Ep 207: “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”

The Pestle: In-depth Movie Talk, No Fluff | Film Review | Spoilers

We kneel before Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and discuss:

• Cinematography, a grand reveal;
• Story & writing, new depth to an old character;
• and other such stuff and things and stuff.

“No Hard Drugs and No Superhero Movies.“ – Leonardo DiCaprio

Notes & References:
Harrison Ford Reddit AMA
Douglas Slocombe escaped the Nazi invasion of Poland (BB)
Wilhelm Scream (Wiki) and Sound Effect (YouTube)
Elle Fanning House season 2, episode 11 “Need to Know” (iMDB)
Chappelle Show: Tyrone Biggums on “Fear Factor” (YouTube)
Practical effects including plane tunnel miniature set

Watch us on YouTube!

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Cinematography Analysis:

I totally forgot to discuss the cinematography! So this is my substitute for it. The scene I’m looking at is when they arrive at the Holy Grail’s entrance (Petra, Jordan).

I like how we catch a glimpse of the facade and then cut to their reaction to what they’re seeing before moving into a POV angle of the Temple, it’s this low angle that really makes it tower over us, then we cut back to their reaction again to see the reverence really kick in and the horses even seem to get a little spooked before we finally cut to this big wide shot that gives us a strong sense of scale. I think this works so much better than the inverse of showing us a wide shot then cutting to reactions and perspective, because it builds from the ground up and feels huge and magical through creating a strong perspective from the characters.

Start with a glimpse…

Small reaction shot

Cut to POV of the temple towering over us, from down here it feels huge, overwhelming

New reaction shot, a little more contrast with the first shot, a little more awe on his face

Finally we see the wide shot, creating a greater sense of scale after experiencing it through the characters’ perspective

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This Week’s Recommendations:

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