The role of establishing shots in Casablanca.

Michael Curtiz's film Casablanca perfectly conforms to the traits of the “Classical Hollywood Cinema” in several aspects, from it’s narrative structure to the melodrama in the film. However, Casablanca also makes use of filming techniques, most notably, the establishing shot, in order to better organize the narrative for the audience without necessarily detracting from the easy flow of the movie. The establishing shot serves as a silent introduction to all the characters and the settings pertinent to the scene that is about to take place. There are several prominent examples of establishing shots throughout the movie. As can be seen in the following scene for example, there is a quick establishing shot of the inside of Rick’s Café Americain just before Rick is introduced to Major Strasser by Captain Renault, which helps the audience orient themselves with where events in the narrative are occurring. Also, the opening scene of the movie has a series of establishing shots combined with a voice over narration to inform the audience of the historical context of the movie . Establishing shots primarily help the audience in understanding where a narrative is taking place and the significance of all the shown characters within that narrative.