Shot from Rushmore – “The Balance between Comedy and Drama”
Wes Anderson’s Rushmore is a fickle comedy, constantly hovering over the line between drama and its principle genre. In the shot, beginning at 00:17:56 and ending at 00:18:04, this feeling has been achieved masterfully, creating a sense of ironic humour despite the obviousness of a depressing overtone created by Bill Murray’s Harold Blume. The shot consists of Blume being interrupted by a small boy, who is stealing a piece of Blume’s twin sons’ birthday cake, during his attempt at solitude. Blume’s response to the child, throwing a golf ball at him, and then his return to the somber reflection he had previously been engaged in, continues Rushmore’s mix of humour and sorrow. The use of the dominate, the set, framing, lighting, angle, camera lens choice, contrast, depth of field, density, camera proxemics, character proxemics, and the soundtrack all factor in greatly in the mood and the overtones of the scene, and the theme of the film in general.
The dominate aspect of the frame is Harold Blume, who is taking up the majority of the right hand side of the frame. We are automatically drawn to him, because the editing of the film has already placed several shots of Blume, looking at his wife feeding another man a piece of cake and his subsequent ignorance of that fact, in front of this shot. We automatically expect him to do something about this, so we are drawn to what his next action will be. That action turns out to be returning to throw golf balls into the swimming pool, and continuing to delve into his depression. Blume sticks out sorely in the frame, since the middle of it is occupied by children opening birthday presents, something that most would expect to be happening in a birthday party atmosphere. He is sitting at a table by himself, smoking cigarettes and drinking booze, something most parents wouldn’t be doing at a birthday party with children present. Right to the left of Blume is his wife, and the man that she had been feeding cake to, in the background. This fact keeps the hinted adultery in front of Blume despite his hardest attempts at ignoring it. The left hand side of the frame is dominated by a child, who walks in the frame and interrupts Blume’s isolation by taking a piece of cake from his table, evoking a response of Blume flinging one of his golf balls in his direction. Blume’s throwing of the golf balls also adds to his domination of the frame, since we are concentrating on where the movement is coming from. The movement, which is his arm pushing push towards the left hand side of the frame, is another attempt to distract himself and to push away what is happening in the left hand side of the frame.
The set for the shot is Blume’s backyard, which contains the pool that the majority of the scene revolves around. Blume is sitting at a table by himself, and there is a pool between him and the rest of the party goers. Behind the pool and to the left of Blume, is his wife with the unknown male, who are sitting at a table together. To the left of them is another table, occupied by Blume’s twin sons and a large group of children clamoring around the table to see their presents. The pool takes up the majority of the frame, approximately 40% of the backyard set is water, and it creates a sense of a smooth space. With a smooth space we never know what to expect, since smooth spaces are less predictable in nature then striated ones; this adds to the unpredictable aspect of Blume’s reaction to his environment. There are also several unoccupied chairs, one near Blume and several in the back of the set in relation to Blume’s head, creating a sense of missing pieces and magnifying the sense of loneliness in Blume’s life. Blume’s table is extremely cluttered and messy, adding another smooth aspect to the shot, and in front of him is a glass full of whiskey. The whiskey is another example of Blume’s attempts to create a shield of ignorance for himself; a shield that will end up fueling his depression even farther when loses his family and friends due to his divorce, and an affair with Miss Cross. All of these subsidiary contrasts add to the depth of the framing and contain important information that reveals Blume’s family life and his personal problems.
The shot is framed using a 2.35:1 (scope) aspect ratio and is framed fairly tightly. All of the information presented in the frame is placed where the filmmaker wants it; you can tell it has been carefully composed and not just thrown together or stumbled upon. It is in closed form because everything important in the world, and in the film, is happening within the frame of the shot. The objects are placed closely together horizontally even though there is tons of information to be picked up throughout the whole frame. Vertically the shot stretches far into the depths of Blume’s yard, giving great scope into his personal surroundings. This gives the shot a huge depth of field, allowing for an increased feeling of distance between Blume and his family and their guests. The density in this shot is also important, since it accomplishes great distances between some characters and closeness between others. The only character that gets near Blume is the small boy stealing the cake, and everyone else within the frame is at a large distance from the two. There is quite a bit of background action that increases the density of the shot by giving us more movement to be drawn to inside the frame, and also presenting the idea that maybe Blume is missing something important on the other side of the pool. Blume is also placed at a third quarter turn from the audience, which creates a feeling that the audience should be looking at this shot the same way he is. The turn avoids creating a distance between the viewer and his character, instead putting us in Blume’s shoes. All of the other characters in the shot are facing the audience at a full or quarter turn, allowing the audience to face what Blume is facing, and look at the world through his eyes.
The lighting used for the shot is low contrast, with almost no shadows appearing in the frame. This lighting style adds even more to the depressing overtones in the shot, and helps solidify the style of the scene with its creation of a dampening mood. The camera is placed at Blume’s eye level, to bring the audience even closer to Blume’s world. This camera placement furthers the fact that the audience is meant to experience the shot from Blume’s perspective.
The shot uses a wide angle lens, since its focus remains constant throughout the frame. Use of a wide angle lens allows for a huge amount of detail to be presented in the shot, and Anderson accomplishes that goal excellently. The detail in the shot remains strong because of this lens, allowing for a sprawling look at Blume’s back yard. This choice of lens creates a sensation that the background could go on forever, and that its boundary helps contain all we should care about; that the frame itself is a self contained universe. The distance from the camera to the dominate object is minimal, furthering the intended closeness to Blume. The distance from the other characters to the camera is greater, reflecting the emotions of Blume’s lonliness to the audience. All of the other characters in the shot are at an intimate or personal proxemic distance to another person. Even Blume, whose goal is to remain alone, is within a personal proxemic distance to another character, the little boy. The closeness of all the characters, and Harold Blume’s forced involvement in the celebrations, adds another element to the reflection in the shot of Blume’s lack of control on his surroundings.
The soundtrack contains minimal sound effects, a lot less then most would expect from a shot of a birthday party. The only real sound effects used, other then music, are the sounds of Blume’s golf balls hitting the water. These sounds help bring the audiences attention back to the water, and highlights the distance between Blume and the rest of the characters. The main focus of the soundtrack in the shot is on the music being played, its use reflecting the depression and lonesomeness of Blume. The song being used is The Kinks’ “Nothing in This World Can Stop Me Worrying Bout That Girl,” which features a theme of adultery that is concurrent with the film. During the shot the lyrics being sung are “But I think all the time, is she true to me?” meaning the song is basically handing the feeling of the shot over to the audience. The lyrics are obviously referential to the film, and they help create an increased sense of distance between Blume and his wife. The song is an excellent addition to the sentiment of the shot, and it fits in perfectly.
The main reason that the shot is including within its scene and the film is because it completely reflects what Herman Blume considers to be the problems in his life. The problems being the distance from his family, and the fact that he can’t ever be alone are both represented in this shot. It completes it function by submerging the audience into Blume’s problems and his pain, allowing the viewer to empathize with Blume and to relate with his character.
The shot carries on the theme of the film, by continuing its shift between the genres of drama and comedy. Anderson’s use of a birthday party to explore the most depressing moments of a grown man’s life is as sad as it is ironically funny. The importance of the shot is paramount to the film, and elements of composition of a shot - from it’s dominate to its soundtrack - allow the filmmakers to prove their excellent grasp of the art of film.