All the President’s Men features many scenes in which its main characters simply sit and talk on the phone. It must have been a challenge for the film’s director and cinematographer: how to convey deeper meanings and keep the audience engaged when they only have access to one side of a conversation, and when there is, by necessity (back in the day when phones needed to be attached to cords), very little on-screen movement?
Your task for Wednesday is to write an analysis of the cinematography in such a scene: the scene in which Woodward has two phone conversations with Dahlberg. Please watch this scene (attached below), and then compose a thoughtful and detailed analysis about what you see (and hear!).
Writing About Film! 
In All the President’s Men, there are often many scenes with little movement long conversations over the phone or even in person. This movie has these scenes because Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the reporters handling the Watergate scandal, have to go through vigorous investigations to try and get as much information as possible. In this scene when Woodward is on the phone with Kenneth Dahlberg and then Carl MacGregor, there is little character movement. The scene opens with Woodward frantically trying to find Dahlberg in a phone book, there are books everywhere, and Woodward seems frazzled. Woodward then gets a picture with Dahlberg in it which allows him to find a phone number. The scene cuts to Woodward at his desk and him making the phone call to Dahlberg. Once on the phone, we see a wide shot of the office with Woodward on the right side of the frame. As the conversation goes on, the camera slowly draws closer to Woodward’s face. At the beginning of the conversation, we hear in the background from a television that Senator Eagleton withdrew, people from around the office start to gather around the television watching and listening. When Dahlberg hangs up the people in the office are getting back to work. The camera continues to close in on Woodward, making it harder to see what is happening in the background. As we get closer to Woodward’s face, we get more information on Dahlberg and his check. The camera draws us in just as the information does. The audience wants to know why Dahlberg had a check for so much money, and the camera movement draws us in. We constantly hear commotion in the background from the office members. We also hear both sides of the conversation. The other phone then rings and Woodward’s assistant says that Dahlberg is on the other line. All the noises in the background are diegetic and add a little tension and frustration as we try to figure out what Dahlberg did with his check.
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No matter what genre, every movie contains cinematography. In All the Presidents Men the use of cinematography is much subtler than most movies. For almost this entire scene, Woodward is sitting at a desk, on the phone, barely moving. The camera starts out far from Woodward’s face, allowing us to notice all the commotion in the background. Throughout the whole scene, the camera slowly moves closer and closer to his face, representing the importance of the case he is working on. Everyone in the office seems to be hanging out, watching television and talking. In the background, we hear the news reporters on the television and the people talking about the election, but none of them are actually trying to figure out what happened. Yet the cameras main focus is on Woodward who is, in fact, trying to discover the truth behind this matter. A few minutes later, while Woodward is on the phone with Dahlberg, we hear another phone ring and we assume that this means the rest of the office will get back to work. However, we soon realize that the phone call is just another call for Woodward. This symbolizes the importance of the scandal. A few minutes later, as he hangs up again, he receives another call; it seems as though he can’t get a break. Moments later while Woodward is still sitting at his desk, we see movement in the flipping of his notepad and him fidgeting in his seat. These acts of movement draw our eye toward his hard work. Finally, the scene ends with a close up of a television and a newspaper. On the television, we see and hear more information about the election. In the newspaper; our attention is drawn to The Washington Post title, where Woodward works, and then the newspaper is flipped to draw our attention to the bug suspect. Every use of movement/cinematography in this scene is used to portray the importance of this scandal and finding out what really happened.
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There is cinematography in this scene from “All the President’s Men”as there is in every movie. It is the process of capturing moving images on the film or a digital storage device. This scene starts off with someone talking but their face is not shown, instead he is frantically looking through checks. The camera then moves to Carl Bernstein talking to Bob Woodward on the phone. It seems like they are using natural lighting for this. It then switches over to Bob Woodward in his office, and he is frantically searching for information. The lighting in the Washington Post office is extremely bright to show the alertness and how hard everyone is working. The camera is close on Bob’s face, but you can still see workers in the background rushing around. He is calling to find out about the checks, and as he does this a women behind him says there is a call for him, but the camera never focuses on her face. The camera then zooms in on his face causing the lighting to be a little darker because you cannot see the fluorescent lights in the office.
