Expressive movement unit 1

In the interplay of camera and acting as well as sound design a sequence is staged in distinct steps that go from total exhaustion to a short moment of relaxation to worry.
Regarding the character choreography, the image of exhaustion is conveyed primarily through the characters’ posture and movements; in particular the manner in which Todd, who is wounded, and Dane walk.  The figures’ slow protracted movements as they drag themselves crawling up the steep slope covered in tropical plants are accompanied and intensified by loud noises in the otherwise mostly silent environment such as loud breathing, the clatter of guns or the rustling of the bushes. When Sergeant Dane gives the wounded man over to the orderly and walks further in a cowed position to the waterhole, where he is now captured kneeling in the frame, the image of physical exhaustion is intensified by a prolonged shot and made dynamic by the parallel camera movement. After some seconds in this unmoving cowed position, breathing heavily in front of the waterhole, Dane lies down, crawls to the water and washes his face.  Gradually an image of relaxation and refreshment is staged supported by the sound of splashing water. 

With Feingold’s entrance, the moment of relaxation is interrupted. When Feingold approaches Sergeant Dane and sits next to him, the dialogue between the two – fixed in the frame after a slight pan – is the center of attention. Dane’s pause in speaking – he stares off-screen or down in his cowed position – expresses skepticism about the condition of the squad.