#7 On Fire! (or How the LS, MS, and CU are used in Daft Punk's Electroma)

In the movie Daft Punk's Electroma, the different shot choices are even more important due to the fact that the film is silent. Near the end, the Long Shot (LS), Mid Shot (MS), Close Up (CU) progression is prominent add creates meaning that is usually dependent on dialogue or facial expressions.

The LS in this sequence shows the second android walking away from his friend who he helped to exploded. The android is clearly sad for his fallen friend, but has no human or human-like face to express this, nor can speak. The LS helps in this respect in that the lone android is seen walking in the desert, engulfed by the scenery that is classic of the LS. He is sad and lonely, and this shot expresses this where the character cannot. Also, the setting of the desert is reestablished by the LS.

Following the LS, the android is seen in MS on his knees in the desert. He has given up, shown by putting the android at the edge of each of the MS. In this range, as opposed to the LS, we are able to view the android unzip his jacket to exposed the self-destruct panel on his back. Desperate to push the button, this shot length is able to show the view his struggle and failure to do so. In the final MS, the android, at the apex of his frustration, proceeds to take off his helmet and smash it on the ground until it breaks. The MS, in this final showing of brute force, is extremely important in order to capture this action.

In the CU shots that follow, we begin with a CU of the helmet-less "face". By showing this, we are reminded of the contradiction that the android, who is supposed to have no emotions, has just displayed a set of emotions linked with being human. We are also faced with the puzzling fact of having an close connection with the android, even though he is not human. The next CU shows the android picking up a fragment of his broken helmet and using the sunlight to catch himself on fire. The CU of the hand setting on fire shows the realness of the flames and give that certian amount of detail that makes the scene even more grotesque.