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Monday, July 16, 2012

Scene Analysis: There Will Be Blood's Baptism Scene



For my scene analysis, I'll be taking a look at one of my favorite film scenes of all time -- and yes, it is from PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood. I have attached the entire scene above, but I will attach each shot below along with an analysis of that shot.


This scene begins with Eli Sunday speaking in front of the congregation of the Church of the Third Revelation. This low-angle close-up establishes Eli as a character with power in the scene. He is backlit by the cross-shaped window, giving him an almost holy aura. The bright, warm color palette also lends to this "holy" feel.


Next, we see the congregation. Immediately, we see a change of color temperature from warm to cool. This represents the change in feeling of the characters in the frame. In the previous image, Eli is speaking with great passion, thus being illuminated with a warmer hue. When we move to this second shot, we see the cool mood reflected by Daniel Plainview's (right) frustrated emotion. The use of shallow depth-of-field establishes Bandy (left) and Plainview (right) as the other characters that this scene focuses on. The characters are placed in the left and right third, with the middle of the frame being filled by the remainder of the congregation. Plainview is clearly not happy to be here.


The scene cuts back to Eli after he asks if anyone in the congregation seeks salvation.



Daniel reluctantly raises his hand and stands up. The camera tilts up to follow his movement, resulting in a low-angle shot. This represents Daniel's progression in power in the scene. He seems larger now.



Daniel joins Eli at the pulpit. He is now sharing in the warm light that Eli was previously occupying alone. Daniel's slight rise in power is immediately taken away again as he kneels to the ground, below Eli. Daniel is placed in the dead center of the frame, under the cross. This slightly awkward positioning, paired with the very wide angle lens, gives the audience an uneasy feeling, and foreshadows the uncomfortable dialogue that is to come.


Here, we see Daniel after Eli has urged him to confess his sins in front of the congregation. He is still positioned in the middle of the frame, but this time we are moved to a close-up as the emotion gets more intense. The camera is head-on, representing his relatively low position in the scene.


Next we move to a low angle of Eli, re-establishing him as the character with power in the scene. This is juxtaposed with his hands clasped together in prayer, eyes looking to the heavens at a being higher than himself. Even though he claims to worship God, it is clear that he only seeks to worship himself. Eli is also positioned in the middle of the frame, continuing the uneasy feeling.



Above, we see the transformation of Daniel's emotion. After being forced to proclaim that he has abandoned his son, he unleashes ages of pent-up anger toward Eli, himself, and the world. The camera lingers on him for a while to let the audience absorb the emotion.


We move back to an even closer shot of Eli as he revels in his pride. He has begun to control Daniel, something that he has wanted since the beginning of the film. This big close-up represents this drastic increase in emotion, and the camera is brought even lower to show his sense of growing power.


Next, we go back to the wide show, but this time, the congregation is eliminated from the frame, showing the intimacy of Eli and Daniel's exchange. Eli towers above Daniel and begins slapping him repeatedly in the face. From earlier scenes, we learn that this is a common practice in his church, but it is obvious that he adds in a little extra violence just for Daniel.


We now move to a medium close-up of Daniel as he is baptized. He looks straight up in a submissive fashion, but mutters "there's the pipeline" as soon as he leans back up, turning the act of baptism into a strictly selfish endeavor (Bandy has agreed to only sell his land to Daniel for a pipeline if he is baptized).


Daniel rises, reestablishing his power in the scene, and moves out from under the cross, symbolizing his betrayal of the act of baptism. He moves to Eli, now taller than him for the first time, and shakes his hand. We can't hear what he is saying to Eli, but we can easily tell that it's probably somewhere along the lines of "I will kill you in your sleep."



We now move from the previous wide shot to a medium shot as Daniel walks into the congregation. We can still see the distraught face of Eli in the background. This medium shot eventually turns into a close-up, bringing the focus back to Daniel. The lighting also gets darker and darker as Daniel moves closer to the camera, further symbolizing his emotional transition into darkness.


The final shot in the scene is of Mary Sunday (Eli's younger sister) hugging Daniel. This eerie shot juxtaposes the love of one Sunday child with the utter hatred of another. It is also a symbolization of the innocence of Mary versus the experience of Daniel, a common theme in dramas and westerns in particular.

Overall, this incredibly powerful scene shows the depth of PT Anderson's filmmaking abilities. We see a clear character transformation in both Eli and Daniel, and through visual style and tact, Anderson is able to enhance his brilliant storytelling.

3 comments:

  1. he must have said "i will eat you up". because at the end, he was like "i told you i would eat you up!"

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  2. I am so glad you did this piece of work back in 2012/13. I am not sure if you will get this but I did want to say that I can't tell you how frequently I think of this movie in the current political climate of 2016/17. I will leave it at that because I do realize that not everyone wants to engage deeply in political discussion. However I will say that this metaphor and the evil character that Daniel Day-Lewis portray are so so deeply connected with the way that this current Administration has entangled and enslaved as supporters they're gullible followers leveraging and using religion to take advantage of them. If you'd like me to elaborate please contact me by email at JDSBoston@gmail.com or on Twitter @JDSBoston

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  3. I agree with Nehal

    When Daniel kills Eli he says "I told you I would eat you". So you can assume that is what he told Eli after the baptism - he was going to eat him.

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