Expressive movement unit 1

The interplay of the editing with the shot composition, facial expression/gestures and sound design stages an image of tense waiting as a spatial figuration.

The editing of two disparate shots – an American shot with Private Epps in the foreground sitting unmoving behind a machine gun and staring past the camera into off-screen, and a medium close shot of Private Todd, also staring off-screen, standing at a tree – does not allow the creation of a coherent narrative space. It remains a disassociated spatial figuration that contrasts with the staged narrative space that follows (EMU 2).

This figuration is supported by the visual composition of the shots. Both are slightly lit at the center and become increasingly dark at the edges of the frame, allowing the image space to move into the unknown. The alternation of standstill and movement, staged by repeated appearance of further soldiers, creates a steady rhythm that adds to the length of the staged tension. The above-mentioned stares into off-screen, always beyond the camera, create a direct association between this undetermined space and danger.

Finally, the image of tension is also staged on the levels of facial expressions/gesture and sound design. The soldiers always move through the image slowly and in a ducked position; both the background noises underscored at the beginning – rustling leaves, guns clattering, steps – and the hushed dialogue stage a stillness that intensifies the tension of the spatial staging. Only Todd, munching on food, foreshadows the relaxedness of the following units, also closely connected to the motif of eating (>EMU 3).