Van Sant uses the long tracking shots through the school to put us in the shoes of all the students. It's a day at high school unlike any other day. Girls talk about how bad the food is, a guy takes photos for his portfolio, a disabled girl gets chastised for wearing long pants at gym because she's self-conscious, a kid shows up to school late because his dad is drunk - everything is as it should be. It's a nice, peaceful day.
And then 2 shooters arrive at the school. We have an idea of why they want to commit this heinous act, but we don't know the details. We just watch as the horror unfolds.
The long tracking shots through the school transform from peaceful to sinister as the school itself becomes a battleground.
The approach to improvise dialogue and have a lot of the dialogue barely...