Thinking about movies!

In the movie clip from Garden State, Sam and Andrew are in a waiting room at the hospital; Andrew is waiting for an appointment and Sam is supposedly waiting for a friend, but we find out later this is a lie. They start talking and Sam offers Andrew her headphones and asks him to listen to this song, it will “change his life”. He listens to the song for a few seconds, while staring at her, and gives the headphones back and tells her thanks. Then, they talk for a few minutes about why they are at the hospital. He is then called for his appointment, finally introduces himself, finds out her name, and leaves.


The clip uses many close-ups of the two characters and medium shots. The close-ups show the characters’ emotions and establishes their characters, since the story is about the main character Andrew finding out more about himself, through learning about Sam. The close-ups also are point-of-view shots. During the series where Andrew is listening to the song, we look at Sam through Andrew’s point-of-view, and vice versa, and it gives us a very intimate feeling, despite the fact that they are in a waiting room of a hospital.

There is a long shot when Sam is trying to get Andrew to listen to the song, and she is curled up on one of the chairs. It shows their body language and gives you the feeling that the situation is awkward because they are both tilted slightly away from each other.

When they are introducing themselves there is a low-angle and high-angle shot. The low-angle shot is used when Andrew is introducing himself and we are looking at Sam. It is used in this way because it is showing that Andrew is the dominant character and holds the power in their “relationship”. Sam has already put herself out there by initiating conversation, sustaining it with little help from Andrew, and now she is waiting for him to make the next move. The high-angle shot is used when Sam introduces herself to Andrew, showing the power dichotomy.

The music is used is a very powerful way in this clip. She is asking him to listen to it. She is sharing something of herself with this music. It gives us an opportunity to see more about her character. If she had given him hardcore punk music, or classical music, we would have assumed something different about her character. She also tells him that it will “change your life” so this song must mean something to her.


In my classroom I am planning on teaching film and editing techniques by having students contribute to a classroom paper that reviews TV programs and movies. In this classroom or online newspaper students would be involved in critiquing a TV show or movie based not only on the storyline and sequence of events, but also on the techniques that they used to convey messages. This would make students think about films and programs in a different light, but also work on their writing skills.

Since I am not a Language Arts teacher, but a licensed Social Studies teacher, I think that it would be powerful to have students connect a movie to the event on which the movie was based. The paper or project would be more meaningful when students think about the way in which certain techniques involving lighting, music, and angles are used to convey a message, and exactly which message the director wanted us to receive. Instead of just watching the movie for the historic relevance or interpretation, the students could write about what the director wanted us to think about this event, and what their interpretation is. This is a way to make movies more meaningful in social studies education.