A look at the cinematography used in a 10-minute section of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(Disclaimer: I realize that not all of these scenes are true cinematography as computer generated images are used quite a bit, but as far as thinking through the angles and such used in cinematography, it's the same process)

Chapter 19 (1:18:35)

Arthur and Marvin are sitting on Magrathea, a frozen planet, framed by a round portal that led their traveling companions to another dimension but left them behind. It's quite symmetric, and the feeling of loneliness is portrayed by a somewhat distant shot only slowly coming in from behind them. The only sound is the hollow wind blowing around. There is an obvious time-lapse from the previous scene with the setting suns. A dark figure walks past briefly, too close to the camera to distinguish who it is, but it allows the audience to know that Arthur and Marvin are not alone, even though they do not yet realize it. When the guest presents himself--there is glissando-like sound that startles us at the same time he startles Arthur. When Slartibartfast uncovers his head, the camera angles emphasize the fact that he's taller, because the angle points up toward him and down toward Arthur. As Arthur contemplates going through the portal, trumpets announce something like new-found courage, and there is a blinding light as they disappear.

The next scene featuring the model-sized worlds is more friendly feeling as it moves a little more quickly, the music is soothing, like a music box, and we're viewing things from a moderate distance--almost as though we were a third person looking around the room with Arthur and his guide, watching them through the glass cabinets. Interesting use of reflection in the glass, allowing us to observe them in a more transparent form while checking out the fjords as well. There are a couple of quick close ups of the "specialty planets," but things are hurrying along fast enough that we, along with Arthur, sort of miss the significance of what is really happening.

As Arthur is guided into the next room and into what looks like a glorified shopping cart on a track, there is not much of anything out of the ordinary that would prepare him for what he's about to experience. We seem to be in a shipping room of some sort, and it is lit by fluorescent lights. We glance down briefly as Slartibartfast pushes a few buttons on the machine, and then the camera backs up and we watch them move out of the room, it sounds a bit like a roller coaster. Again, there is the symmetry as another cart on the other side of the room enters the same time as the first leaves. The only indication that something wild is about to happen is that the music is building. Then, we are in a dark tunnel lit with red lights, and they start picking up speed, heading toward us, conveying a sense of danger... and within a few moments, they are tearing down the tunnel at great speeds, and we get to see a few close ups of Arthur's looks of terror.

When they burst out of the doors, we feel as though the floor has been dropped out from beneath us, because the cart shoots out of the doors and into the distance so quickly, they are quickly just a speck on the screen with large planets all around them. The music soars with high strings, and the cut to a close up of Arthur's wide-eyed expression helps us feel as though we're looking around, taking everything in with him. The slow movement of the cart when we look at it from a distance helps us understand that they're moving through a huge space, kind of like watching a far away jet fly overhead, but then when watch it move through or past structures, they whip past very fast, reminding us how fast they're really going.

Chapter 20 (1:23:04)

We watch from behind as Zaphod, Trinity, and Ford slowly climb up the stairs to the famous computer, Deep Thought. The grunts and moans they make indicate that they've been climbing some time up those stairs. The colors are all muted, and you get the impression that everything is very old. Zaphod's shouts are small in comparison to the computer's louder yet more relaxed voice--and the wind sounds howling in the background let us know that they're at a high elevation and/or in an isolated place. When the camera pans upward toward the computer and the angle widens to fit more in, the "camera" still only takes in what seems to be 1/3 of its "head," giving the impression that she's so big that we can't even see all of her at one time. When the camera cuts back to the threesome, it is from the somewhat higher angle that Deep Thought is looking from, making them appear less significant. This feeling is quadrupled in intensity when the camera jumps even higher and looks down from the top of Deep Thought's head, with the visitors barely visible in the distance. There is a zoom out from a close up of the computer's red eye, but then the remainder of the scene is mostly shot from the angle another person standing with the three would have, looking back and forth between them at a mid-range closeness and zooming back up to the lower bottom of the head or to the red eye again, until we look at the set of stairs that she opens up. We're left with a bit of a cliffhanger as we can only see what the rest of the group sees as they try to peer down the steps - not very much.

We cut back to the scene with Arthur and Slartibartfast just as they're approaching planet Earth II. All of the colors are vibrant again. When we see Earth II for the first time, it's as though we're viewing it from a space shuttle, we can see the top 1/4 of the planet all in one shot, with a black background - looks like it's straight out of a school textbook. We're moving in 'slowly' because we're still so far away. There is a fun transition, similar to the first blast through the doors in the cart, where we are looking straight down into the cart directly down from above, and it catches a different rail and drops straight down and is instantly tiny again, workers still at the top peering down after them. The cut to the vibrant red rock of Australia is brilliant - at first, it seems to be a still picture from a distant road, again, straight out of the textbooks, but then the little cart drops down on the right side with a distant-sounding scream as appear on the screen. One way that speed and movement are portrayed in the close up shots of Arthur and Slartibartfast is by using a very unstable camera. We look over the shoulders of the workers as they piece the world together, painting the rock red, filling the oceans with hoses, etc.

The last scene is quiet and more muted again as we've moved back to Magrathea, home of Deep Thought. We can tell that the characters are underground, because the light is diffused and only coming down the stairs and by artificial means. The only sound at first is the conversation and moving around in a some-what empty room. The angle again is from the perspective of another viewer in the room, as though the cameraman was walking around with a standard (50mm) lens. They do make excellent use of the rule of thirds in this scene during some of the dialogue, keeping the subjects head's in the area that criss-crosses if a tic-tac-toe grid was drawn over the screen. The conversation is comical, and the music reflects this as well. Great zapping sound effects, and the music builds as Zaphod is starts to realize what Trinity has been feeling. When the off-camera mice open the door, the angle is from their point of view - looking up through the frame of the door, and it is a characteristic symmetrical framed shot that ends with another blinding light.