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Every film and movie ever made has cinematography. In this scene in “All The Presidents Men,” we are stuck on a frustrating scene between Woodward, McGregor, and Dahlberg. The scene starts and ends with Woodward at his desk in the Washington Post office. The frame of the scene stays the same while the background noise of the office is frantic and anxious. We see Woodward frantically picking up the phones between Mr. Dahlberg and Mr. McGregor making the scene tense, and to us very frustrating cause we just want to know what is going on! The camera zooms in closer to Woodward as the more serious the conversation gets between him and Dahlberg, while the lighting in the office is bright like the working space for Mandrick in “Dr. Strangelove.” With a bright light environment with people around it creates chaos in the scene for Woodward as well as for us the audience. Especially when the background sound gets louder and louder as the TV is talking about senator Eagleton who just withdrew from office, and the office workers start chattering more. The use of cinematography is essential in this scene because it shows how important the scandal really is, and why it needs to be figured out. Without a frantic scene like this, we wouldn’t think Watergate was a big deal.
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Every movie has cinematography in it and we see a great example of it here in this scene in, “All the President’s Men.” In this scene we see Woodward working hard to uncover important information from Dahlberg. There isn’t much movement at all in this scene, we just see Woodward stationary at his desk. At first, the camera is zoomed out so we can see all of the busy activity going on around him in the office. As he starts to make calls, the camera starts to zoom in on him to show the importance of what information we are about to find out. Camera movement is a very important part of cinematography because it shows the importance of characters and situations throughout the movie. Another important aspect of cinematography is the lighting, in this scene the lighting in the office is very bright. The bright light shows how hard everyone is working in the office of the Washington Post but also it represents a safe space for the reporters to be. Also, the bright lights can represent chaos as all the information is being revealed and it’s Woodward’s job to figure out where to put all of the pieces. Lastly, the way Woodward moves when he learns the information shows how excited he is to keep finding clues on this case. He is fidgeting notes down on his note pad very quickly and when he gets off the phone quickly starts typing on the typewriter. The use of cinematography in this scene is to show how important this information is that we are finding out. Also, it shows how deep this scandal goes and how many people it will effect when the full story comes out.
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The cinematography in this scene in particular is interesting, because there is very little on screen movement or action yet we are still drawn in by the information and the camera. Woodward is discovering a major piece of the very large puzzle that the Post is working on putting together, and it is information that Dahlberg shouldn’t be giving out. There is hardly any camera movement while Woodward is on the phone, and during the first conversation it is just a normal shot of the reporter, his desk, and the background of the office. After Dahlberg hangs up and then calls back, the camera begins to zoom into Woodward’s face, showing us the importance of the information being told over the phone. You can hear in Woodward’s voice and see by his facial expression that he is kind of in awe at what he’s hearing. The lighting in the office is important, but isn’t crucial in this scene. It is soft lighting because it is diffused over the whole office area, there isn’t a direct light in Woodward’s face. Woodward’s frenetic body movements are accentuated during his phone call with Bernstein towards the end of the scene. He is telling him about what Dahlberg said and how all the money leads back to Stans, which confirms that the Committee to Reelect Nixon had something to do with the Watergate Scandal. Another interesting aspect is the diegetic background noise; Senator Eagleton is being called to step down as candidate for Vice President for the Democratic Party. This is confirmed at the end of this scene when we see the newspaper title “Eagleton Bows Out Of ’72 Race”, before we flip the page and see Woodward and Bernstein’s article about how one of the burglars was given money by the Committee to Reelect.
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The cinematography in this scene in “All the President’s Men” is well-crafted by the director of photography. The entire movie places challenges for the director and director of photography as many shots and scenes contain just conversations, phone calls, and investigations. The limits the different types of shots, camera movement, and angles of shots. In this scene with Woodward on the phone with Kenneth Dahlberg we find great ingenuity by the directors to implement great cinematography aspects. The shot of Woodward at his desk dominates this scene is a long take that lasts 6 minutes out of the 7-minute scene. The shot uses an omniscient point of view of the camera looking at Woodward that dollies in as the shot continues over time. The shot dollies in to show only part of Woodward’s head and shoulders, while the beginning part of the shot showed his entire upper body in the frame. This moving in of the shot shows the drama and importance that the phone calls build in Woodward’s mind. By the time Woodward finally achieves his epiphany the shot is done zooming in on him. He is now as big as he is going to be in this scene as his train of thought on the phone calls has reached its destination. The lighting of cinematography is arguably the most important aspect, and in this shot the lighting is very bright. Light panels are physically visible on the ceiling in the shot, and the lighting is also very high key. This lack of contrast between darks and lights is often used in dramatic scenes, and a scene like this with very little physical drama unfolding needs this help from lighting. The lighting also allows for all the diegetic aspects of the movie such as the other reporters, typewriters, the televised speech requesting Senator Eagleton resign, and the noise of people watching to become more effective in this scene.
