The Blues Brothers - Framing Research

The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980): Illinois Nazis


This blues brothers scene shows a large range of shot types...

One of the first shots is a CU of a man in some kind of uniform who is currently being shouted at by a large mob of angry people. This man seems to be standing very still and seems to be calm yet seemingly strong. This type of shot allows the audience to see this expression while not allow them to see the reason WHY he is being shouted at. The shot then pans across a few other members of the group showing he is not the only one that has that expression, it then leads onto a member who is seemingly the boss and using a loudhailer to talk to the mob. It then cuts to a VLS of the entire group and the mob just as the man with the loudhailer mentions the swastika and you can clearly see it being held up by the large group. This shot, as well as suddenly revealing why the crowd are angry with the group also shows the distance between the 2 groups. The next shot is a MLS of a police barrier holding back the crowd. This allows the audience to see the raw ferocity that the crowd is portraying and how the police are desperately attempting to keep the peace. The next shot is a MCU of the leader of the Nazis which pans to follow him as he patrols from left to right in front of his troop of Nazis. This allows the audience to begin to recognise this character as the leader and how he may become a more marjor part later in the film. A couple of shots after that there is another MLS, this is mainly used to show the actions made by on of the crowd members towards the police where he punches him. The reason for this is to show WHY the crowd is being kept so far away from the Nazis and how they are beginning to become violent. Soon after is a MCU of a member of the crowd. The reason an MCU is used as it is far enough away to show enough of the other people in the crowd and close enough that it is possible to see the expression on his face and how angry he is. The shots then keep switching from CU's and MCU'S of the crowd to an MCU tracking shot of the Nazi leader while he says more of his speech. It then cuts to a CU of the leader when he says his ard-hitting last line. After this there is then a crane coming back from a VLS of the Nazi's on the bridge to a queue of cars lining up and a VLS of a policeman walking alongside the blues brothers car. It then cuts to a MCU/MS 2 shot of the blues brothers. This is to show their body language and how fed up they are of being stuck in the queue. The blues brothers then drive out of the shot while the camera stays still it then cuts to a POV shot of inside the car so as to see where the blues brothers are going. The next cut is to a MCU of the Nazi leader who seems to look worried at the sound of an engine as the audience can see by the use of an MCU. Soon after is an OTS of 2 of the Nazis showing the blues brothers driving towards them. The next is a cut to an MCU of the leader who attempts to look brave but chickens out and dives out of the shot. the next is a LS of the car which then drives toward the camera so it becomes a CU. This shows the imminent danger to the Nazis who are seemingly playing chicken with a car and this shot shows how he is getting ever closer with no sign of stopping.