Possible Candidates For Kite Flying Society...

In the 1998 film Rushmore, director Wes Anderson's hyper-cinematic take on adolescence and rebellion utilizes some of the most simple film techniques in ways that are both creative and yet not completely unorthodox. This is most apparent in his use of cinematography, and more specifically, his use of camera shots. In discussing different camera shots and their meanings, Rushmore is a great example. Shot meaning is essential to the story of Rushmore, where internal conflicts are conveyed through all aspects of the film, whether it be in the acting, set design, direction, or cinematography.

In a very brief section of a later scene in the film, we can see Anderson's utilization of long shot, medium shot, and close up as a means of telling the story that is unspoken in the scene. The scene takes place after the protagonist, Max Fischer, has lost almost everything he holds dear in life, and has spent some months in seclusion, away from his school and abandoning his friends. Eventually his closest ally, his chapel partner Dirk Calloway, and he have a reconciliation while they are out flying a kite. Many factors in the scene lead up to the scenes climax, in which Max realizes it's time for himself to get back into the world. This realization is beautifully expressed in the scene's camera shots.



Beginning with Max flying his kite, we see a close up of his face. This is where we see his emotional state. He is worn down from all of the things that he is gone through in the past year, but he realizes that he can't keep living as a hermit. His concentrated features and solemn face makes this apparent, but only through the close up shot are we able to fully realize this.

Next, we have a long shot of the kite in the sky. This is from Max's point of view, and it is symbolic of the way Max has felt: flying alone in a grey sky. The long shot expresses the loneliness and sadness that long shots often convey in film, and yet the inanimate object retains it's simplistic value through the long shot and low camera angle. The kite is not monolithic or given any forced meaning, it is simply a kite in the sky.

We cut back to the close up of Max as he tells Dirk to take dictation. We cut to a close up shot of Dirk's face, as he is shocked to hear this phrase, a semblance of Max's old self. The close up conveys Dirk's position in hearing Max's revelation, and indeed confirms to the audience the meaning behind such a simple phrase.

We cut to a medium close up of both of them as Max starts listing off "possible candidate's for Kite Flying Society." The camera slowly moves back into a medium shot. Through medium shots, we are given the information about character's and their relationship to their surroundings. Although this has already been presented earlier in the scene, this medium shot shows not only the characters' relationship to their surroundings, but their relationship to each other, now that this revelation has occurred. The medium shot conveys both characters' acknowledgement that the future might just be okay for Max Fischer.