Good Will Hunting
A studious young man, an open book these two
images swirl around the screen in a
kaleidoscope effect, this was the
introductory scene of "Good Will
Hunting." This scene is followed by Ben
Afflick, knocking on Will's door,
when Will comes out a credit rolls by that
says, "screenplay written by Ben
Afflick and Matt Damon," just as the two
walk side by side. This shows how
perfectly the makers of this movie have
everything timed, down to the credits.
Also, the timing shows when the
professor's assistant and Will are alone and the
assistant tells Will how
lucky he is to have someone believe in him as the
professor does. Just as he
finishes saying this the professor walks in and
suddenly the assistant has
something better to do than just sit there so he gets
up and leaves. The
cinematography in this movie is good, as right of way the
viewer of this
movie knows Will lives in one of the poorer sections of Boston,
as his front
yard is cluttered with junk and the look of the neighborhood
surrounding his
house is anything but colorful. The neighborhood looks gray and
drab. Also,
one of the many settings is a local bar which has the look of a
neighborhood
bar with Christmas type lights strung and normal looking people
filling the
place. Another setting is a Harvard classroom and a community
college
classroom. In the Harvard classroom the students appear to be
attentive,
clean cut, well dressed, and enthusiastic, while the students in
the community
classroom are barely awake, dressed grubby, and aren't grasping
what the
professor is saying. The camera angles in this movie are as
effective as the set
appearance. When Will is trying to solve a formula he
writes his work on his
mirror with a dry erase marker. The camera blurs out
will and focuses on the
formula and also does the opposite. While writing the
formula out, the shots
fade to the same shot but at a different angle
creating a feeling that some time
is passing by. Also, to support this
feeling each time the formula is showed
there is more added to it than one
can write in the brief moment that it took to
come back to it with the
camera. Additionally, the benefit of having the scene
of him writing on the
mirror lets the viewer see him concentrating on the
formula and lets the
viewer see the formula being written out which shows the
viewer how
intelligent Will must be, since the formula probably made little
sense to him
or her. Another effect was a fight scene captured in slow motion.
After
the fight scene the cops showed up and many flashes of the scene
from
different camera angles appeared creating a feeling of confusion and
made it
seem speeded up without it being filmed in fast motion. During this
movie many
close ups were filmed where the eyes were the only bit of color on
the screen.
When Will starts talking to prove a point, which is several
times through out
the movie, the camera zooms in on him concentrating on his
eyes. However, while
Will and his friends were in the car the camera
looks at each one individually
from a distance while mellow music is playing
while it is getting deeper into
the evening. This creates a feeling of a long
day coming to an end with Will and
his friends being exhausted. Robin
Williams tells Will a story about a World
Series game and as he tells it
Will gets very into it and adds his recollection
of the game. They start
talking fast the more in depth they get into the game.
As they recall the
game, parts of the game flash on the screen as they seem to
be commentating
it at this point. One scene is of Will looking at a painting in
Robin
Williams's office. It's of a rowboat in the sea during a storm. The
painting
is mostly gray due to it being primarily of the storm but even that
has
several streaks of color in it. In the center of the painting is a small
boat
being rowed by a man with his back turned, the man sticks out of the
painting
being the most colorful. As Will was trying to analyze the painting
verse Robin
Williams the camera angle is from the painting's point of
view with Will right
there but to the left and Williams behind him to the
right. More attention is
paid to Williams as the camera focuses on him and as
Will talks he is cut out of
the picture. Williams gets flustered and snaps at
Will. Will struck a nerve and
his face illuminates from a light source that
is coming from the direction of
the painting. "Good Will Hunting" also had
good sound effects. One
effect is when Will and his friends walk through
their neighborhood in the
background there are sirens. Another was while the
professor and Williams are in
a stuffy upper-class restaurant. The background
noise in this scene is a piano
being played. Additionally, during one of
Will's counseling sessions with
Williams, Will is reluctant to speak so
they sit in silence while shots of the
clock appear with shots of Will
twiddling his thumbs and Robin sitting there
staring at the clock as the only
audible noise is the ticking of the clock.
Furthermore, Will and Skyla
get into an argument as Will is yelling he pounds
his fist on the wall. This
emphasizes what he says. "Good Will
Hunting" is a good movie that was
well directed. It is more of a dramatic
film than any other kind, although
humor and action can be found in it. The
camera angles, cinematography, and
music and sound effects make this movie worth
seeing as it adds to the
quality of it.