Ratatouille may seen to most people as a film that is focused towards children, and yes, it is. But the effort that goes into making it is humongous, the people at Pixar don't hesitate to put as much effort that goes into an best picture winning film, that they put into any of their films. Of course there is a major difference between the technologies used in an animated film from a real-time flick, but the basic skills are the same.
I've was watching Ratatouille as I was writing my blog post about camera shots, and it really got me focusing on the camera shots used in the ending scenes of the film and how they affect the audience.
Here's a shot-by-shot analysis of the big ending scene.
The beginning shot taken out of context really sums up what the objective of the character is, he has to face what is behind these doors. The low angle shot makes the character seem big, but because he is out of focus it makes the doors seem more important. Even though he has the ability to complete the task, he still has to climb a mountain. The angle that the camera is set provides a point of view where the lines of the door make them seem like a mountain.
In this shot the father of the main character, Remy, is telling him that he finally understands what his son is doing and is proud of him for following his dreams and going past everything that his father has told him to get there. The shot is set so that the audience can see all of the on-screen characters.
This over shoulder shot gives a high angle shot of Remy, which makes the audience feel more pity for the character, and even though the difference in the characters has more to do with the high angle, it still makes it seem that the father is in control of the situation. This is foreshadowing for how the father can help Remy, or not as will soon be found out by the audience.
Here the same effect is being made, as the father is being viewed from a low angle shot, giving him the greater height in the scene.
This is the foreshadowing that the previous two shots have been making, where the father gets the rest of the family to help Remy complete his dream. This wide shot allows the audience to understand the situation and how insignificant Remy really is without help. The rest of the rat family take up half of the shot, and are facing Remy who is on the other side of the frame, but doesn't take up any of that half.
Just after the entire rat family has come over and Remy's father says that the gang will help him. Then a health inspector walks in, one group of the rats goes after him as he frantically tries to start his car. The shot of him hurriedly trying to start his car is focused on by having a close-up of him trying to turn the key in his car which makes the audience more aware of the harassment that he is having about starting his car.
This shot zooms out and shows what a predicament the man is in, with the rats crawling all over his car, the zoom out finally puts the situation into the audiences eyes. Also the view of the health inspector's eye in the mirror gives a sense of fear and unease towards the character, but because the health inspector would have stopped the main protagonist otherwise, the audience doesn't feel as much of a connection with the inspector.
This close up of his eyes still increases the audience's awareness of his panic, also the rats running across the foreground of the shot, but out of focus makes the audience believe that the inspector is trapped by the rats. For me it also gives an image of bullies, with the classic shot of someone about to be beaten up with the figures of the bullies on either side of the shot and the victim in the centre with a terrified look on their face.
Another close up of the man's foot stomping on the accelerator pedal of the car lets the audience know fully what is happening, and because of the quick change of shots, it gives the scene a greater sense of panic.
This shot is a cut-away shot of what Remy is looking at, and his next idea in the restaurant. He always focuses on hygiene, which makes the other rats see him as a kind of freak with how hygienic he is. The close up of this sign gives that sense of hygiene.
This very-wide shot of Remy shows his control over the rest of his family, in the background. With Remy in the foreground it gives the audience with only Remy to look at, with the family behind him it makes the audience believe that he is the chief of all the other characters on screen. He also points in a direction and tells the characters to go that way and they do very quickly, giving the audience a better belief of his chiefness.
This wide shot of the kitchen shows that Remy is on the way to getting his dream coming true. It also shows how organised and
OCD Remy is, with all the rats in their different battalions and platoons it gives a sense of discipline on Remy's part. The way that the rats are using mops to get themselves up onto the cookers and such reminds me of ladders going up to battle like in WWI and Medieval battles going over a castle wall. With the wide angle shot, it gives the audience the sense of amazement that has never been met with what is going on in this final big scene.
This shot gives another amazement session for the audience with a human character in the shot it can help provide a size reference for the audience which is procrastinated by the human character being in the foreground, with depth of field it makes it a false reference. The shot also shows that the rats are capable of doing things that humans can do, but quickly because they are all working together.
The human, Linguini, has just pointed out the big factor that there is no-one waiting the tables in the restaurant, and the next shot is this. The close-up of the roller-skates may provide a bit of comedy for the audience, which I find it is because it is completely random. But still it makes the scene seem more hectic than it already is for the audience. As if the rats cooking wasn't already enough.
This shot of Linguini pouring wine on the go for the partial villain of the film. The way that the villain, Ego, isn't fully shown and what is is his back and right arm. This makes him seem bigger and a darker character as not much of him is shown. Also Linguini is blurred because of the hurry that he is in.
Another shot showing how in control Remy is.
In the driver's seat.
The focus is on the food, which shows a connection to what the character is doing.
It's his job bro.
This is also what the entire scene has been building up to, with this small action of Ego's being the entire conclusion to the scene.
It's one small bite for man, one giant leap for rodent kind.
This is Ego's reaction to the food, obviously something is wrong, with him being in a shocked state. It makes the audience feel that Remy has either succeeded, or for me; killed him. But the next shot is of Ego as a child, therefore the audience know that the food was so good it tastes as good as when food does as a child.
Yes, the food was so good; he drops his pen. But this still doesn't detract from how the character has amazingly reacted to how amazing the food was.
This shot is a POV shot from the villain of the story, who previously worked at the restaurant as the boss until Linguini overtakes him as boss. He is furious over who has cooked the food and jumps into the kitchen
like a boss, and sees rats working in the kitchen. The shot tries to get the audience to have the same reaction as the villain by using a POV shot, but I don't think it has the right effect as the entire film has classed rats as good.
This shot is when Ego is being told who the chef is, which is shown with Remy being the same size as Ego, which shows that Remy has managed to beat Ego, and that Remy is no less of a human that Ego is.
Thas a lot of writing.
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