A studious young man, an open book these two images swirl around the screen in a
kaleidoscope effect, this was the introductory scene of "Good Will
Hunting." This scene is followed by Ben Afflick, knocking on Will's door,
when Will comes out a credit rolls by that says, "screenplay written by Ben
Afflick and Matt Damon," just as the two walk side by side. This shows how
perfectly the makers of this movie have everything timed, down to the credits.
Also, the timing shows when the professor's assistant and Will are alone and the
assistant tells Will how lucky he is to have someone believe in him as the
professor does. Just as he finishes saying this the professor walks in and
suddenly the assistant has something better to do than just sit there so he gets
up and leaves. The cinematography in this movie is good, as right of way the
viewer of this movie knows Will lives in one of the poorer sections of Boston,
as his front yard is cluttered with junk and the look of the neighborhood
surrounding his house is anything but colorful. The neighborhood looks gray and
drab. Also, one of the many settings is a local bar which has the look of a
neighborhood bar with Christmas type lights strung and normal looking people
filling the place. Another setting is a Harvard classroom and a community
college classroom. In the Harvard classroom the students appear to be attentive,
clean cut, well dressed, and enthusiastic, while the students in the community
classroom are barely awake, dressed grubby, and aren't grasping what the
professor is saying. The camera angles in this movie are as effective as the set
appearance. When Will is trying to solve a formula he writes his work on his
mirror with a dry erase marker. The camera blurs out will and focuses on the
formula and also does the opposite. While writing the formula out, the shots
fade to the same shot but at a different angle creating a feeling that some time
is passing by. Also, to support this feeling each time the formula is showed
there is more added to it than one can write in the brief moment that it took to
come back to it with the camera. Additionally, the benefit of having the scene
of him writing on the mirror lets the viewer see him concentrating on the
formula and lets the viewer see the formula being written out which shows the
viewer how intelligent Will must be, since the formula probably made little
sense to him or her. Another effect was a fight scene captured in slow motion.
After the fight scene the cops showed up and many flashes of the scene from
different camera angles appeared creating a feeling of confusion and made it
seem speeded up without it being filmed in fast motion. During this movie many
close ups were filmed where the eyes were the only bit of color on the screen.
When Will starts talking to prove a point, which is several times through out
the movie, the camera zooms in on him concentrating on his eyes. However, while
Will and his friends were in the car the camera looks at each one individually
from a distance while mellow music is playing while it is getting deeper into
the evening. This creates a feeling of a long day coming to an end with Will and
his friends being exhausted. Robin Williams tells Will a story about a World
Series game and as he tells it Will gets very into it and adds his recollection
of the game. They start talking fast the more in depth they get into the game.
As they recall the game, parts of the game flash on the screen as they seem to
be commentating it at this point. One scene is of Will looking at a painting in
Robin Williams's office. It's of a rowboat in the sea during a storm. The
painting is mostly gray due to it being primarily of the storm but even that has
several streaks of color in it. In the center of the painting is a small boat
being rowed by a man with his back turned, the man sticks out of the painting
being the most colorful. As Will was trying to analyze the painting verse Robin
Williams the camera angle is from the painting's point of view with Will right
there but to the left and Williams behind him to the right. More attention is
paid to Williams as the camera focuses on him and as Will talks he is cut out of
the picture. Williams gets flustered and snaps at Will. Will struck a nerve and
his face illuminates from a light source that is coming from the direction of
the painting. "Good Will Hunting" also had good sound effects. One
effect is when Will and his friends walk through their neighborhood in the
background there are sirens. Another was while the professor and Williams are in
a stuffy upper-class restaurant. The background noise in this scene is a piano
being played. Additionally, during one of Will's counseling sessions with
Williams, Will is reluctant to speak so they sit in silence while shots of the
clock appear with shots of Will twiddling his thumbs and Robin sitting there
staring at the clock as the only audible noise is the ticking of the clock.
Furthermore, Will and Skyla get into an argument as Will is yelling he pounds
his fist on the wall. This emphasizes what he says. "Good Will
Hunting" is a good movie that was well directed. It is more of a dramatic
film than any other kind, although humor and action can be found in it. The
camera angles, cinematography, and music and sound effects make this movie worth
seeing as it adds to the quality of it.