Camera shots are as important of a part of the storytelling process as setting and characters (depending on the movie). They accomplish so many different tasks with so little effort, such as indirectly inform\ the viewer of the characters' feelings or sets the mood of a given scene. Alex Proyas' Dark City is one of those films in which every single shot was carefully planned out and in which the director knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish with each one.
The perfect scene to mention in relation to Dr. Ramirez Berg's lecture would be the introduction to Jennifer Connelly's character, Emma Murdoch (or, her character at the moment). The film introduces her by showing her performing her job as a lounge singer. She is standing in the center of the stage at the front of the lounge. What few lights there are in the room are focused on her, making her the most illuminated object. Therefore, aside from a couple of cutaway shots to her band members, our attention is focused solely on her. All of what is described below is one continuous camera shot.
Dr. Ramirez Berg explained that the standard shot progression is long shot, then medium shot, then close-up. However, Proyas has elected to introduce Emma to us with this progression reversed. The first shot is actually a close-up of Emma's face. This shot shows us the details of her face. We get to see her wounded eyes and the way in which her lips are moving, letting the words to the song escape from her mouth. We can tell that she is sad about something just by the way in which she is singing the song Sway. Also this is actually the perfect way to introduce us to her. As we find out later in the movie, she very well could have been a completely different person just a couple of hours earlier. Therefore, it shows her in complete isolation, which is very well how you might describe most people inhabiting the titular city because they are constantly receiving new memories. Therefore, everyone really knows no one, and Proyas emphasizes this by isolating her.
Slowly, the camera zooms out to a medium shot. This shot sort of reveals the details of where she is and what she is doing. Earlier, we just knew she was singing and there was a band playing behind her. Now, we begin to learn the specifics of where she is. We also get a bigger hint of the atmosphere of the scene. Most of the light is on here, with some on her band members. However, there are dark spots inbetween them so as to fit the mood of the music. It also serves to hint at the darkness that is permeating Emma's mind. What we started to feel with her eyes and words we now see with her backdrop.
Finally, the camera stops zooming out. It rests on a long shot of Emma. We now see all of the details of where she is, and the mood of the scene is fully revealed. What helps distinguish this shot is the silhouette of a waitress walking by the camera. This reveals to us where she is (a cocktail lounge) and what her purpose there is. The whole stage is present so all of her band members are accounted for. The reason this progression ends on a long shot is to emphasize her isolation. Even though we see that she is not alone in the scene, the close-up shot still remains in our memory and we remember how isolated she was in that shot. The dark spaces inbetween her and her band members sere as individual ways of isolating each character. the camera conveys all of this to us and helps to fully establish the scene.
Below is the scene described above. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7H_1KuJ5SU
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