BTW I meant to initiate this discussion in the Q&A forum rather than "wordplay & fun" but no matter.
So is there a term for setting up a shot in a way that puts the viewer into the scene emotionally or in terms of point of view? Some examples of this that come to mind are:
(1) The early scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" when the camera is in the landing craft with the soldiers as they approach the beach, giving the perspective of the soldiers (the floor of the boat, or the back of someone's head).
(2) The long opening shot in "The Dancer Upstairs" in which we're riding through the South American countryside at dusk in a vehicle. The people in the car are not speaking and the only sound is the radio and the road noise.
(3) In "Rosemary's Baby" a phone rings in another room, and the camera stays put while the character goes to answer the phone just beyond our view. We're left in the position of the visitor waiting in the living room. (Director Polanksi remarked that he delighted in watching audience members lean to one side to try to see around the corner.)
(4) In "In the Bedroom" after Tom Wilkins has resolved the conflict (leaving this deliberately vague in case you haven't seen the movie), the camera lingers on sunlight coming through a window while the curtains sway in the breeze.
One term that comes to mind is
cinema verite but that's not quite it. In example (1) Spielberg dabbles in
cinema verite such as letting water slosh up on the lens as if the footage we're seeing is shot by a combat cameraman who is himself in harm's way. But really the techniques are separate but not mutually exclusive. In example (4) I'd say that the shot does more than symbolize serenity -- it is exactly the sort of
sensuous domestic detail that you might take notice of and pleasure in yourself if all were right in the house, so it manipulates you to feel the way the character feels at that moment.
The common thread is that each example puts the viewer into the action in some way. The scenes have other attributes as well. Three of those four create tension by making the viewer wait, for example.
