The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari vs. Snowy

 

    The main difference that stuck out to me after watching both of these relatively short films, was the camera movement in Snowy. Zooms in and out, shifts in focus, the drone shot, etc. Even when the camera was being held by someone and it shook a little bit with their hand movement, I noticed that immediately because normally it kind of bothers me when the camera shakes. But after watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with a completely unmoving camera that usually cut between shots with walls of text, it was nice to have a camera that felt physically real again. I enjoyed every closeup shot of Snowy and it was refreshing to see him switching in and out of focus in the grass scene.

    This got me thinking a little bit about how far production and camera setups have come in the movie industry. I'm always in awe when I see a set photo of one of those giant RED camera rigs, or when there's a driving or aerial scene and the camera follows some fast-paced action. Top Gun: Maverick gave us cameras inside of F-18 fighter jets, it doesn't get much cooler than that in my opinion. Super excited for the continuing growth of cinematography in films in the future, hopefully technology just keeps pushing the boundaries of what we can see on the big screen.