Taxi Driver scene analysis

1

The sequence starts with a long shot where his cab is seen driving up the street before pulling up to the building.

1.2

1.3

In the same shot Travis gets out of his cab and walks across the street to the doorway where the pimp stands.

1.4

Travis and the pimp talk in the doorway for a bit, before Travis shoots him in the gut. (there still has not been a cut).

1.5

The same shot then follows Travis up the street.

1.6

1.7

Travis then sits down on some stairs leading up to a doorway. After this there is finally a cut. Altogether this shot lasts for 1 minute and 33 seconds. The interesting thing about this shot is that I have seen this film a few times and don’t think I was conscious of this all being one long shot.

2

In the next shot you see Travis entering a building. The camera is moving in a forward direction behind him.

On Using The Magic Arm

The magic arm is a piece of equipment with a clamp on either end that features several adjustable joints which can be moved freely when a lever is loose, but stay stiff when the lever is tightened to keep whatever it is holding in a specific position. The magic arm, I gather, is a piece of equipment which is designed to be used in a multitude of different ways and using different types of equipment. As a camera support however, which is the way I have used it, it is not a nice piece of equipment to work with.

The lever, rather than being screw operated, tightens or loosens the joints in one pull. To do this takes a measurable amount of force which seems like nothing when done on the ground, but feels considerable when standing on a ladder. The joints also do not stay in the exact same position after the lever is tightened and you let go of the arm, as they are supposed to, and adjust slightly to the force of gravity. This adjustment can mean that the camera’s position can move a full two or three inches downwards or to the side of where you positioned it. The angle of the camera’s tilt can also change. The only way to counteract this is to position the camera higher than where you would like it when the lever is loose in the hope that, after it is tightened and gravity takes effect, the camera will move down into the correct position. There always seems to be a certain element of randomness to the way this happens however, which seems almost impossible to eliminate.

Through a bit of trial and error - and mumbling a few curse words to myself - however, I usually managed to get the camera to sit in a position that I was almost happy with.