The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood

5.x15 Where the Sidewalk Ends

Most Hollywood filmmakers would ask the actor playing the protagonist to give an expressive performance; then they would photograph that performance in close-up. Preminger asked his leading man to give an inexpressive performance, and then he stuck him in the back of the room while the camera followed other characters around. This is what Preminger’s detachment looks like: not static, not removed, but mobile in counterintuitive ways, fighting against our urge to watch the protagonist by giving other characters more compositional weight.

This page has paths:

This page references: