For how to read a movie, Ebert suggests asking knowledgable people about the movie, watching more movies of that genre, reading books about it, and lists out some ways shot composition can communicate things to the viewer. I think his methods of watching other movies in the genre and asking people about it would work, but I don’t think reading books about film would work well since it’s visual.
The video on Kubrick’s One-Point Perspective seems to imply that a deep shot can look more dramatic.
The camera angles and techniques article talks about the importance of shot sizes, camera angles, and camera movements. Close up shots show facial detail to convey emotion. Long shots show a whole character to see their movement. Medium shots show facial features but also body language. POV shots put the view in the characters shoes. For camera angles, eye level is neutral and objective. Low angles can make a character seem dominant. High angles can make a character seem powerless. Dutch angles are tilted to disorient, and over the shoulder can show confrontation. For camera movement, pans turn the camera while tilts tilt it up or down. A dolly shot tracks the subject. Random motion can be used in action scenes, while 360 motion can revolve around the subject.
I chose to watch the opening scene of A New Hope:
The scene begins with a tilt down to Tatooine with no cuts for the first 30 seconds. There’s only two cuts before cutting to 3PO and R2. The star destroyer takes up most of the frame of the first shot vs the small rebel corvette, displaying their difference in power.
The music begins mysteriously, but then the brass kicks in with the star destroyer entering the frame to emphasize its massiveness. The music picks up pace to convey the feeling of pursuit. There’s no dialogue for the first 50 seconds, only turbo laser fire and explosions.
This scene is meant to quickly show the scale and intense action of Star Wars, convey the difference in power between the empire and rebellion, and hook the audience. The scene works and is iconic because of the excellent soundtrack, framing, and because it shows not tells.