The Conversation [Francis Ford Coppola] Scene Analysis

The opening scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation sets up the themes and underlines the dramatic tension of the film. The very first shot in the film is an astonishing three-minute long take; the camera starts wide on the square, establishing it as a major set-piece for the story--the setting where the elusory conversation takes place. The first two minutes of this shot are spent easing down into the square by a slow zoom, where the camera lens focuses in on a mime. The significance of the mime is to highlight the auditory disconnect from the visual in the film. When the camera is wide at the top of the shot, the sounds of the square sound distant; but as the camera pushes in, sounds like the dog barking become loud and crisp. This is done to establish to establish the theme of distance in the film, bringing the viewer into the movie through the auditory perspective of protagonist Harry Caul. Before it’s explained that high-powered microphones are miking the square, bitcrusher/phase distortion obscures pieces of the soundscape, the primary source of dramatic conflict for Harry that sustains the duration of the movie--an unclear, incomprehensible conversation.

Continuing with the theme of separation of audio and their corresponding visuals, the next shot is blocked so that the characters being miked disappear behind a Christmas tree as the camera pans and don’t reappear on the other side.

The next orchestrated shot pans left following a piece of a conversation with Harry in the background eavesdropping, and as soon as the characters leave his earshot, the camera pans right following another conversation until Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams enter into frame with Harry. This highlights the motif of auditory distance and proximity. The camera pans with them until it cuts to a shot with the eavesdropping cop in the foreground; he continues to pan and they walk in front of Harry again. This furthers the motif while characterizing Harry as a powerful combatant of the dilemma of hearing a quiet roving conversation in a loud wide-open space.

The viewer remains in Harry’s auditory point of view after he enters the van. There is a disconnect between watching Forrest and Williams talk in medium shot not from Harry’s perspective, but hearing the garbled audio transmitted to the van. It’s very voyeuristic, objective shooting with a very subjective soundscape, since this film is primarily about hearing, not seeing. This continues to build the character of Harry Caul as an individual who relies on hearing more so than any other sense. It also establishes the conflict and strengthens the motif sound plays within the film.

Ricky Leighton The Conversation

In The Conversation, Gene Hackmans character Harry Caul is submerged in his own audible world that alienates him from the rest of society. Due to the mental trauma he received when people were first killed because of his work, his character becomes obsessive and skeptical of other human beings. The fact that Caul spies on people causes him to become cautious of getting too close to others as well.
Walter Murch (Sound Editor) isolates specific sounds that help to heighten the intensity of Harry's situation. For example when he runs into the women who he believes is going to be killed, Murch takes the sound of the elevator, eliminates everything else and raises the volume of that sound. This gives the audience the feeling that drama and tension are building.
When Harry listens to his recording of the conversation, he hears one of the subjects say "He would kill us if he had the chance". This causes Harry to become obsessive over the tapes and question whether or not he should hand them over. He is still troubled from the previous incident when people were killed. Harry's alienation is evident when he is laying in bed with the woman who eventually steals the tapes. Despite her attempts to capture his attention, Harry can't stop listening to the tapes over and over, evidence of his moral uncertainty.
Through out the rest of the film, Harry continues to cut people out from his own personal world. He installs several deadbolts on his door, he plays saxophone alongside loud jazz music and keeps a telephone in his drawer. Eventually, Harry starts to choose what he wants to hear. He goes to the Hotel and believes that he hears the woman and man getting killed. He is in his apartment in the end and believes that he is being bugged somewhere in his apartment. Harry's work leads to his demise but it also leads to his lack of personal relationships. Even when he has a party, he insults someone and everyone leaves. In the end, the film is not about the conversation between the two subjects but the effect of conversation on Caul and the people around him.

Me and You and Everyone We Know Redux - Stone

In Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July 2005) there is one scene in particular that grapples with a huge theme in the movie, human beings reaching out through technology. The scene I’d like to look at is the one in which Nancy Harrington, the gallery director, returns to her office and watches the rest of Christine Jesperson’s (Miranda July) video.

