No, Its Iowa

Shot Analysis for Field of Dreams

Mandy Jacobs
September 21, 2015
Besides an initial first-person voice-over narration introducing how Ray Kinsella (Kevin
Cosner) met his beloved wife Annie (Amy Madigan), had their daughter Karin, and decided to
start a family farm in Iowa, this is the first scene in Field of Dreams, (1989; directed by Phil Alden
Robinson; cinematography by John Lindley) a movie about a farmer who mows down his fields
to build a baseball diamond at the command of a mysterious voice inside his head. The voiceover establishes the expectation of the film as being a sensible story about a young couple and
their life on their farm, and the subsequent scene, pictured above, quickly deconstructs that
expectation. While working in his field one night, Ray hears a voice whispering If you build it,
he will come. After this inciting incident, there are no more misconceptions about Field of Dreams
being anything but an unapologetic fantasy in which the ghosts of the great baseball players of
the past return to play ball. This opening scene functions as exposition to establish the farmland
setting, the character Ray and his relationship with his family, and most importantly, the
mysterious and mystical mood that the rest of the movie will follow. The visual image of the soft,
heavenly Iowa dusk and the eerie vastness of the cornfield, including the composition of Ray
wandering inside it, the pansophical presence of the camera, and the diegetic ambient sound as
well as nondiegetic score; all of these interact to effectively create meaning in relation to the
content of the scene Rays first encounter with the magical, perhaps holy force that drives the
film.

SHOT ANALYSIS

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Shots 1, 2, and 3 are wide shots of open landscape space from a high angle looking into
the horizon shot 3 actually begins at horizon level and then slowly dollies up so that the
camera is now looking down on the field and the small farm house as if a spectator from above.
The next shot (shot 4) is composed so that we see Annie and Karin on the porch swing as if the
narrator is standing out in the field watching them from afar. The following shot (shot 5) begins
similarly, looking down on the cornfield, but dollies and turns to follow Ray (indicated in shot 5.1
and 5.2) for a close-up amidst his crops as he first hears that famous line. He quickly looks
around: shot 7 consists of a quick pan across the skyline theres nobody there. The movement
of the camera in these opening shots makes it very clear that the camera is acting as a watchful
and knowing presence, and it can easily be argued that the camera takes the point of view of the
spiritual figure guiding the plots events. Shot 14 in particular, in which Ray exits the frame
entirely and re-enters at the sound of the voice, reveals the camera to be a narrator with
omniscient knowledge. The camera doesnt follow Ray because something else is about to
happen right where he was standing. It is also important to note that in shot 5, the camera begins
high above the landscape and then delves
into the field so that the shot is almost
overrun by the corn growing through the
edges of the frame the spiritual figure
from above descends to be embodied by the
cornfield itself, which becomes a place of
miracles throughout the movie.
The composition of the successive shots reinforces the concept of Ray as a humble farmer
in the presence of something much greater. The space always overwhelms the human beings in

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its midst Ray has a small presence in the frame and is obscured by his crops as he shouts to
Annie and Karin (shots 10 and 12), asking if they heard that voice just now. He has to shout
because hes so far away, the distance between them exaggerated by the camera angle and
placement in shots 11 and 12. Shot 13 is the closest we get to Annie and Karen, and it is still a
fairly wide view. Because the cornfield takes up much of the space, it acts as a vital aspect of the
scene clear limits of the field are never shown, so that it just seems to go on and on forever. We
dont get to see the bigger picture (literally) and neither does Ray. Instead, a near-claustrophobic
atmosphere is created as the maze of eye-level corn stalks prevents Ray, isolated and closed-off,
from a sense of clarity. He cant see where the voice might be coming from. The design of the
shown space, in addition to the camera movement previously discussed, also signifies that the
voice is most likely coming from a holy or a higher power. The establishing shots of the setting
are very non-stylized and natural, emphasizing the beauty of the Iowa evening and the simplicity
of the Kinsellas home and lifestyle. (Note: Here, the filmmakers appeal to the audiences
preconceived notions and expectations to underline the concept they are trying to convey. In
much of film and particularly literature, nature is often associated with God, and simple people
living simple lives are often the worthy receivers of Gods miracles. The Kinsellas farmhouse and
their red barn make use of social coding and a shared system of thought, introducing a cultural
context for the characters. Denotatively, we know that Ray is a farmer because we see him
farming. Connotatively, the use of cultural codes allows us to apply generic conventions (such as
socioeconomic and traditional inferences) to fill information into the story that has not been
explicitly expressed so far in the plot. I.e., Ray is an Iowa farmer, so an American viewer familiar
with the shared system of thought regarding farmers in the Midwest could assume that therefore
Ray is hard-working, family oriented, a good person, salt-of-the-earth, etc

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The diegetic sound throughout the scene includes the chirping of birds and insects, the
rustle of the corn stalks in the wind, Rays footsteps and shovel as it breaks into the dirt, and the
dialogue between him and Annie. Most of the diegetic sound sets up the verisimilitude and
normalcy of the action (Ray tending his crops), some of it is even calming (you can hear the
porch swing that Annie and Karin are sitting on as it swings back and forth, and the ice clink in
Annies glass.) Consequentially, the scene sustains that shared system of thought so that the
audience can feel a part of the atmosphere appropriate to the place and time a nice quiet
evening on a family farm. Whats interesting is that even the whisper conforms to that
verisimilitude. Although it is unexplainable and sourceless, the whisper isnt an echoing or
commanding Voice of God, but rather a very purposefully (the voice heard in the movie was
actually created when the movies supervising sound effects editor Sandy Gendler took a
recording of the whisper out into a canyon late at night and played it back in a real world night
environment, and recorded what it sounded like being played back outside [Field of Dreams
DVD commentary by Phil Alden Robinson]) non-modified and natural human whisper that Ray
hears in his head. The verisimilitude of the non-diegetic sound, however, is in direct contract
with the diegetic musical elements. A mysterious and striking suspense is created from the very
beginning by the instrumental score. This non-diegetic element sets the tone and acts almost as a
foreshadowing agent. Without the musical background, the story of the scene becomes about a
schizophrenic episode instead of a life-changing, magical moment.
The color and lighting of the scene suggest the natural reality of dusk settling quietly over
Iowa fields. Each of several wide shots of the horizon features sweet purples and pinks swept
across the darkening sky (shots 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9.) The dark colors strike a balance between simple
and foreboding. The fading skylight suggests a subtle urgency to the scene; soon it will be

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completely dark, and the cornfield will become even more shadowed and mysterious than it is
now. There are only two sources of warm light shown: the setting sun behind Ray, and the
glowing lamps filling the house behind where Annie and Karin sit on the swing. The first source
is only visible in the frame while Ray has just heard or is about to hear the whisper another time
(shots 5.2 and 8.) (Note: Every other time the voice appears, the shot contains only Ray amidst a
sea of corn stalks, as in shots 6 and 15. This, as well as the descent of the camera previously
discussed, contributes to the idea of the camera being equivalent to the voice, which is a spiritual
figure embodied in both the heavenly sky and the cornfield.) The second source of light,
representative of safety and normalcy, is where Annie and Karin call Ray into the house for
dinner at the end of the scene. The only two light sources present in the scene rest opposite each
other spatially, offering a choice for Ray to make; his walking towards the house and away from
the setting sun can be seen as a visual representation of his embracing the comfortable and
known rather than the unknown nature of the whispering voice.
Field of Dreams is a perfect example of a movie that relies on coded narrative. The love of
baseball embedded in the film and the nostalgia for a time when it was game instead of an
industry that makes it so charming to an American audience, would be lost on a nonAmerican viewer. However, what makes Field of Dreams such a great movie isnt that its a story
about baseball, but about the more universal dream of reconnecting with a father, and the
wonder, magic, and power of dreams that come true.

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