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Every movie produced has aspects of cinematography. In the film we just watched, All the President’s Men, there are a lot of scenes that capture two characters talking on the phone. This is mainly because investigations both in person, and over the phone, are essential in reporting and journalism. In this particular scene with Bernstein relaying information to Woodward who calls potential leads on the phone, the cinematography is evident. The scene starts out with the camera zoomed in close on the financial statements dealing with a Mr. Kenneth Dahlberg. The lighting is very clear this way the audience is able to read the checks being flipped through and recognize their importance. The camera then moves outdoors to Carl Bernstein who is in a phone booth relaying the information he just found to Bob Woodward. There is natural light being used here as the scene is shot outdoors. The setting then switches again the reporting office where both Bernstein and Woodward work. The lighting in this facility is very bright and does not cast many shadows. Woodward flips frantically through a phone book to find the name of this mysterious Dahlberg and like before, the lighting portrayed on the phone book is bright ad clear so the information can be read by the audience. The office is very well lit up by use of the large amounts of overhead lights in the office. An important note is that the use of diegetic sounds in the office. It is busy and bustling with many reporters talking/ working in the background and both us and Woodward can hear them talking loudly in the back while Woodward’s on his second phone conversation. The fluorescent office lighting kind of shows that there is work going on and investigations being done to bring light to important news topics. The camera is also angled so Woodward is close up in the right half of the screen on the phone and the commotion is more towards the back left. It makes the office look very believable. As the conversation with Dahlberg ensues, the camera pans in on Woodward’s face with lighting that make his facial features evident. His determination and tension while on the phone is very evident as well by the use of those cinematographic techniques. The bright lights, loud background chatter, and camera angles all depict the busy and stressful work environment Woodward is a part of.
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It is quite impressive how this scene in “All the President’s Men” is able to give us so much information, yet we are seeing very little camera movement throughout the scene. At first, we immediately are drawn to this scene as Woodward believes he is really onto something with Kenneth Dalhberg and he’s competing against the New York Times as well. We clearly are able to tell he finds the phone number in a phonebook for Dahlberg as the lighting makes the picture clear. As Woodward appears to be gathering important information almost simultaneously the background noise picks up and makes it more difficult for him to hear. As Dahlberg hangs up, you can see a look of frustration and hopelessness come over for him for a minute then suddenly things switch and start going his way. This entire time we are getting a shot of the front of Woodward, which makes it easier to show the shift of momentum the camera portrays that Woodward is feeling. As the scene continues, we are getting closer and closer to Woodward’s face. Eventually, Woodward gets the information he is looking for and you can tell his excitement as he puts his hands over his face and begins frantically writing down notes. Throughout the scene, we are seeing dull office lights coming down on Woodward, but as we get closer the light makes his facial features pop out more.
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Cinematography is an element that plays an important role in contributing to a movies overall meaning. In All the President’s Men, there are many scenes that take place while main characters are doing nothing than talking on the phone behind a desk. Although it sounds simplistic, the film director and cinematographer use things like speed, tonality, framing, and deep focus cinematography to convey a deeper meaning. In the scene where Woodward has two phone conversations with Dahlberg we hear the concern from bob voice and the hesitation from Kenneth. In the background, we begin to see a clutter of people forming around a desk as news breaks that Senator Eagleton withdrew. As the conversation continues, Woodward tries to pry details out of Dahlberg until he hangs up. The silence is short lived before Bob receives another call from Mr. McGregor. The speed of the conversation is consistent and the dialogue keeps the audience intrigued. The film director allows the audience to hear both sides of the conversation as it unravels more detail and draws us in. The camera stays stationary on Woodward’s face as we get a straight on shot of him behind his desk. The use of diegetic noise from the background creates more commotion as the plot line continues. The conversation switches from McGregor back to Dahlberg. At this moment Dahlberg reveals important information to Woodward about the check that ended up in the Watergate burglary account. Dahlberg’s tone conveys an unsteady feeling that gives us an imagine of him without ever showing him on camera. He hangs up the phone and Woodward begins to type frantically, suddenly Carl Bernstein calls and says he has news about Dahlberg without knowing what just happened. The use of movement and tone while being confined to a small setting during a scene can make or break how an audience perceives the story that is trying to be told.
