Casey Stock

Christopher Jacobs

Introduction to Film

19 April 2017

Editing and Cinematography: The Hunger Games

The scene out of the 2012 film, The Hunger Games that I chose to analyze is called “The

Reaping”. This scene is about four minutes long and consists of around 105 different shots,

according to my own counting. “The Reaping” starts out with Effie Trinket standing on the stage

of District 12 ready to announce who will be participating in the seventy-forth hunger games.

The camera is in a low-angle view to show that she is superior to not only the citizens of District

12, but also the audience viewing the film. Additionally, the camera is at a close-up shot of

Effie’s face for a dramatic effect. After this first shot of the scene, the next one is a high-angle

shot, with a medium-long view of the citizens of District 12. Here the camera is above the

citizens so the audience is looking down on them. This is also implying Effie’s superiority, and

the innocence and hatred that the citizens have towards Effie. After this, the camera switches

between viewing Effie speaking to the audience, to the audience listening to her speak. In the

midst of all the shot changes at this point in the scene, there are medium close-up shots of

everyone in the scene who has some sort of significance. There are at least one, if not more shots

of Katniss, Gale, Primrose, Mrs. Everdeen, and Peeta standing in the crowd looking up at Effie.

As Effie reaches her hand into the large glass bowl that contains all the female’s names to

choose a participant, the camera is tracking Effie’s hand. She slowly sticks her arm out, reaches

into the bowl, twirls her hand around, sticks her hand into the papers and very quickly pulls out a
folded-up piece of paper. Then the camera shot changes to behind Effie as she walks back to the

microphone, and the audience watching can start to see Effie opening the piece of paper, making

it seem like they will be able to read the name as she opens it. The camera shot then switches to

once again, a low-angle close-up shot of Effie on the stage and watches her open the paper and

smile as she reads the name in her head. A then quick switch to a medium long-shot happens as

she reads aloud “Primrose Everdeen”. Right after the name is read aloud, the shot goes to a

close-up of Primrose standing in the crowd and the expression on her face. Then it goes to her

older sister Katniss so the audience can see the expression on her face, then back again to

Primrose. The camera then follows her as she heads towards the stage and tucks the back of her

shirt in which has a connection to a scene earlier in the movie.

The quick changes of camera shots in this scene are used strategically to create suspense;

once the audience becomes familiar with a shot/face, it immediately switches to keep holding

their attention. Majority of the shots in this scene are under two seconds long, and the shots that

go longer than that are the ones where the editors were trying to create a change of pace

momentarily, and then go right back to the quick changes. This kind of camera work and editing

works effectively for creating suspense because with the quick shots happening over and over

again, with shots consisting of around 5 seconds in between them, makes the most dramatic

moments that much more dramatic because they stick out. For example, one of the longer takes

is when Effie is sticking her hand in the bowl of names, and as a member of the audience all I

was thinking was “just pick the name already!” The editors made this effect on purpose to keep

the viewers on the edge of their seat.

There is a flashback in this scene once the male participants name is called, Peeta

Mellark. The editors made it clear and easy to interpret that this part of the scene was a flashback
in a few ways. The switch happens once Katniss and Peeta look each other in the eye, then the

lighting of the flashback is extremely dark and disorientated, again with the dutch-angle shot to

show the audience that the world is out of balance. Even within the flashback, all the five shots

are extremely short, consisting of less than two seconds. Editors did this to keep the suspense

alive and to stay consistent with the feel of the rest of the scene.

Katniss ends up volunteering herself as tribute so her little sister does not have to

participate in the Hunger Games. Once Katniss steps onto the stage the camera shows her in a

dutch-angle shot. According to our textbook, a dutch-angle shot gives the impression that the

world is out of balance, and that is exactly what is happening in this scene. The Hunger Games is

about children killing each other and the dystopian world they live in, and this camera shot

implies all of this. This angle is something that is small but reoccurring in The Hunger Games.

The camerawork and editing throughout the scene “The Reaping”, along with the rest of the film

is strategic and thought went in to each and every angle, shot, and cut. The editors were effective

in creating suspense, making Effie seem superior, displaying a flashback and short cuts all within

this short but important four-minute scene.

Word Count: 925