The scene is shot in a sort of shot reverse shot between Nancy, standing at her desk, and Christine, superimposed on the TV. This gives the scene the feeling that there is a real conversation going on. This touches on a broader theme in the movie, this idea of technological communication in the new millennium. In the scene Christine has a mock back and forth with Nancy who naturally does not respond to any of Christine’s questions, as she is alone. And yet the scene feels like a real dialogue laced with each characters misconceptions about the other. Nancy Harrington looks at Christine as a young untalented young girl, and as expressed in the dialogue Christine is sure that Nancy, who she thinks will never watch the film, has a big family. Christine’s assumptions are immediately understood to be untrue, as Harrington is standing alone at her desk. What the viewer will find out later is that Harrington is trying to meet a man online.

You can see this developing theme in the scene of reaching out. Christine is desperately reaching out to Nancy, almost begging her to call so that she knows she has seen her work. Nancy as the viewer finds out later is reaching out for human interaction. As Christine’s words in the scene touch a nerve with Nancy the camera creeps in closer. This seems to be another theme in the film that is touched on in the scene, this idea that in the completely informal, impersonal technological world there are still moments that can change people, or touch them in some way.

"Daughters of the Dust" Scene Analysis

In Julie Dash's "Daughter of the Dust", in a critical scene the family is gathered around on the beach to celebrate and commemorate the elder family members and the crossing of their family onto the mainland. The scene starts with an extreme long shot of two people riding across the beach on a bicycle who start in frame ad then go out. Then there is a cut to the face of an elder in the family speaking about the importance of their gathering. The actors are blocked in such a way that they overlap in a sense no one person is ever by themselves. Thus, no character is ever in a single shot alone. There is always at least one or more other characters within the same shot. For instance when the elder who speaks to the family is shown, the head of another family member is shown behind him, as if to comment on the family's supportiveness. Most of the characters lean on eachother and sit very closely which further reveals a since of protection and security amongst them that they value.
The interaction between the figures and the landscape is another key consideration for the setup of this scene as well. For instance, most of the family is seated on the sands of the beach while they listen to the elders in the family speak, but the audience doesnt see the vast space of the beach as shown previously. In one frame, the characters are seated specifically around the older man who talks about the importance of the things they're parents taught them and honoring the "old souls." They all look up at him, listening carefully and seem to be at one with eachother which calls attention to the theme of unity. The beach is a major forefront of the film as a whole cause most of the scenes take place on it. However, in this scene less attention is drawn to the depth of the surrounding shown by tighter framing on the family.
In addition, the costumes in this scene create an important aesthetic thematically. During the commemoration, there is a tight shot of half of the family sitting together looking up at the figures standing. It seems that the shot was put together in such a way that near the foreground of the frame from the center to the right, all of the characters are dressed whites and cream colored clothing. They also happen to be the younger members of the family. Whereas in the middleground and background towards the left, characters placed wear navy blue and black colored clothing. These are the older members of the family who take on leadership roles. This is important because the difference in costume immediately signifies a difference in the characters position or role within the family.
The stylistic use of blocking, the interaction between figures and environment, and costumes employed in this scene suggest a running theme throughout them film that calls attention to the importance of unity and security amongst a family, as in efforts to remember pay homage to those who have paved the way for the younger generations.

The Conversation

The Conversation is a film in which the sound design shows incredible insight into the mind of the protagonist, Harry Caul. For example, the scene in which Harry runs into the woman he suspects will be murdered in the elevator.

The elevator is crowded, adding to Harry Caul's issues of paranoia, claustrophobia, fear and dislike of people in general. We see Harry see the woman from behing, watch him watching her. It adds to the suspense and panic. The use of close ups on Harry heightens our knowledge of his fear.

The sound design of the scene adds even more to the fear and anxiety of it. As the woman enters there is whoosh sound which grows louder and louder as the scene goes on. It finally stops with a loud screech which is then revealed to be a sound bridge to the next scene of what Harry is listening to.

