7**

In the last scene where Derek is crying and hugging Danny's dead body, a medium shot is used. The reason being is that the medium shot used here showed the blood all over the background (close up would not) and it also showed Derek's feelings expressed through his acting (wide shot would not).
 * Choice 8**