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The definition of cinematography is that it is the art of making motion pictures. No matter what, every movie you will ever see will have cinematography. This, as it should be, is true for the movie “All the Presidents Men”. This is not a very action-packed scene, where most of the scene consists of people just sitting down and talking on the phone trying to find a lead. Woodward early in the scene is in a room surrounded by shelves and piles of books all larger than him. This gives us the feel that he is getting nowhere and that this is an unattainable task. When Woodward is finally on to a lead, he goes to his desk and the focus of the frame is on him, while he is also a large part of the frame. While he is on the phone calling leads, there is important news breaking on the radio and there is a frantic reaction in the background over it. However, even with people making noise and moving around in the background the focus never leaves Dahlberg and his focus never leaves the situation at hand. This is where we learn how important what is going on is. It is very important that this scene shows the stress, pressure and focus that Woodward is under by using facial expressions, body language and tone of voice
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Cinematography is defined by Barsom as capturing a moving image on film; every film has cinematography in it. In All the President’s Men, there is very little on-screen movement throughout and many scenes where characters are talking on the phone. The scene starts off with seeing financial papers of Kenneth Dahlberg. It cuts to Carl Bernstein in the phone booth talking to Bob Woodward. In this part, Bernstein appears to be outside and is in natural lighting. It then cuts to Woodward in the office rustling around in books and finds Kenneth Dahlberg’s phone number. He moves back to his desk and gets on the phone. The entire office has bright light and there are hardly any shadows seen. The shot is far enough away from Woodward’s face where we are able to see what is happening in the rest of the office. There is a lot of movement and commotion in the background while Woodward is not. His co-workers in the background even have a brief meeting while he remains on the phone. There are no cuts made in this shot, but instead the camera slowly zooms in close to his face. As it zooms in, we see less and less of the background movement. He hangs up, shuffles through his papers acting frantic and picks up the phone to make another phone call. This scene shows how important what is going on is and will be when the story comes out.
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Most of the scenes in All the President’s Men feature the main characters just simply sitting and talking on the phone yet the director and the cinematographer. I think the best way they convey deeper meaning in this scene is through the sounds in this scene. The beginning of the scene Bernstein, is inside a telephone booth trying to call his journalist partner Woodward from inside a telephone booth. While he is trying to give important information to Woodward the wind begins to pick up making it harder to hear and making the scene more intense. Also they keep showing the familiar image of Kenneth Dahlbergs name over and over again in different writing helping the viewer get a better understanding of who they’re talking about. When Woodward makes his first phone call to Dahlberg the camera is at a reasonable distance away from Woodward but the more intense the conversation gets and the more information Woodward receives the closer the camera gets. At the beginning you are able to see the office watching the tv in the background clearly all engrossed by the news discussing senator Eagleton’s withdrawal. During the phone conversation you hear the constant patter of typewriters which again get progressively louder the more intense the conversation gets. This typewriter sound almost becomes music in the background crescendoing during the most intense part just like in a musical score. There is also chatter from other employees in the background the entire time while Bob is trying to listen. The camera at this point is only showing Woodward’s face. Woodward also begins to talk faster and faster and it even gets so intense that he says the wrong name. Although there is minimal movement in this scene it is full of drama and suspension and moves at a very quick pace. The very last part of this scene where the newspaper is dropped in front of the tv shows that the headline piece is the same thing that is happening on the news about Eagleton becoming the running mate but then in small print it is the story by Bernstein and Woodward about the bug suspect and the campaign funds. This is ironic because this is such a big story compared to the Eagleton one but it is not yet fully unfolded so it only gets a small piece in the Washington Post.
