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Deep Space Composition and Staging

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Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth

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Abstract

While the advent of anamorphic aspect ratios initially encouraged creative staging configurations that contributed to storytelling, Bordwell (2008) suggests that this skill retreated as directors reverted to less complex compositions to ensure that their narratives still remain relatively comprehensible even if screened in ratios other than those intended.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Spielberg is one of only a few Hollywood directors still shooting with film.

  2. 2.

    This refers to ‘monumentalism’, the visual act of making something appear grand, spectacular or impressive. This included anything officially sanctioned by the Communist Party and was usually related to Soviet political achievement or proletariat ‘power’ and heroism.

  3. 3.

    Bordwell borrows this term from Heinrich Wolfflin’s use as denoting a single object plane parallel to the background.

  4. 4.

    King even suggests that the film as directed by Arthur Penn features a shot inspired by the Odessa steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin (1925).

  5. 5.

    Bordwell (1981) notes that in classical cinema scenographic space is judged/comprehended in terms of its relation to the human body (p. 37).

  6. 6.

    Bordwell (1997, p. 254) discusses the deep focus aspect of this shot and how the staging and placement of the shark’s fin emphasises Hooper’s comments about the shark’s size.

  7. 7.

    Strictly speaking, it is a two shot scene with the long take and the insert making up the two shots but in this instance I count an edit as a change to another shot.

  8. 8.

    Munich , Lincoln and Bridge of Spies are notable for the high number of scenes that include shots that push-in to characters.

  9. 9.

    Of the 22 shots only four are not deep focus compositions and of these three are close-ups.

  10. 10.

    Generating humour is also a clear intention of the toilet passing by.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Sturt University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    James Mairata

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  1. James Mairata
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Mairata, J. (2018). Deep Space Composition and Staging. In: Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69081-0_5

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