Have you seen that weird "Nannerpuss" commercial before? You know, the one that announced the free breakfast at Denny's? Well, here's a mildly academic discussion of it via video ant. If it's hard to see, I apologize. I can redo it in a new format if this doesn't work out well.
This scene comes from what I would call the second turning point of Michael Mann’s “Heat”. Much of the affects come from camera angles and shots as there is not much dialog to speak of.
As the scene opens, we see Neil McCauley and his crew in a nice 3-shot as they go over a plan, presumably, for their next heist. One gets a bit frustrated watching this shot because we don’t yet know where the crew is. In a film that has been very up front about the characters’ activities, this doesn’t sit well with a viewer.
We get a bit of a hint in the next 3 shot, which includes shipping containers. McCauley begins pointing out escape routes to his fellow thieves but we as viewers don’t yet know what’s going on here until the quick medium shots of a prone photographing, and listening detective break into the scene. It is now clear that this scene is here to show us that the crew if thieves is being tracked. The first sequence of this scene ends with a 2-shot of the detectives leaving their hidden post and a shot of the crew leaving in their vehicles.
The turn of events begins in the next sequence when the entire team of detectives walks onto the scene, taking the same path that McCauley and his crew did in the previous sequence. This suggests a possible change in positions between these two teams in a game of cat and mouse. However, the detectives are presented here in a series of establishing shots. This is the first time we can see exactly what the thieves have been casing; a bunch of shipping containers, a scrap yard, and an oil refinery. During the dialog between the detectives, we get an enhanced feeling of frustration and confusion through a series of close up shots of each detective as they attempt to discern what the next heist is going to be.
The close up shots of Detective Hanna have a slight difference to them. He is the only character with sunglasses on, which suggest he knows something the others don’t. As the sequence progresses, we see more close up shots of Hanna than the other detectives, which leads us to believe that we will also know what he knows. The other characters in the scene continue to look confused and frustrated.
Suddenly, the mood of the sequence changes as we are presented with a series of slower establishing shots from Hanna’s point of view. It’s at this point that he suggests to his fellow detectives that he might know what the thieves were looking for. At this point, the shots seem to “digress” as we get establishing shots of the detectives paired with low angle shots of Hanna suggesting his superiority over the others.
When Hanna finally says that the thieves are looking at “Us, the LAPD,” the shots of the detectives are shown only from high angles. In one case, an over the shoulder shot from McCauley, who has found a high perch from which to photograph the detectives. The entire sequence ends with the detectives in a subservient position (high angles and wide shots) and McCauley in a dominant position (low angles, high over the shoulder shots, and a close up of his grinning face). All of these elements come together to show us that the thieves are now in control. The second turning point of the film has occurred.
With the exception of one brief line at the end of this scene, I think it could serve as an excellent introduction lesson into the use of camera angles and editing to move plot and communicate ideas. Since the dialog is so sparse, a viewer has little choice in paying attention to the technical aspects of the scene.
As part of a larger unit or class, this scene would serve as a jumping point for a more comprehensive look at technical choices in media production for desired effects. Primetime TV shows constantly show us things that someone wants us to care about whether it be terrorists, certain products (a great scene in the 3rd season of "24" has a ridiculously large Ford truck grill in the foreground with the action happening almost as an after thought in the background), or even certain ideas of beauty. Learning ways in which producers, directors, and editors force our attention to certain things will help students start to question why we are to pay more attention to one thing over another in a media presentation.
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