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Cinematography is the process of capturing moving images on film or a digital storage device and is a part of every film that is made. It is how we see what we are seeing on screen. In this particular movie there is not a lot of movement on screen because not a lot is always going on so cinematography has a big role to make up for that. Throughout this whole scene you hear typewriters constantly being used and people talking in the background. To change the scenery instead of just watching the reporters talk on the phone, we see shots of papers they are filing through and their work space. While the reporters are on the phone, we are able to hear the person on the other end of the phone which makes up for the lack of movement on the screen because the viewer is very focused on what they are saying on the phone. There are a lot of up close shots where Woodward’s face takes up most of the screen. We can see his face very clearly and can infer that he is stressed, busy, and trying to get information from the people he is interrogating. At one point, the shot cuts to the second reporter out in the field relaying information to Woodward in the office. Things are constantly going on in the office and even though not a lot is happening on screen, we still get the sense of people constantly working and focusing on this news story.
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Cinematography is the process of capturing moving images on film according to Barsam. This includes lighting, lenses, camera movement and framing. In this scene in, “All the President’s Men” there is not a lot of physical action going on but it is a very important scene. We start zoomed in on the checks, and then zoom in even more on one with the name Dahlberg, which emphasizes the importance of this check. The library Woodward is in is not very well lit but still has light. Then we jump to the office which is very brightly lit. It takes your eyes a second to adjust to the brightness. I think the light represents how everything is open there. There are no secrets in the office and it is a safe place for the writers. Woodward is on the right side of the screen, and there is a group gathering on the right side. It almost draws your attention away from the phone call. It makes the audience feel as if they are sitting right there with Woodward because we hear all the noises happening in the office. The lighting on Woodward does not change during the scene but we do get closer and closer to him as he figures out more information. Woodward’s face comes more and more in focus as he is listening to what Dahlberg is explaining, which is incriminating Nixon. The camera stays positioned on Woodward and when he turns to type we stay looking at the same angle. This really makes you feel like you are sitting right next to him watching. You feel the importance grow throughout the scene and hear Woodward’s frantic typing as he realizes Nixon is a part of this.
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I think this movie did a great job with building a lifelike set that recreates the offices of the Washington Post. In many of the scenes inside the building, there’s constant background noise – people talking, typing loudly, pages being printed, ripped, or crumpled up.One of the things that stood out to me in this scene was all of the background noise about 3 minutes in – as Woodward’s coworkers all seem to be celebrating something, Woodward is hard at work, at the moment alone, on the case. His coworkers start to get pretty loud, and Woodward has to cover up his other ear and lean in to keep listening. This shows his deliberate surrender of other aspects of his life in order to focus solely on the Watergate story. One other thing that stands out is a few minutes later, when Woodward has to juggle multiple phone calls at the same time in order to ask questions. The dialogue is all very frenetic – “Hello, can you hold?” – “Hi, can you hold?” – “Hi, can I call you right back?” This all helps to build the pacing of the scene
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In this scene with Woodward we only really see a couple of camera movements. With out the usage of different camera movement we tend to draw our attention on how bad Woodward want to crack down on K. Dahlberg. The start of the scene we see what type of work environment Woodward is dealing with. We see through the frame a bunch of books piled up on the desk in a room that is not that bright. Woodward then stacks up a couple more books which makes me feel some sort of tension in Woodward trying to get Dahlberg. As Woodward is stationed at his desk the camera is zoomed out so we see the office lit up with bright lights and other employees with piles of papers on their desk. We see that this work area is very busy but everyone just sticks to their job since they have they’re own work area this is shown through the camera set up. We later see the camera zoom in on Woodward as he starts to get closer and closer to Dahlberg. With the camera set up we know how important this is to Woodward because he starts to get more anxious when he gets more and more information he starts writing things down on his note pad very fast. His facial expressions leads us to know that he receives the information that he needs. All in all the camera movement gives us a significant reason on what is going on in this scene. With the camera zoom out we see the importance in the work environment but with the camera zoomed in we see how bad Woodward wants to get the information.
