The Lion King...in Film making Terms

Throughout this post is the dissection of Disney's best animated feature, The Lion King, throughout the terms of film making (as previously stated). Through three types of shots, we will see both the connotative and denotative interpretations for the three basic shots (LS, MS, CU).

The long shot: What I remember most (aside from the great musical numbers) from this movie was Simba’s journey back to Pride Rock. It was a nice simple long shot with Simba represented in two forms: one was in a small form, running across the screen, and the other displayed just his paws on top of the first shot, in a lower opacity. The denotative description of this shot is simple: it sets up the “going home” scene perfectly. The orientation shot shows us Simba leaving the world of Hakuna Matata, and going back to his responsibilities at Pride Rock. This sets up a moment of happiness. Yay, Simba is finally going home to challenge Scar and take his place as King of the Pridelands! However, when we look at this in a connotative connotation, we analyze it in a different matter. Simba is represented as a tiny form, and we see the scenery on a much larger level. The fact that he is so small shows us how isolated the character is, and how overwhelming his surroundings may be. Even though he is going home and we see this as a good thing, through the connotative description of the long shot we understand that his journey isn’t easy since he leaves his friends behind and ventures off alone.(In the screen shot, you can barely see little Simba, but his blurry shape is right above the paw in the shot)



MS- As the movie progresses and Simba reaches Pride Rock, we see a glimpse of his home and what it now looks like with Scar as King. Then we see a scene with Scar and Simba’s mother, Sarabi, which provides an excellent medium shot. In this shot, the audience understands what life is like now that Scar is King of the Pridelands (denotative). Through the screen shot, we see a nice visual representation of the two attitudes between the two characters. Sarabi keeps her head high and tries not to break to Scar and his dictatorship. Scar, however, is the opposite, and he is displayed as evil and downright mean. Their relationship (connotative) is perfectly spelled out through their words as well as their nonverbal communication.

 CU- Simba to the rescue! After Scar attacks Sarabi and Simba steps in, the audience sees interaction between Scar and Simba. Throughout these scenes, most are close up shots between the two rivals. Here we examine the important detail (denotative) of the two characters. We see Simba and how he really feels towards Scar. There is resentment throughout his words, and written all over his mane (connotative). Even with the close ups of Scar, he looks frightened and worried. Throughout their sharing of words, there lies the important detail of the plot of the story and what enfolds in the next couple of minutes.

The Lion King displays perfect examples of the shots we learned in class, as well as shot progression. Aside from just shots, the film also displays great camera angles and variations.