The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Cinematography and Special Effects

Rule of Thirds

The Cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh

Throughout the whole movie the movie crew did a fantastic job at filming each scene thinking and applying the proper techniques of the rule of thirds. They filmed this scene that our group chose high on mountain tops and rugged terrain. The background on the hike with the hikers had a good balance of beauty and ruggedness. For example, in one scene, Walter Mitty is walking through a valley of snow on the bottom of the screen and on the top third is the mountain horizons. It shows balance, beauty, and loneliness.

 Special Effects
     James R. Bilz
As a graphic design major, I thought it was very interesting how they used the negative space in different scenes to have Walter Mitty's journal entries appear and disappear as he is hiking through the mountains. I liked that it was not just words but that it was handwritten with lines similar to that of a journal. The placement of the journal entries were placed with the snow/rushing water like white paper. It gave a great narrative to the scenes and how he would feel. For example, there was one part where he felt like he was alone and all of the words disappeared except for the word "alone." This special effect allowed the viewers eye to bounce around the screen in a visually appealing way.

 Another Special Effects was replacing backgrounds with appropriate Nepalese imagery using supplied reference and real photographs taken by one of their own artists. “Something that was very successful was not only replacing the backgrounds,” says Rocheron, “but also we tweaked the foregrounds on which Walter is walking. We added cliffs, or little chunks he was walking on, to make them steeper. It was a subtle manipulation to show he was always climbing those mountains and that it was somehow a very hostile environment.”