Using the Camera For Interpretation - Much Ado About Nothing

One of my favorite examples of shot compositions comes from Much Ado About Nothing (2012, dir. Joss Whedon). Throughout the film, there is a strong motif of being watched and that nothing is truly private in the characters’ world – it takes place in the home of a rich family, in the days surrounding a wedding. To that end, there is a silent character in the film: a photographer, who is seen occasionally. It’s not implied that  she holds the actual camera in the rest of the film, but the idea that they are all being watched explains the almost home-video-like unsteadiness of the camera.

In this particular scene, Hero and Margaret are holding a conversation about how Benedick is supposedly in love with Beatrice, purposely constructed so Beatrice will be able to overhear. At the beginning of the clip, the camera stays still as Beatrice walks around to the stairs, leaving her fall to be a surprise. When she makes her way back up the stairs and stands, wobbling, the camera is slightly canted, reflecting her instability and surprise. Her second fall is slightly less surprising, as the camera cuts to a view under the table as she falls. Then the camera switches between staying on level with Beatrice crawling and staying on level with the two talking at the table. The camera keeps a slight high angle with Beatrice under the counter for several shots, making her hitting her head a surprise as well (since the way the shot is framed, we cannot see the bottom of the counter. The high angle emphasizes Beatrice’s powerlessness in this particular scene.

The next most significant sequence is after Hero and Margaret leave, when Beatrice is still under the counter – the camera has a low angle, Beatrice is in the rightmost third of the shot, and the counter extends for almost 2/3 of the frame, leaving the table and cabinets in the leftmost third to be in the background. After she stands up and the camera moves to profile her, she is in the leftmost third of the frame, leaving plenty of lead space that, when she ahead of her, seems to imply the presence of another person. She then moves to the doorway, centering her in the frame with the door and the kitchen naturally dividing the screen into thirds again. Finally, she is centered again through the window on the door, repeating a commonly used motif through the film.

The relevant clip is here:  http://youtu.be/sBG0gKey-v0