The document describes various cinematography techniques used in the film 12 Angry Men. It notes that the film features tracking shots of the jury, close-ups of their reactions in the courtroom, and non-diegetic sad string music as they enter the jury room. Various shots are used to convey emotions, like over-the-shoulder shots when characters look out windows or zoom-ins on nervous facial expressions. Lighting and camera angles are also used to make characters appear weaker or stronger.

1. 12 angry men notes
 Multiple tracking shots follow different people, making it look busy
 Court scene starts with a long shot of the jury, showing them and the judge. It the
pans across them with a close-up (cut zoom in) showing their reaction. The speaking
judge can still be heard (diegetic, synchronous)
 Slow, minor key string music plays as the jury enter the room, making it seem sad
(non-diegetic, asynchronous)
 Jury are dressed smartly in suits (noir convention), making them look important
 Jury member smoking (noir convention)
 Same tracking in the jury room
 Over-the-shoulder shot of man looking out of the window, which shows what he is
looking at. Suggests he is thinking
 Long take in the jury room as everyone gets ready to sit down and discuss, which
shows everything in real time, showing how long it takes for them to just start
 Cross-cuts between the lead speaker and the rest of the table
 Wide shot as jury raise their hand to vote for the first time
 Cross-cuts between close-ups between “not guilty guy”, which shows his emotions
and others reactions
 Short takes/multiple cuts whilst decision is being made to show the rapid
conversation
 Medium show of the guy with big glasses, which shows his body composition and
facial expression, allowing us to see that he is nervous
 Diegetic/asynchronous sound of the whistle suggests that it is in a busy area
 Constant nose wiping suggests jury member is ill
 Picture of man + child gives backstory
 Man who talked about his family is tracked whilst everyone else continues talking,
which shows that he is sad about what he just talked about
 Shallow focus/zoom in to close up of the jury leader highlight his emotions by
blurring out everyone else
 Dull tones and colours in the jury room (noir convention)
 Movie contains mention of murder (noir convention)
 Slow zoom into one of the members as loud brass music plays, which suggests that
he may know something
 2-shots commonly used to show conversation, which allows us to see reaction of
both people
 High angle at old man makes him look weaker, which suggests that the rest of the
jury look down on him. The shot then becomes neutral, which suggests that they are
starting to listen and agree
 Commonly zooms into the speaker to put more focus on them

2.  Show showing not-guilty man + nervous man in frame, suggesting that they are
joining sides
 Medium long shot of man with paper shows him speaking and his notes he is reading
off. He points half way down the page, which shows that he made a lot of notes and
is being rational
 Zoom in to feet/emphasised scraping sound puts more focus on the limping
 Wide angle of everyone shows all but one person grouped together, staring at the
man who won’t change his verdict (after limp demonstration)
 Dark sweat patches on man’s shirt shows its hot
 Diegetic/asynchronous sound of thunder + rain lets us know it’s raining without
showing us it. Wide angle shows the reactions to the thunder. It breaks the tension
for a bit
 Horizontal blinds (noir convention)
 Tearing of paper shows boredom (enhanced sound of the ripping highl ights even
more)
 Comment about foreign worker coming over shows the time of the movie/racism.
Was also the height for American dreamers moving to America looking for the
“American Dream”
 Drip of sweat on the head of the man asked about the cinema shows he is nervous
and shaken
 Rapid cuts to close ups of hands being raised puts emphasis on the count of hands
and how many people not think not guilty
 Wide shot showing everyone getting up and walking from the man who votes guilty
shows a separation
 Constant sound of the fan and the rain adds emphasis to any silence
 The use of 2 tables put together represents a split that will join (guilty voters
changing to not guilty)
 Shadows over faces (noir convention)
 When there’s only 1 guilty voter, there are cuts to group shots of the not-guilty
voters. This shows unity between them
 Shot through the jacket rack highlights everyone getting their jackets and leaving
 Man who starts not-guilty is in a white suit. Shows purity. He is the protagonist
 Man who is last to change vote is in a black suit. Shows evil and corruption. He is the
antagonist
 High angle shot of the jury outside makes them look weaker. Shows they are not as
important now they are a standard civilian.