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This scene in “All of the President’s Men” starts off with Woodward looking into who wrote the $25,000 check to one of the Watergate burglars. Most of this scene takes place with him sitting at his desk on the phone, but at the beginning he is in a different room frantically searching for Kenneth in a phone book. Every time he finds something important, the camera cuts to a close up of it as if we are seeing it form his point of view. Once he finds the number, he goes to his desk and takes out his notebook while he dials the phone. The camera is far enough away for us to see what is going on in the background. The scandal is starting to unravel and he is putting the pieces together. Meanwhile, in the background, all of the other reporters stop what they are doing and gather around together to see what is going on, but Woodward is still hard at work. As he is on the phone getting more information, the camera very slowly and gradually gets closer and closer until we can only see him. It gets intense when Kenneth calls back and tells him that he gave the check to the financial adviser. At the end once again the camera cuts and we see the headline on the paper of The Washington Post. The cover page is talking about the senator who just resigned, which is what was on the TV in the background. Someones hand flips the paper over and the story titled “Bug Suspect got Campaign Funds” is on the back page. This use of cinematography shows us that still even though this is a major break through, still no one is paying attention to it.
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The character’s in “All the President’s Men” conduct a large portion of their research over the phone. Because of this the director has to focus on using a large amount of cinematography to keep the viewers interested in the film.
When Woodward has his first phone conversation with Dahlberg we see him sitting at his desk and his relative size to the frame is small. We are able to see all the activity around him. The background is rather busy, with many people gathered in the back left corner of the frame. Once the call begins the camera slowly zooms in on Woodward to emphasize the importance of the call. In addition the activity in the background clears out so that all we have left to focus on is Woodward. The lighting used on Woodward is low ratio lighting. The difference between the key light and the fill light is slight so that there is no chiaroscuro shading of Woodward’s face. This lighting is also most likely soft lighting, because it is not very bright on his face. In addition the overall lighting of the office is bright to show business and activity.
Woodward is fully focused on his conversation on the phone. An example of this is when he has to turn around to exchange a few brief words with the woman behind him, the camera remains unfocused on her to show that she is not his main focus at the time.
Towards the end of the phone call when everything falls into place Woodward uses his shoulder to hold the phone to his ear and places both of his hands on his face to represent the gravity of the situation. As soon as he hangs up the phone he goes right to his typewriter to get the story out.
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In “All the President’s Men” there is a lot of use of cinematography to bring emphasize certain aspects, partly this is because a lot of what these reporters do is over the phone. While Woodward starts to talk to Dahlberg the camera shot starts out wide and you can see what everyone is doing behind with natural lighting. You can slowly watch people gathering in the back right corner like something important is happening there and you can hear the radio or television that is going on. The camera is focused on these people and also Woodward at the same time. When Woodward is starting to question Dahlberg everyone erupts behind him and you have to start to focus just like Woodward is to what Dahlberg is saying over the phone. The use of lighting is very important here because its showing all of Woodward’s face and everyone else’s features with natural lighting and a little use of fill light on his face. As Woodward is getting more serious it zooms in on his face which is trying to draw the attention of how this is a huge piece of the movie and so we can see his reaction to what people are saying over the phone. When Dahlberg calls him back the camera is now completely zoomed in on Woodward’s face to show you that something important is about to happen. Dahlberg over the phone is very nervous and wasn’t very trusting of him at the start but slowly starts to open up to Woodward. By watching Woodward’s reactions, you can tell how important this information is because he thinks he might have broken this case wide open. This entire time there is light Woodward’s face but there is an edge around him because of the focus on him and shows you that he is now in his own world and only focused on this article he is about to write.
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In this scene we only have a couple camera angles or movements. It is really focused in on Woodwards facial expressions and emotions.We so how frustrated he is the whole time we go through this scene and how he trying to find pieces of evidence step by step. then he finally gets Dahlberg to admit of what he did with the check. Dahlberg ended up giving the check to stan which is a head of Nixons office at the time. In this environment you can see Woodward is very stressed and running around everywhere trying to figure things out. When he is sitting down in his desk we see how bright the lights are in the background. this gives us a feeling of how big this scene really is because everything is so lit up. You can see in the background of this scene as well a bunch of other people in the office crowded around watching is what looks like to be a speech of some sort. then all of a sudden everyone scrambles and gets back to work. this shows you how dedicated everyone is in this office. also shows how serious this scene is when he is talking to these people on the phone. You can tell because he starts to write things down and began racing his thoughts. In the end of all this we can see how much of an impact of the zooming in and out.