All of these things work together to give the scene an intense feel of fear, paranoia, anxiety, claustrophobia, and guilt.

CONVERSATION, THE

The final scene of The Conversation is a scene of purely over-powering paranoia. After Harry’s big realization about what the true motives of the couple were, he succumbs to an extreme revelation. He knew the truth. At this point he heads home and starts playing his sax again. The camera pans back and forth. This is the setup for one last twist. Harry plays his instrument and tries to fit in with another place. I find this to be symbolic, but it isn’t even close to the meat of the scene. While Harry is playing, the phone rings, suddenly he’s pulled back into the real world. He gets up to answer it, but no one is there. He sits back down, and starts playing again. The camera pans back to that side of the room. But then the phone rings again. He gets up again and this time Martin is on the line. He tells Harry that everyone knows that he knows the truth and who murdered who etc. Because of this, they’ll continue listening to Harry. They play a recording of him playing saxophone from moments earlier. At this point we pan the room, and Harry bursts into a fit of paranoia. He tears his house apart looking for contraptions or bugs that they are using to spy on him. At this point in the film we know he hates being spied on (although he’s pretty much completely susceptible to it). He tears up the floor and walls looking for the bug. He smashes everything, even his statue of Jesus. This proves his total commitment to his cause, altered incredibly by paranoia. He’s so paranoid and scared that he doesn’t even remember that we learned how this bugging trick was done earlier in the movie. Obviously Harry isn’t exactly stable at this point so he rips up his house until it’s no longer recognizable. This represents his cutting off of ties to the real world. Then he goes back to playing the sax, giving Martin something to listen to.

BY FRIEDMAN, SAMUEL

Meshes of the Afternoon

Meshes of the Afternoon is a classic example of avant garde at its finest. The main figure in the film, Maya Deren, has some kind of subconscious struggle within herself that is shown through a repetitive dream sequence. In this nightmare of a dream, the viewer is put both subjectively and objectively in Maya Deren’s perspective of herself. The film leaves the overall thematic context open to interpretation, but the scene beginning the dream sequence is significant to the film in three aspects.
The scene starts off with a medium shot of Maya opening up the door to her house and gazing inside with a flustered look on her face for a few moments. It then cuts to a first person point of view shot that pans and ends focuses on a knife. Introducing the importance knife by cutting to a close up, it shows to the viewer that there is some symbolism within. The close up of the knife is the focal point for a couple seconds but as Maya enters the frame slow motion begins.
The slow motion of her feet running up the steps alters the perception of time by changing up what Maya Deren is experiencing and also emphasizing that she is dreaming. The slow motion continues even when it cuts to a shot above the steps showing her face rather than her feet, which makes it seem like she leading to something. As she reaches the top of the steps, that something she was heading towards was her bedroom, but in another dimension. A shot of her floating through the curtain signifies that she is in a different space in time.
This whole scene there nothing but ambient sound, but when she is in her alternate dimension she sees the knife again and her reflection inside of it. The cut to the close up shot of her reflection, the eerie repetitive musical score starts dramatically and she is sucked back into the reality of the dream. Everything with the film begins to get crazy as the banging pot and pan music radically increases. The cuts begin to get faster and the camera movement begins to twist and turn spiraling into a crazy hysteria.
This scene justifies that the main character, Maya Deren, has a deep inner conflict that is symbolized by the knife. The style of editing and choices in cinematography in this dream sequence, distorts the overall time and space of Meshes of the Afternoon.

Killer of Sheep

Killer of Sheep, by Charles Burnett, is a film about the harsh realities of growing up and living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the inner city of Los Angeles. Visually, this film parallels the lives of the children in the neighborhood with the main character, Stan’s, life and work at a slaughterhouse to convey the idea that growing up in this faceless environment makes its inhabitants anonymous beings also.

