Inception 

//Inception// Director: Christopher Nolan 1. Wide shot - The director uses the wide shot for a variety of purposes. First off, the director uses it as an action shot and allows the audience to clearly see the action that is going on in the shot. This is important because it emphasizes the importance of what is occurring in this scene and foreshadows that this will be important in the film later on. Also, although the characters are shown from behind in this particular frame, the shot also shows the reactions of the two characters, Cobb and Ariadne. They are looking up at the folding buildings in what the audience can presume to be a mix of awe and slight fear.

2. Medium/Close-up & OTS Shot - The scene actually opens with a shot of the Cobb and Ariadne sitting outside a cfaé. As they discuss the idea of creating dreams, the director uses a medium-close up shot in order to show the audience their expressions and some of the background details. As they talk, the director switches OTS shots in order to allow the audience to feel more intimate with the conversation. The audience are allowed to feel like they are part of the conversation as they see the characters from the other character's point of view.

3. Eye Level - This particular shot is at eye level. The director probably uses eye level in order to allow the audience to experience the emotions that the characters are experiencing as they stare at the word changing in front of them. It makes the scene seem extremely realistic, which is a feat considering that this scene would be very unbelievable if not filmed properly.

4. Costume - Cobb and Ariadne are both wearing stereotypical middle-class clothes. This makes it so that they blend in with everyone else in the scene and seem like normal people. If we were to just look at their clothes, we would not be able to identify that they were special amongst others. However, it is the aim of the characters to assimilate amongst society and not allow themselves to stand out.

5. Directing Actors - The director directed the actors in such a way that the actors, who were filming a pretty difficult scene, seemed believable. The acting in this scene was particularly interesting, especially since Leonardo DiCaprio was acting as Cobb, who was acting as though the world that he and Ariadne was real (in order to test Ariadne). So in a sense, the actor was double-acting. The emotions expressed by Ariadne were also very realistic as well. Ariadne started off the scene calmly and casually discussing being an architect with Cobb, but then morphed into a much more dramatic character after realizing that she was in a dream.

6. Close ups - The director uses close-ups to emphasize certain things to the audience. For example, the director uses a close-up of Ariadne's face when she realizes that the world around her is changing and that she is in a dream. The audience is able to clearly see her expression and realize why she is reacting the way she is. The director also chooses to have a close-up on a coffee cup as it rattles. This helps to build suspense as the audience wonders why the cup is rattling, and why the girl is reacting the way she is.

7. Rule of Thirds - In this frame, we can see that the director somewhat used the Rule of Thirds. Instead of directly positioning the camera behind Ariadne and Cobb, the director films behind them so that Cobb is in the corner and Ariadne is slightly off-center. The tops of the buildings are curving in at the top right and top left corners of the frame. The whole scene is somewhat off-balance, which gives the audience an unsettled feeling.

8. Setting - The director chooses to use a typical, busy American city. The city seems like any common city that anyone would see, which makes it more relatable to the audience. It makes the audience feel that the scene could occur anywhere at anytime, and makes the scene seem more realistic.

 Everything about this technically works for the assignment... but did you actually watch this film? Or just look at this picture?