Expressive movement unit 1

An image of tense proximity is developed through the interplay of shot composition and editing.

In a protracted medium long shot first the group of soldiers is portrayed in the image’s depth of field. The characters each go about their own, individual business; the asynchronous quality is stressed. Their staggered arrangement in the foreground, middle and background of the image put these individual activities in relation to one another. While the positions of the figures in the foreground and background are fixed, the uncoordinated movements of the figures in the middle contribute to the individualization of the ensemble of figures. The very dark shading gives the image a weight that is inscribed in this figural arrangement on the level of shot composition. 

The editing opens a second space in the first cut:  A frontal medium close up of Sergeant Dane does not allow a spatial relationship to the previous shot on the visual level, however it is dominated by the continuation of Sailor’s monologue. The spaces thus connected only on the auditory level are brought together on the visual level in the next cut; in the shots that follow, Dane and the group arranged in the frame’s depths are contrasted using the shot/reverse shot technique. In this way, Dane's figure is again lifted out of the individualized members of the group. The medium close up that follows of the dialogue between Dane and Bentley maintains the spatial separation of Dane and the group.

The tension between Dane and the group is located in the differences in lighting/shading and the spatial opposition and is taken up in the dialogue as a conflict between Dane and Sailor.