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The director and cinematography do some nifty things to convey meaning even though those conversations are taking place over the phone. The first phone call takes place in a phone booth when the inside is not very lit at all, showing that the man is trying to be secretive and trying to hide. When we are back in the office it is very light in there but the reported seems to be disconnected form everyone else, he has a low key lighting and seems to have a darker face even though the room is very well lit with florescent bubs, this shows that he too is in the shadows and disconnected form everyone else. We also a politician speaking over the television and everyone else in the office goes together to watch and listen but the focus remains on the reporter as the group of people start to have a blur to them. When the reporter is gathering important information the camera starts to zoom in on him so show importance. He then hangs up the hone and frantically starts to write on his typewriter.
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The cinematography, or the process of capturing moving images on film or a digital storage device, of this scene in “All the President’s Men” is rather basic with little camera movement. Despite the lack of physical movement of the frame, the viewer learns a lot of information on the inside workings of Bernstein and Woodward in their competition with other newspapers on the Watergate story. This scene demonstrates the mundane work the two reporters had to endure that was not seen by the media. From the stacked desk to the endless phone calls, the composition of this scene is used to portray the life of a journalist and all of the hardships that come with it. The lighting in Woodward’s office is best described as “confused” with it being neither bright nor dark which could symbolize the frustration that is building up with Woodward’s desire to get closer to Dahlberg. As the scene progresses, the light brightens as Woodward flips through the phone book and finds the man they are looking for. The camera makes use of a front camera shot of Woodward as he struggles to hear Dahlberg due to the increasing background noise. The soundstage used for this scene is used to portray an actual office-style setting with many different people talking at once and sometimes inability to focus on what one is doing. The most important part of this scene in terms of its cinematography comes with the camera zooming in on Woodward’s face towards the latter half of the scene. This camera technique is used to convey how badly Woodward wants to break this story and the determination that went into all of his findings. If it wasn’t for the determination of a couple of reporters from the Washington Post, a large part of U.S. political history might have blended in with time.
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There is cinematography in this scene in “All the President’s Men”, and this scene the audience is introduced to a few different camera movements. The scene gives us a better understanding about the work environment. There is a voice-over taking place initially as we see a bunch of checks being searched through. There appeared to be some natural lighting in the scene when the camera finally cut to Carl Bernstein talking to Bob Woodward on the phone. In the background, we can see that the overall work environment seems stressful and busy for everyone in the office, yet everyone sticks to their work. As the phone call progresses, the camera begins to zoom in more and more into Dahlberg’s face. As the conversation continues, it is safe to assume that Dahlberg is anxious as he begins to write down the abundance of information he is receiving on the phone. The lighting in the office was very bright which helps productivity, and in this scene the workers were working diligently and efficiently. As Bob searches for the information he is seeking, his facial expressions give the audience a good understanding of what he I truly going through. I also liked how when Bob is informed he has a call waiting for him by the female character, the camera stays focused on Bob and what he was dealing with on the phone. I think that was an important part of the scene because it just showed that what he was doing and dealing with was almost more important than anything else that may have been going on around him.
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All of the Presidents Men contains many scenes of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the phone investigating. This is a boring concept, especially because the cinematographer chose to only feature one side of the conversation in the shot. But for some reason it does not bore the viewer all that much, it actually gives insight to the viewer on these two main characters. All of the Presidents Men is a movie more about the two reporters and how they uncovered this conspiracy rather than the conspiracy itself and that is why those two are featured even while their counterpart is talking on the phone. The cinematography in the scene is very bright, as it allays is in the office representing the freedom of the press and the ability to expose corruption. The shot starts with a lot of background, and co-workers in it. The co-workers all seem to be very interested in one breaking news story and all begin to gather around one person’s desk. The fact that Woodward does not move or even look over their hints at his persistence and dedication to this story. As the scene goes on the camera gets closer and closer to Woodward eliminating most of the background except his secretary. Even while his secretary is talking the camera is still focused on Woodward. This shows the breakthrough that is occurring on the phone as Dahlberg calls back. Woodward’s determination and brief success in this scene is definitely highlighted by the work of the camera. This chaos of the office and all the noise in the beginning of the scene shows how lost they were in their story, and as it gets closer and the noise starts to drown out, shows how big this conspiracy actually is and how corrupt things actually are.
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