“The Tree of Life”, directed by Terrence Malick, is a beautiful and emotional film filled with wonderfully captured moments of human existence and thrilling imageries of nature, architecture, and outer space. The cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, does justice to Malick’s vision and style using his special cinematic techniques. One of my favorite scenes in this picture is the part where Mrs. O’Brien walks towards the sunrise (Movies In 5 Minutes, 2016, 00:02:35-00:02:43). “The Tree of Life” is overflowing with amazing camerawork that is worth mentioning but this particular scene is especially fascinating.
- The aspect ratio of the shot is 1.85:1, which is commonly used in cinema and photography, and it remains the same throughout the whole movie.
- The camera distance changes during the scene as its initial position is approximately 30 to 60 feet away from the actress, and, gradually, it moves closer to her and stops within 15 feet. The shadow from the woman’s figure adds to the sense of distance.
- The part is filmed at ground level, which divides the image into two halves — the upper half is the actress, the mountains, and the sky, and the lower half is the land.
- It seems that Lubezki used a wide-angle camera for this scene because the edges of the shot look slightly stretched compared to the center’s sharp and realistic features. Such an angle creates a sense of vast space and depicts how small the character is in contrast to her surroundings.
- It is quite difficult to distinguish the foreground and the background in this case since the scene feels far away from the viewer’s position. Except for the actress, the rest of the picture is somewhat blurry, which takes away from the depth of the shot. However, the depth is achieved through other aspects, such as the camera’s angle, distance, soundtrack, and the mood of the film.
- The camera movement is not swift, however, it reaches toward the woman rather dynamically. The present feeling of chasing or following after the character is what I like the most about this shot.
I loved how involved I felt when I watched this part of “The Tree of Life” and how tangibly this movie is filmed. Lubezki has worked with Malick on other projects, including “The New World” and “To the Wonder”, where he demonstrated his signature cinematic brilliance as well. It seems that Malick and Lubezki share a passion for landscapes, wide-angle shots, and rich color palettes.
Reference
Movies In 5 Minutes. (2016). A Tribute to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life [Video]. YouTube. Web.