The clip I chose is from Rounders.

Camera Work

When watching the scene without audio, the crafty camera work was much more noticeable. The scene begins with the camera setting a 180 degree view of the table. To get a full grasp of what is going on at the table the camera continues to pan slowly from a variety of angle, however after the first 40 seconds or so when all angles have been accounted for the camera settles in. At this point, the camera switches views back and forth from opposing sides of the table, depending on who is speaking. The camera frequently cuts, with 20 cuts alone in the first minute of the scene.

Audio

Listening to this scene without the audio make me appreciate the use of foley sounds in a film. Even if I had not seen this scene previously, the sounds alone would’ve let me know it was a poker game of older men. The sounds of poker chips hitting the table constantly, the sound of cards shuffling, and the cluster of unrecognizable conversations with the occasional recognizable poker word like “call” or “check”. The door knocking signifies there is a new person entering the room, and the clearness of Matt Damn’s voice clarifies that these are his thoughts speaking, contrasting the more distant sounding conversations at the table. The scene cuts with the classic Rounders piano effect.

All together

Watching the complete scene with both audio and visual is like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after just having a peanut butter sandwich and a jelly sandwich separately. The foley poker chip and card shuffling sounds work brilliantly with the camera angles from level with the poker table. I think the activity of watching/listening to the clip in three separate ways definitely gaver me a deeper appreciation for this particular scene. The amount of camera cuts in the first minute, for example, is something I would have never picked up on when watching the film on its own, however upon further dissection things like that don’t go unnoticed. The camera panning in the beginning of the scene is always moving to the right, which as Ebert’s column cites as being more positive. Also worth noting is the placement of Matt Damn’s character standing over the others, because the “top is dominant over the bottom”, which certainly applies to this scene.