Steven Speilberg is a master storyteller and this shot from Catch Me If You Can is one of the reasons why. The setup is simple Frank,Leonardo Dicaprio’s character is walking to his hotel room and he catches the eye of a model played by Jennifer Garner. I’m sure the script simply says Frank walks to his room and a woman sees him and they talk. What Speilberg does is so creative, instead of seeing a full shot of Frank you see his shoes, his shoes tell a story, they say “I’m balling!” When he passes Garner her shoes say “You see this sparkly bling on me? I’m that bitch” At least that’s how I read it, you may have your own interpretation. When her shoes turn around it shows that she’s interested.
The rest of the scene is great, Frank looks like a million dollars. The scene is really put together well but the opening is so damn dope, this shot has stuck with me for years. That’s a part of being a great director, reading a script and figuring out creative way to interpret what’s on the page.
Later.
