Mandujano 1

America Mandujano
Maham Khwaja
Film 1023
December 5,2016
Cinematography of Whiplash
For my report I decided to write about the cinematography of Whiplash. I will be
discussing the framing, that resembles Andrew Neymans isolation and is seen throughout the
film, including camera angles and framing that portray power and weakness. I will also be
talking about the camera distance to depict interest,
last but not least I will be talking about the use of
color and lighting throughout the film.
The opening scene of the film you can see
that Neyman is in a frame within a frame and does
not care about the world outside of his drumming
and only seems to care about what Fletcher has to say about him. Neyman is a focused musician.
So when you see Neyman at the beginning, you can tell that his obsession with drumming has
led him into isolation and loneliness. This then leads him to breakup with his girlfriend. A little
while after Neyman broke up with Nicole, he calls
her to see if he can get her back. As he is talking to
her, he is standing in front of a window
representing his hope and positivity into getting her
back, but when he finds out that Nicole is in a new

Mandujano 2
relationship, he walks into another room ending up being framed by a door frame, representing
his loneliness and isolation once again.Another thing you notice is the isolation from Neyman
and his father. There is a scene where they are in the kitchen and they barely look at each other
and the kitchen cabinet is framing Neyman and being distant from his father. Andrew Neyman
and his father have separate goals and sometimes his father doesnt understand what his son
wants.
Framing is not the only important feature we see throughout the film, but we see the
different camera angles they use to portray weakness and power. For example when Fletcher
talks to his students, colleagues, and just about anybody, Fletcher is always shown in a low angle
shot, and the rest are shown in a high angle shot. Another example of this is when the band is
rehearsing and Fletcher is kept on the top left
side of the frame and the students are at the
bottom right side. The victim is seen from above
which makes them weak, and the oppressor is
seen from below which makes, Fletcher in this
case, powerful. As you can see in the image above Fletcher is always looking down on people. A
combination of these techniques shows just how powerful Fletcher is and how intense he can be.
Throughout the movie you can see that only a few characters make eye contact with Fletcher and
when someone does makes eye contact with him, it almost immediately breaks. There are a few
characters that manage to keep eye contact with
Fletcher and even manage a conversation at eye level
with him. Neyman is one of those people. Neyman

Mandujano 3
managed to keep eye contact with Fletcher and have a full conversation with him. For example
Neyman has a conversation with Fletcher in the hallway when he gets recruited into the band.
They also have conversation before the show and at the jazz club. Because Neyman could keep
eye contact with Fletcher, it says a whole lot about his character. Neyman and Fletcher have an
interesting relationship. Alone Fletcher is just a strict an abusive teacher, and Neyman is just a
dreaming drummer. But together Fletcher can push Neyman to his full potential so that he can
finally get a star student, or, how he describes in the movie, the next Charlie Parker. and
Neyman is willing to endure anything to become the best. In the outside they absolutely dislike
each other but deep down they know they need the other person to accomplish what they want.
Speaking of relationships, let's
look back at Neymans and Nicoles
break up scene. As Neyman explains to
Nicole why their relationship isnt going
to work and there is no way in changing
his mind, the camera starts off with a medium close
up of Neymans face and it is distant to Nicoles.
This shows that Neyman has control of the situation
but as he finishes saying what he has to say, the
camera distances has changed. Neyman is now
farther away and Nicole is now closer. This
symbolizes their interest in the conversation.
Nicole is devoted to the relationship and does not

Mandujano 4
want it to end. Neyman on the other hand, has said what was on his mind and nothing will
change his mind. In the end Nicole understands that nothing will change his mind and the camera
then gives them both equal distances, which
signifies their shared disinterest in the
relationship. It was the same distance they had
when they first dated. Only now, neither of them
are interested in the relationship.(Fig. Scene of
when they first started dating)

Another example of camera distance is when Neyman is giving his last performance of
the film. Fletcher gets him there to humiliate him but when Neyman comes back on stage he
starts to play Whiplash and ends up interrupting/ humiliating Fletcher. As he begins to play,
Fletcher approaches Neyman and
threatens him. Even though neyman is
sitting below and has to look up at
Fletcher, he is no longer viewed weak
and you can see this when the camera
capture the look on Neymans eyes. Fletcher then got over it and decided to just go along with it.
He immediately noticed that he finally
got his Charlie Parker. Then Fletcher
got into eye level with Neyman which
means that he has respect for him and
then you finally see them working

Mandujano 5
together in great sync and harmony. Then both Fletcher and Neyman get an extreme close up of
their faces to show that they both are happy with their achievements.

Fletcher then becomes Neymans father figure

and Neymans father becomes an outcast. And you see
this when his father is looking at his son perform from
the back of the auditorium. He is being framed by the
doors portraying that he has become outcasted from his
sons life. All he wants to do is support and protect his
son. He simply just doesnt understand why his son will go through all of Fletchers harassment
just to become the best.
Now I will be talking about how color and lighting is being used throughout the film. A
lot of the scenes have a warm color. It is filtered with a yellow light (low key lighting) and
focuses more on the performance scenes. It highlights Neymans interest in performing. They
also use cool soothing colors. Like a
blue-ish color. It seems more neutral and
the scenes are colored regularly. It
represents Neymans two different worlds
of being on stage and then being off stage. On stage he is a complete different person. He is

Mandujano 6
focused, derived, and intense. Which is why the light is yellow. But when the low key lighting
gets replaced by the cool lighting its Neyman living a normal life, and he finds normal, well,
boring.
This is one of my favorite films and I learned a lot going into this class. I had no idea that
this movie was full of symbolic clues, but I guess all movies do. I have learned that the framing
in this film represents Neymans isolation from the world, and that the specific angles and
framing of Fletcher and other characters highlights Fletchers power and his students weakness.
Distance implies Neymans interest and disinterest on other characters. Low key lighting and
high key lighting highlight the interest in Neymans performance, the drama that happens along
the way. The END.

Mandujano 7
Work Cited Page
FilmOwl Studios. The Darker Meaning Behind Whiplashs Ending/ Mini Film Analysis.
YouTube.YouTube. 22 Feb. 2015. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.
Matt Martin, Framing the Picture: Editing and Cinematic Graph in Whiplashs Ending.
YouTube. 7 April. 2015, Web. 5 Dec. 2016.
Seeing Whiplash : Lighting For the Love of Movies. Wordpress. 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 5 Dec.
2016
StarPilots. Beyond The Scenes- Whiplash sequence analysis YouTube. 1 Feb. 2015. Web. 5
Dec. 2016