The Captain / first victim*

Classification in categories

• Battle and nature
• Homeland, woman, home
• Suffering / victim / sacrifice

 

Through the interplay of the music with the camera and shot composition, this scene is organized as a sequence of startling unrest, continuing unrest, lessening tension and finally contemplative mourning as the result of different spatio-temporal figurations. It provides a startling interruption of, on the one hand, the previous scene of easy camaraderie (> "Bridge demolition") and also acts as a transition to the staging of mourning to follow.

At first, in the interplay of sound design, shot composition and character constellation, sudden unrest is staged (> EMU 1). This is developed by means of a startling, sudden, synchronous dynamic made up of auditory, literal un-rest on the one hand and corresponding movements within the shot on the other hand. In the shots that follow, the characters are put under pressure conveyed by means of shot composition and the staged dynamic of the shooting of Captain Lassiter.

Following the character of Dane, in the next unit the interplay of music, camera movement and shot composition creates a transition from startling, sudden unrest to constant unrest  (> EMU 2).This is conveyed temporally by the dynamic of rising and falling string notes and the continued movement of Dane and the camera. At the same time the unrest is staged as moving into social space by placing the characters at staggered intervals in the spatial depths of the frame.

The audiovisual tension between the dynamic musical theme and the static shot composition unfolds in the emphasized length of the single shot that follows—a motif of inner tension. This foreshadows, through a change in musical and shot composition, a moment of tension release  (> EMU 3).In the final unit, music, shot composition and dialogue stage a moment of commemoration. (> EMU 4) This motif—created in particular on the level of sound design—of contemplative mourning is a prologue to the victim and mourning motif that unfolds in the following scene  (> "Funeral").    JHB

Expressive movement units

01 02 03 04 

Materials about the scene

Position of the scene in the film