Dialogue timings

Dialogue timings

For

Falling Down

Pay the toll

Run time: 4:00 minutes

As this clip in not a monologue, unlike the previous timings piece I won’t be presenting the dialogue first and then incorporating it within a timing and framing analysis simply because there’s a lot to go through and I don’t want to over- congest my pieces.

I will also only be making reference to the editing and cinematography for similar reasons, taking note of each individual shot and timings will bloat out my work too much, that will be saved for future analyses.

I will say that this is yet again a fantastic film that well deserves your time and attention, this was my second Michael Douglas film following Spartacus, another great film, and Ive fallen in love with the actor the acting style of his era of cinema.

This scene begins with 37 seconds of establishing the scene through point of view cinematography and clever camera work using the hole in his shoe as a framing technique to establish where the scene is taking place.

“What you doin’ Mr?”

0:37-0:38

“Nothing.”

0:39-0:40

“Yes you are you’re trespassing on private property”

0:41-0:44

“Trespassing?”

“Loiterin’ too man”

“That’s right you loiterin’ too”

0:44-0:47

“I didn’t see any signs”

0:48-0:50

“what’ch you call that?”

“Graffiti.”

0:51-0:55

“No nah… that’s not fucking Graffiti dat’s a sign.”

0:57-1:01

“He can’t read it man”

“I’ll read it for you… it says this is fucking private property.. no fucking trespassing… this means fucking you…”

1:02-1:13

“It says all that?”

“Yeah!”

“Well maybe if you wrote it in fucking English I could fucking understand it.”

1:15-1:20

“Thinks he’s bein’ funny.”

“I’m not laughin’.”

“I’m not either”

“Woah wait wait a minute wait a minute hold that hold on fellas’ will ya, we’re getting off on the wrong foot here ok er.”

1:21-1:29

“This is a gang land thing isn’t it?.. we’re having a er territorial dispute hmm?.. I mean erm I’ve wondered on into your pissing ground or whatever the damn thing is and you’ve taken offence to my presence and I can understand that. I mean I wouldn’t want you people in my back yard either. This is your home and, and your home is your home and I respect that. So if you would just, back up a step or two I’ll take my problems elsewhere, ok? Fair enough?”

1:32-2:07

“What’a you think?”

“I think he should pay a toll.”

“Good idea.”

“You should pay a toll.”

2:07-2:12

“Listen fellas’ I’ve had a really rare morning, but I’m not in the mood to..”

“What should he pay?”

“How about that fuckin’ brief case man?”

“Good idea, give us your briefcase man.”

2:14-2:27

“I’m not giving you my goddamn briefcase.”

“Mother fucker give us your mother fuckin’ briefcase!”

2:31-2:35

“Ok… Ok… I, I was willing to mind my own business, I was willing to respect your territory and treat you like a man but you couldn’t leave it alone could’ya. You couldn’t let a man sit here for five minutes and take a rest on your precious piece of shit hill. Ok, but my briefcase. I’ll get it for you alright you can have my briefcase, here you want a brief case… here’s my briefcase!”

2:40-3:07

“Have the briefcase huh!”

“Wait a minute hey wait a minute man… Wait!”

“Goddamn!”

3:08-3:13

“Hey!.. Where you goin’ huh!? You forgot your briefcase!.. You forgot the briefcase!”

3:16-3:20

“I’m going home! Clear a path you mother fucker! Clear a path! I’m goin’ home!”

3:27-3:35

“How’d they do that?”

3:55-3:57

Key: Blue= Blue shirted gang member

         Red= Red shirted gang member

     Green= William Foster

In this scene there are a few particular techniques that I like and will probably use. One is that of the tracking cam rotating slowly around the scene involving William Foster sat on the concrete block. This is not very technical but is reasonably challenging on an indy budget and will be an interesting technique I would like to use in my own film. A second technique is that of the point of view shot and framing in the first few seconds of the scene, it’s a very simple technique and not very spectacular but I like its usage. And thirdly the use of long running shots, shots that are not quite continuous as there is some editing here and there but the longer running shots are effective and interesting to watch.