How Is Cinematography Used In Beauty And Beast

Playing off some of the ideas from last week’s look at how a film visually represent the diegesis, cinematography is literally focusing the attention of the viewer in attempt to further their understanding of the film. In Disney’s Beauty and Beast, even though the film is animated, cinematography still plays an important role in helping defining characters, locations, and space both on and off screen.
Throughout the film, extensive use of camera angling provides more information about the characters. Use of low camera angles-looking upward- can be seen in most scenes that have either the Beast or Gaston in the frame. The reason for using low angles with the Beast is that it allows the viewer to get a sense of how big in stature he is in comparison to the rest of the characters and presents him as very menacing in the early parts of the film. Gaston’s low angles seem to be most apparent during the bar scene where they sing about how wonderful he is; the angle helps contribute to the idea that Gaston is above everyone else in the village and the scene is shot from the peasants’ view, looking up to him-both physically and metaphorically. On the contrary, high camera angles-looking down- are used

Examples of this include various upward pans such as the pan that allow the viewer to see the treetops of the forest that Maurice and his horse get lost in; this provides additional information allowing the viewer can get the off-putting tone of the forest that would otherwise be left out without the use of camera movement. Another example of upward pans can be seen during most shots of the beast’s castle; due to its sheer size, the pan not only allows us to see the castle in its entirety but also incorporates a low camera angle during the pan to give it a more daunting