Nice shot

There's a million beautiful shots from films out there, but I just thought I'd highlight a couple of cool ones that I've had on my mind recently (and from DVDs I have sitting next to me).

Elephant
This is an amazing shot. And a really hard one to pull off... you have a long Steadicam shot (it's about 2 minutes - the clip is only part of it), the actors have to hit their marks, the camera operator has to hit his, and to top it off you have an in-camera speed change at the end, which, while it looks beautiful in the shot, is insanely hard to pull off right; plus, when the speed change happens, the camera operator is walking backwards(!). Anyway, I just always thought this shot was really beautiful, and it was actually this shot, which I had seen in the trailer, that really made me want to see the movie in the first place.
Click on the picture below to watch the scene. (3 MB, Windows Media Player required)



The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
I always liked this shot, near the end of Return of the King... It's a great moment where Gollum has finally stolen the ring from Frodo, and in this moment hope has drowned out of everything, and the camera pulls up from Gollum's face, up out of the ring, and cranes high above everything, while the music becomes a sad, somber nothing. Boy am I glad Peter Jackson finally got Best Director for this.
Click on the picture below to watch the scene. (1 MB, Windows Media Player required)