Confinement in the submarine*

Classification in categories

• Transition between two social systems
• Formation of a group body (corps)
• Battle and technology

Metadata

In the film's dramaturgical structure this scene follows the soldiers’ transport and a staging of the excitement of departure (> End of training and transport). Another scene that takes place inside the submarine follows this scene (> Group body in the submarine). This scene is at first in juxtaposition to the preceding scene, as it focuses on the confinement of the submarine and the soldiers’ apprehension and fear. At the end of the scene, the staging of corporeal apprehension is turned into the audiovisual representation of a supra-individual body and the pathos of a common fate can clearly be seen as the scene’s vanishing point.

The dominant level of the staging is the shot composition and its interplay with camera and sound design.

The dynamic pattern of the scene is characterized by the increasing narrowness of the space, which after a retarding moment leads to the acceleration of the movement and is then resolved. This resolution is the apex of the scene.

The spatial narrowing takes place on the level of shot composition and then becomes a staging of physical sensation (> EMU 1) that remains and refers to the space and makes the confinement recognizable as a physical condition. This is the foundation of both a retarding moment of relaxation (> EMU 2: movement in space, camera movement) and the staging of claustrophobic fear that follows. This does not only apply to the bodies of the figures represented, but is also accomplished through phases of tension and relaxation on the level of shot composition, gesture and sound. The nervousness thus staged governs the dynamic at the end of the scene.

In the end, the staging that focuses on the physical condition is resolved by the onset of the music. The form of vulnerable individual corporeality is substituted with a body of higher order, accomplished through the Raiders’ theme music and the multiplication of soldiers’ faces (EMU 3).

The staging thus achieves a transformation of affect from great tension to relaxedness.    ML

Expressive movement units

Materials about the scene

Position of scene in film