Film Analysis

Clip F
The first thing that I noticed with the clip is that it is one long take.  There are no cuts, building suspense as to what all of the people are looking at as the camera is following them throughout the house.  In the final picture of the scene, the director did a great job of using the foreground, middle ground, and background, also known as deep space, when something is in each part of the screen.  In the background is the inflamed house, the middle ground is the one man, and the foreground is the child and other man.  This creates the feeling that everything going on in the picture is important.  Also, this shows the distance between the people and the burning house, representing how they have no control over the situation.  Also, when the two boys are in the doorway, there is soft light.  The light is coming through the door, but it is very diffused either because of the smoke from the burning house or because of the screen on the door.  Because the light is diffused, it is not the same intensity throughout the shot, putting emphasis on the two boys who are closest to the light.  Also, it seems odd that through the door it seems like day and in the backyard the lighting is so dim, reflecting the rain, making it seem like night, emphasizing the brightness of the fire.  Also, all of the sound in this clip is diegetic, all of the sound came from objects or people in the scene.  The bottle falling to the floor, the rain hitting the house, and the flames devouring the house all make the scene seem more realistic.  The absence of nondiegetic sound forces the viewer to realize that the events unfolding in the scene are raw, the burning of the house doesn't need any enhancement because it is already a powerful sound and sight.  Also, the scene seems to have been shot using a Steadicam.  This seems to be the case because the shot follows the characters smoothly, but in many directions and in one take, so the only way to achieve the effect is with a Steadicam.  The use of the Steadicam gives the director freedom in getting every and all aspects of the house and the kids running around because of the commotion from outside, the burning house.
Clip A
This clip reminds of when we watched the scene from Lord of the Rings when the characters are sitting around the ring in a circle, conversing about what to do with it.  In this clip from Ocean's 11, the people are sitting at a circular table, playing poker.  The director breaks the 180 degree rule.  The characters are constantly being shown in a different spot on the screen, relative to the other people in the shot.  This creates the feeling that the people don't know what is going on, which is true since most of the people playing poker are learning and have no idea how to successfully play poker.  Also, there is a lot of low key lighting, creating shadows.  The lighting is also hard light, coming straight from the light above the table. This creates a lot of contrast, giving the scene a very tough look, which relates to the future robbery of the main characters.  Basically all of the shots are medium shots, except for the close ups on the cards and the long shot when the guy wins the card game.  When George Clooney comes into the game, the background seems to have gotten a lot darker, bringing more emphasis to the players.  Also, there seems to be very little background noise, bringing to attention the tension between Brad Pitt and George Clooney.  There is very little camera movement, the whole scene is basically shot to shot with cuts in between.
Clip D
This clip, besides the cut from the clouds to the present, was one long take.  Because it was one long take it gave the feeling that there was a lot going on in the building and that the main characters had a lot going on.  Also, this scene was shot using a Steadicam.  You can tell because it was a smooth shot and there was a lot of movement with no cuts, so the only way to capture that scene was with a Steadicam.  Throughout the shot, a straight-on-angle was used.  This gave the scene more of a the feeling that the audience was actually following the people through the halls.  The nondiegetic sound, the music, is in rhythm with the visual creating coordination.  The people seem to be moving at a quick pace and the music is very light and smooth emphasizing how efficiently the people are moving throughout the building.  The setting gives the idea that there is a lot going on.  For example, all of the halls are extremely long and their length is continuously shown, so this gives the audience the idea that this company is very busy and has a lot to do.  Also, there seems to be a realistic feel to this office building.
Clip E
It was very interesting in this clip how the nondiegetic sound turned into diegetic and then back again when the man was reminiscing about when he wrote and directed music.  The overlap allowed the audience to hear what was coming before it actually happened.  The lighting in the office is soft light.  The light seems to be diffused as it comes through the window, not really emphasizing any details of the characters or setting.  Also, there was one shot with deep focus when the camera does a middle shot on the director in the foreground, with the woman singer in the middle ground, and the other person on the stairs in the background.  Only the foreground is in focus, showing that although the other two people in the shot are important, the director of the music is what brought them together and created the sound.  Also, a zoom lens is used for the pull back when the woman is walking down the stairs and the director (the old man in the office) is being revealed.  This slow pull back brings suspense as to what is going to be shown.  Also, there is the use of temporal relations when the man has the flashback to the earlier time when he wrote and directed his own music, giving the audience a look into his past, but in a short concise amount of time.  The costumes also help to define what time in the character's life is being shown.