Arrested Development!

The scene that I reviewed was from the first episode of season three of Arrested Development-"The Cabin Show." In this scene, we see Michael eating a bowl of cereal watching TV in the living room. His mother enters the scene and they have a conversation about Michael's brother Buster moving in with Michael. In general, the camera work is slightly unsteady, which gives the whole scene a more casual, almost comedic, feel. It almost feels as if it were a home movie ( although not that distracting). This has the effect of positioning the viewer closer to the family. We feel as if we are actually viewing the family's life and not a TV show. We see much of the scene shot from over Michael's shoulder, which indicates that we see the scene from his point of view. This is appropriate as Michael is the narrator the entire show. We get one close up on the mother when she first enters the scene. In this scene, there is one flashback that describes the mother's relationship with Buster about fifteen years ago. The transition between real time and the flashback is a very quick, snap transition. In general, during the dialogue between Michael and his mother, the camera changes from an over the shoulder view of each character to focus on the speaker at the time. This creates a momentum in the scene that keeps the witty conversation rolling. Even when there is a moment of silence between the two characters, the camera keeps snapping back and forth from the two perspectives. When the mother leaves the scene through the front door, the camera zooms out and we watch the mother walk out the door and see Michael's back facing the door in the foreground. This shot helps the viewer situate themself better in the scene by viewing more of the setting of the house. Overall, this camera work moves very quickly and simply. This encourages and highlights the momentum of the dialogue in the show, which is very well written and comedic. The soundtrack is a very light and quick paced instrumental that adds to the light hearted tone of the scene as well.