Smooth Talk Cinematic Techniques

During the mid-1960s many teenagers started to branch out of their comfort zone and started a path of rebellion with drinking, drugs, and sex. In the movie Smooth Talk takes place around the 1960s and talks about a fifteen-year-old girl name Connie, who spends the summer before her sophomore year fixating on getting male attention. While she is hounded by her mother, Katherine nags her about painting the house and favors her older sister, Connie spends her days going to the mall with her friends. One day, while the rest of her family is having a barbeque, Connie is confronted at home by a handsome, dangerous stranger, Arnold Friend who has been watching her. Throughout their confrontation Connie Learns that she is not prepared for the real

world and is trying to grow up too fast. The director Joyce Chopra does a good job of using different cinematic techniques to portray the theme of this movie and the lessons that should be taken out of it. Based on the story Where are you going, where have you been and the uses of close up, lighting, and low angle Chopra are able to do a good job of delivering the message of Connie abandoning her child like fantasy and entering the reality of adulthood.
The first cinematic technique that helped portray the message in the movie Smooth Talk is close up.

Close up tends to take up at least 80 percent of the frame and this helps get a feel for what a character is thinking. One example of this technique being used is when Connie and her friends were changing their clothes at the mall. The director did a good job of using this technique because it helped the audience get a sense of a coming of age moment for Connie as she dresses in very short clothing. Another example of this technique being used is the confrontation between Connie and Arnold where you can see Arnold is making Connie get into the car. The director decided to do this to show the innocence of Connie being taken away and consequently to show the audience her vulnerability. The last example that shows close takes place in the scene where Connie is making out with the guy in the car shows another situation of her losing her innocent. The close up shot on Connie shows the emotion of fear and sadness in Connie face. Connie has created an attractive adult persona through her clothing, hairstyle, and moreover her general behavior and nevertheless gets the attention she desires from boys. But Connie confuses her ability to command attention from the boys with her desire to have them pursue her in a sexual way. These close up shots are very useful in showing the detail and emotion of the

character.
The second cinematic technique that helped portray the message of the movie was low angle. Low Angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful. In the movie Smooth Talk one example of the is the scene with Connie and her mom on the outside of the house painting. You can see that her mom is standing on top of the ladder and Connie is standing at the bottom. The director chose to do this because the audience are able to see the level of power Connie’s mom has on Connie and the type of authority she has on her.