Camera Techniques In Whale Rider

Several types of camera shots and angles are used in the film. There may not be a deeper intention behind the choice of every shot, but multiple techniques indicate the status of symbols, figures, or nature. Some shots determine the size of a subject in its environment, and subjects can be displayed from different angles.

Extreme long shots are mainly applied to display the environment and the location of the following scene or the whole movie. They do not have to feature a subject (Dise). In Whale Rider, they primarily portray the landscape around Whangara. Once the scenery moves to the village, nature is established as the setting of the plot (Caro 8:00) before at 9:57, the community is presented as a small spot surrounded by nature and sea to introduce Whangara’s location and environment. During the final task of Koro’s school and Pai’s boat trip with Rawiri and his clique, the boats and their passengers are displayed as small dots surrounded by seemingly endless sea and an enormous cliff in the background (Caro 53:43, 1:01:15). This contrast may allude to the superiority of nature.

Long shots feature a person or any other subject completely but are still dominated by the scenery and usually applied to display the relationship between characters and their surroundings (Dise). Pai is featured comparatively frequently in long shots with nature in the background (Caro 8:15, 10:08, 35:35, 48:30, 58:08). This hints at the girl’s strong connection to nature which is further reinforced by her walking around barefoot throughout the entire movie.

Full shots focus on subjects displayed from head to toes. Body language or actions are centred (Dise). Caro uses this technique multiple times. During the children’s performance inside the marae (Caro 10:51), for instance, Pai stands much more upright than the boys. This creates a contrast which is enhanced by Pai’s decent clothes compared to the boys’ slightly oversized shirts and pants, and by their reactions to Hemi passing gas. Five seconds later, the contrast is extended to the audience. Koro is sitting upright with his walking stick going straight down while everyone else appears more relaxed. Also, everybody except him starts laughing at Hemi’s action. Pai and Koro are, hence, contrasted with everyone else concerning their understanding of culture and traditions. When Porourangi and his father are talking inside the marae at 12:56, they are standing quite far away from each other. Koro seems to be actively trying to keep his distance which hints at some tensions and some emotional distance between father and son. One more example is the scene ahead of the school opening at 32:48. The boys are waiting for the opening ceremony of Koro’s school, and hanging on the fence surrounding the marae which illustrates their lethargy and lack of discipline.

Medium shots feature a character from about the waist up. The subject is focused on, but some background is included as well (Dise). During the school opening ceremony, the mid shots of Pai and the boys create a contrast. While the girl keeps her head up and looks attentive (Caro 34:07), the boys’ heads are all hanging down and they nearly seem to be sleepwalking. This contrast is extended to Koro whose body language also differs from everyone else’s during his welcoming speech. While the chief stands upright, the boys appear uninterested, sleepy, and inattentive which is recognisable from their crunched sitting posture and their facial expressions. Some of them even close their eyes out of disinterest (Caro 35:56). Their modern clothing intensifies the contrast since Koro intends to teach them traditional customs, and is wearing a conservative suit. This creates a juxtaposition of him and the boys (Pantazis 0:28).

Medium close-ups and close-ups focus on a person and their emotions, the only difference being while a close-up is limited to the face and, thus, slightly more intense, a medium close-up also includes the shoulders or the neck. However, the intention of both shots is identical (Dise). The first close-up appears at 1:32 when Rehua is depicted fighting death at the hospital, going through immense pain. A medium close-up speaks volumes of Koro’s fury over Anna expecting a child from Porourangi at 22:20. The saddest scene is filmed with a medium close-up. When Pai is ultimately overwhelmed by her emotions due to Koro’s absence during her speech, tears are running down her cheeks at 1:12:06. Some other close-ups illustrate Koro’s sadness and despair, for example about Pai’s farewell at 28:23. He is swallowing, and it looks like he will immediately start crying. After Pai has disappeared with the whale, Nanny’s despair and sorrow are written in her face (Caro 1:24:05).

Extreme close-ups display details of an item or subject, like a person’s eye or mouth (Dise). At 2:28, Rehua’s lips are zoomed onto while she is saying “Paikea”, the last word of her life and her death-bed will. The camera then moves to Pai’s mouth, and then to her eye when she opens it for the first time. This motif recurs during the stranding when Pai wakes up and sees what happened at night (Caro 1:14:14). From this repetition, one might conclude the day of the stranding is the day the new whale rider arises. Moreover, the rope used to turn the whale is featured in detail when Rawiri ties it up at 1:18:40, when it snaps at 1:19:50, and then when it sinks to the ground at 1:23:21. This stresses its symbolic importance. The same technique is applied when the boys cannot keep the whale tooth from sinking to the seafloor at 55:20, and then during the handovers from Rawiri to Nanny at 1:03:38 and from Nanny to Koro at 1:26:26. These shots suggest this object is absolutely crucial.

Two shots display two subjects simultaneously (Dise) and are effective to illustrate their relationship or differences between them. An expressive two shot can be spotted at 48:40 when Pai is overtaken by the friends of Hemi’s father sitting in the car. It becomes immediately clear that Pai puts as much distance between herself and the clique as possible by walking at the edge of the road and holding her taiaha between the car and herself. Combined with her toneless voice, her glum facial expression, and her not looking at the car passengers, this creates an image of ultimate reluctance. Additionally, a juxtaposition of tradition and modernity is constructed, with Pai walking down the street barefoot and carrying a traditional item while the clique is sitting in a lowered car, listening to hip-hop music, and wearing sunglasses and caps or beanies. Another two shot features Nanny and Pai when the girl needs to move to Rawiri’s house during Koro’s depression (Caro 58:01). They are walking close to each other, and Nanny is keeping her head up while Pai is hanging hers. In the directly ensuing shot taken from behind, Nanny has put her arm around her grandchild which evokes the impression of her protecting Pai.

