The Euphoric Feeling of Watching TV

 The HBO phenomenon, Euphoria, is known for its glittery makeup, Emmy award winning acting and the most popular cinematic videography. The cinematography utilized within Euphoria is best known for its storytelling capabilities. In the opening scene, we go through a montage of Rue's memory of her childhood as to how she became addicted to drugs. 

The scene starts with a focused shot of Rue’s mother with the background blurry, but then gains focus on young Rue. This is to insinuate to the viewer that we are looking at things from Rue’s past from her perspective. Throughout the montage, we see scenes starting with zooming out to give more of a perspective to Rue’s state of mind during that moment of her life, as well as a series of pan shots when she is moving from one room to another. Particularly in the scene where she begins to start taking her mother's pills, the transition would be her opening and closing the cabinet on various different days, utilizing the spatial mobility of the camera putting the viewer in Rue’s mind through her journey within this scene. The best use of this spatial mobility would be when Rue is in a lockdown and all she can think about is doing drugs. The camera zooms in on her during the lockdown but zooms out of her in her room, with an above head shot, once again zooming in as she snorts cocaine and spirals to the audience can experience the high with her. With the flashing lights and slow motion shots, it makes the viewer feel as if they are truly high with the character. 

It is through the cinematography much like this that makes the viewer feel as if they are in the head of the character as well as experiencing things with them. I think what makes Euphoria so unique is the way the cinematography makes the viewer feel. It is through this unique and never before seen cinematography which won this show it’s Emmy nomination and recognition.