B0041VYHGW EBOK (61 page)

The
Dying Swan
and
Three Kings
examples also illustrate the power of
frontality.
In explaining one five-minute shot in his film
Adam’s Rib,
George Cukor signaled this. He remarked how the defense attorney was positioned to focus our attention on her client, who’s reciting the reasons she shot her husband
(
4.151
).
Katharine Hepburn “had her back to the camera almost the whole time, but that had a meaning: she indicated to the audience that they should look at Judy Holliday. We did that whole thing without a cut.”

All other things being equal, the viewer expects that more story information will come from a character’s face than from a character’s back. The viewer’s attention will thus usually pass over figures that are turned away and fasten on figures that are positioned frontally. A more distant view can exploit frontality, too. In Hou Hsiao-hsien’s
City of Sadness,
depth staging centers the Japanese woman coming to visit the hospital, and a burst of bright fabric also draws attention to her
(
4.152
).
Just as important, the other characters are turned away from us. It’s characteristic of Hou’s style to employ long shots with small changes in figure movement. The subdued, delicate effect of his scenes depends on our seeing characters’ faces in relation to others’ bodies and the overall setting.

Frontality can change over time to guide our attention to various parts of the shot. We’ve already seen alternating frontality at work in our
L’Avventura
scene, when Sandro and Claudia turn to and away from us (
4.110
,
4.111
). When actors are in dialogue, a director may allow frontality to highlight one moment of one actor’s performance, then give another performer more prominence
(
4.153
,
4.154
).
This device reminds us that mise-en-scene can borrow devices from theatrical staging.

A flash of frontality can be very powerful. In the opening scene of
Rebel Without a Cause,
three teenagers are being held at the police station
(
4.155
).
They don’t know one another yet. When Jim sees that Plato is shivering, he drunkenly comes forward to offer Plato his sport coat
(
4.156
,
4.157
).
Jim’s frontality, forward movement, bright white shirt, and central placement emphasize his gesture. Just as Plato takes the coat, Judy turns and notices Jim for the first time
(
4.158
).
Like Claudia’s sudden turn to the camera in our
L’Avventura
example, this sudden revelation spikes our interest. It prepares us for the somewhat tense romance that will develop between them in later scenes. Overall, the scene’s setting, lighting, costume, and staging cooperate to develop the drama.