In the over the shoulder shot, while the camera focuses on one subject, the second one’s shoulder and head are still visible from behind. This shot is frequently used during verbal interactions to establish a connection between the two subjects featured; furthermore, it is a useful technique to capture the reactions of both figures during their interaction (Dise). At the end of the rope scene, when Koro immediately turns off the boat engine Pai has started at 18:28 and tells her not to do something like this again, the girl’s face can be seen over his shoulder. Pai’s deep disappointment with this reaction is unmissable as her smile indicating pride and delight at helping her grandfather abruptly vanishes from her face. After that, Koro’s face is displayed over Pai’s shoulder. His facial expression is fierce, and he seems to be minimally shaking his head at the girl’s action.

Reaction shots are effective to display the reaction of a subject to the preceding shot (Dise). Caro mainly applies them during verbal interactions like the conversation between Porourangi and Koro inside the marae. They are captured in turns from 13:20. Koro does not move at all while talking to his son who has just arrived for a visit. Additionally, his head goes downwards all the time which makes him look up to Porourangi. This could be interpreted as hopelessness because Koro feels his son will not follow in his father’s footsteps due to his long absence and his pretty successful career as an artist. Porourangi, in contrast, appears more interested in touching the wooden ornaments and embroideries on the walls than in his father’s words. He also constantly looks towards the wall and only occasionally turns to Koro. From the way he touches everything in the room, it seems like he has forgotten how being back home fells, and, thus, needs to regain his connection to his hometown. This notion is supported by his slightly reluctant and clipped movements.

Scenes can basically be filmed from three different angles. One of them is the eye level shot. As this angle is set around human eye level and assigns a neutral connotation to the subjects featured, its use will not be further investigated.

The high angle shot, however, is worth analysing. Being depicted from above eye level can let a subject appear weak, vulnerable, or scared (Dise). In Whale Rider, multiple characters and figures are displayed from a high angle, for instance, Porourangi’s family including Rehua, his dead son, and Pai in a hospital room at 3:06. Here, the idea might be to portray the family as weak since it is incomplete. Koro is undoubtedly featured from this angle more frequently than anyone else. For the first time, the camera captures him and the boys from above during the first lesson of his school, Paikea’s chant (Caro 36:43). The same applies to the taiaha lesson at 37:15. Choosing the high angle for the teacher and his students might aim at illustrating the lack of prospects of the school. Koro is constantly displayed from a high angle and, thus, presented as weak from the moment the boys fail to retrieve his rei puta, namely when he lays down in his bed out of depression at 57:09, when he is still lying there while being invited to Pai’s school ceremony at 1:04:29, and when he kneels down next to one of the beached whales at 1:10:28. When he approaches Paikea’s whale at 1:16:19, the angle again indicates his weakness.

The whales are mainly presented as powerful but while being stranded, they are displayed from above which lets them appear powerless, vulnerable, and weak. This makes sense since once a whale has left the water, it is immobilised, helpless, and endangered to perish by drowning. An example of whales being filmed from above is the scene featuring Pai looking out of the window down to the beach at 1:14:35. Pai is occasionally depicted from a higher position, for instance in the bathtub when she is probably going through the most difficult stage of her life after Koro has just become furious with her for defiling the sacred knowledge through defeating Hemi. Some locals are also displayed from a higher level at 1:18:52 while trying to turn the whale around. Since the rescue operation fails, they can be called weak. When the rope has snapped, everyone turns away from the whale, resigned, with their heads hanging down (1:20:47). This indicates the tribe’s weakness without Pai.

Low angle shots are taken from below eye level which can lead to the subject appearing powerful, dangerous, or heroic (Dise). This angle is applied with the whales more frequently than with any other subject or item. Several high angle shots capture the animals while swimming underwater which contributes to them being perceived as powerful creatures. Examples are the scenes at 2:02, 30:00, 40:58, or 1:25:14. An object presented as powerful is Porourangi’s unfinished waka. It is repeatedly displayed from a lower position even before it is finished (Caro 14:32, 1:04:11, 1:16:04), and during the finale at 1:30:05. This canoe has the potential to enable the locals to explore new horizons, so it represents Whangara’s future. Paikea’s statue is captured from a low angle too at 10:18 and 37:10. This underlines Paikea is still seen as a hero and powerful through heritage. Two scenes also display groups of children from below. While the first one depicts three children playing outside (Caro 18:55), the second one features Paikea and her schoolmates during the ceremony at 1:06:02. The children onstage are displayed from a low angle which might suggest children are powerful because they are still young and able to influence the future of Whangara. Pai is also presented as powerful through a low angle shot when she fixes the rope at 18:18. Afterwards, she is displayed from this position during her school speech at 1:09:13. These two scenes illustrate she could be a suitable new leader as she has the potential. She is also displayed from below when she has climbed the whale at 1:23:05, and lastly while holding on to the whale underwater (Caro 1:25:36). All these scenes illustrate Pai has become a powerful figure by revealing herself as the new leader and whale rider.