Expressive movement unit 2

Metadata

On the level of character constellation, tension enters the space developed in the beginning. In the relationship of space and character constellation, an image of too many people evolves.

At first, the space that has been established is shown. The second half of the scene again begins with a clear framing of the shot. In a close-up framed at the bottom by the window frame and at the top by a window shade, the character Curt looks through the glass from outside.

With this shot, a new figure is brought into relation to the space. At first however, the character constellation is not expanded. Rather the male character from the first part of the scene, Larry, becomes an element of spatial arrangement: Like the pillar in the preceding shot, Larry’s back now conceals almost one-third of the shot. This negation of the character is intensified through the contrast in depth of field. The focus is on the female character, Kathryn, and the new arrival, Curt—blurring Larry’s back in the front of the shot.

Not until the next cut is the character constellation a trio—and problematic. This problem is staged in the relation of the characters to the space that has been established. The horizontal arrangement of the shot, that now shows all three characters, (below: the heads of Cathy and Curt, above: Larry’s face) and the form of the figuration (Kathy, Curt and Larry form a triangle) depart from the vertical arrangement and the dominant form, the square. One figure too many is staged here as distorted space and as such—like everything tilted—produces a comic effect.