Expressive movement unit 2
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Metadata
Movie: Sahara*
Scene: Salvation and commemoration*
Number: 02
Individual analysis: Sahara*
Timecode start: 01:32:12:18
Timecode end: 01:33:37:17
Year of origin: 1943
Scene: Salvation and commemoration*
Number: 02
Individual analysis: Sahara*
Timecode start: 01:32:12:18
Timecode end: 01:33:37:17
Year of origin: 1943
The interplay of shot composition with sound design and camera stages an image of commemoration in two phases that move from a concrete space of action to a disassociated abstract spatial figuration.
| Phase 1: | Waco and Gunn are always shown together in a series of medium close ups. The change in camera perspective and the interaction of the characters in this series of shots creates a closed space of action whereby framing and the gestures and facial expressions of the characters highlight an image of familiarity. The music remains discreetly in the background. The music comes to the fore only one time, in the middle of the dialogue, a short melancholy phrase at the moment a fallen comrade is mentioned. The music and the characters’ facial expressions and gestures already give a short intimation of the second phase. |
| Phase 2: | A flat close-up of Gunn marks a transition in the spatial figuration. It brings Gunn’s face to the center; the length of the shot allows his face to become a projection screen for the following shots. A cut to the fallen soldiers’ dog tags corresponds to a musical transition to a melodramatic string melody. An almost metered series of spatially unrelated landscape shots follow, the last shots of this series have at their center rifles and helmets that have been arranged to make crosses for graves. In this way a figuration of mourning is made by connecting a) Gunn’s monologue and b) the melodramatic musical theme with c) an abstract, disassociated space. |
