Westerfield: Beowulf's Arrival

When analyzing Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, one has to keep in mind the film was originally screened in 3D and as such several of the scenes were designed to exploit that effect. Consequently, we have scenes like Beowulf's arrival to the shores of Hrothgar's lands, where he is greeted by a mounted soldier and has a spear thrust in his face in such a way that, to the audience of the 3D version, it looks like it's protruding out at them. But, regardless of dimension this is an awkward scene. The spear point doesn't so much come forward as simply appear and the knight's arm doesn't even move the spear while this is happening. This exaggerated perspective combined with the tight framing obscures the level of depth within the scene so that the spear looks cumbersome instead of dynamic. Part of the purpose of this camera angle is to serve as an equalizer, by placing Beowulf at the same height as the mounted soldier as it pans left. If anything the height difference should be emphasized, like through an over-the-shoulder shot from the back of the soldier looking down on Beowulf so that it could be contrasted with his defiance of the native authority.
The lighting of this scene positions Beowulf as the dominant of the scene by utilizing the primary contrast of the orange and yellows of his skin and hair against a relatively blue and vacant background. It's difficult to comment on the effectiveness of the lighting key because of the use of 3D, which has the side effect of making the general lighting of a film darker, but for this scene the choice of a stylized look works relatively effectively. The only qualm here is the lack of reflective lighting within the eyes of the characters.