The scene I chose to analyze is a scene between Stan working at a slaughterhouse and its parallels to three boys living in the neighborhood. At Stan’s slaughterhouse, countless numbers of sheep are seen being mechanically moved throughout the factory. Later, three sheep are hung up vertically next to each other presumably to be slaughtered. The following shot shows three boys riding on a single bicycle together away from the camera. The bicycle tips over and the boys are nearly run over by a car before scattering off down the street. The cut between the three sheep and the three boys is no coincidence. It is clear that these two visuals and the matching cut are used to say something about the deeper ideas and themes within this film. Burnett compares the sheep to the boys to perhaps suggest the tight confines of the inner city slums, as well as to perhaps suggest the plight of the boys; not that they will be slaughtered but rather to suggest the affects and the danger of the monotonous routines and faceless surroundings on the neighborhood’s inhabitants. The sheep are indistinguishable, as are the boys, who are generally faceless amongst the large group of youth that inhabit the personality-less environment.

  In summation, Killer of Sheep is in many ways a film about the seemingly never-ending plight of this neighborhood’s residents and Burnett’s use of cinematography and editing underline this. The scene with the sheep in the slaughterhouse paralleled with the three boys on the bike focuses the audience’s attention on the underlying message in Burnett’s film: that sometimes the most dangerous aspect of inner city poverty is the undistinguished environment’s affect on the neighborhood’s youth.

Michael Curcio-Scene Analysis- Be Kind Rewind

The montage sequence in “Be Kind Rewind” played upon many different elements and themes carried throughout the film. The music bolsters the “ho-hum” small town attitude that the film portrays. It’s beeping indie soundtrack pumps the scene to an exciting pace but does not take away from the action at hand. This subtle display of music shows the characters’ “sweding” accomplishments but much like how the music is handled in the rest of the film, it allows the story to unfold without strangling the audience with an overbearing song.

            Gondry edits this sequence in a flowing, transitional pattern that does not break into cuts. Instead, the camera turns, pivots, pinwheels, changes color, rotates, and bounces from one “shot” to the next all while maintaining clean and smooth camerawork. Gondry has perfected this technique, which is often cheaply imitated by less-than-savvy indie editors. This montage showcases Gondry’s attention to detail and mise-en-scene by including necessary props that show show the audience what kind of “Sweding Filmmakers” they’re dealing with at this point (and here on out) in the movie. Jack Black, Mos Def and their crew use household supplies and junkyard scraps and a whole lot of imagination to create their films. The entire film relies heavily on this concept that Gondry so geniusly extrapolates on in this montage; it conveys the motif of a rag tag group of filmmakers rushing to make blockbusters their own way. Gondry chooses not to break the scene up with any quick cuts or spliced edits because he takes the time to plan and execute this montage-which I’m sure took weeks-to show the audience that even though the filmmakers in the movie make hack interpretations of Hollywood films, their imagination and attention to detail, no matter how small, makes their films worth watching because they do so much with the little they have.

            Gondry’s expertly crafted montage breathes clarity into the quaint film while reminding the audience why he, Jack Black, Mos Def and their crew are worth watching.

scene analysis

 In the Mood for Love

I chose the scene when Li-zhen is going to get noodles. The opening of that scene we hear Yumeji's Theme (written by Umebayashi Shigeru). A low angle shot of a women holding a bucket. We don't see her face but we already know that its Li-zhen, by her graceful walk and one of her many beautiful dresses. Camera follows her up the dark alley down the stairs. I think that Wang used that shot to emphasize our characters emotional state. We don't see where the stairs lead her, the only thing we see is her going down, bellow the ground as representation of her own hell. Next shot we see her waiting for noodles, she is surrunded by people but she doesn't talk or look at anyone. The cinematography in this shot helps us to sense her emotional state. We see a big shadow over her  silhouette, to show her isolation and distance from her environment.

 Then camera starts to follow her as she walks out of the alley and up the stairs where the camera stops as she walks out of the shot. The next thing we see is Mo-wan walking into the shot and camera starts panning, following him the same way it did with Liz-zhen. Heavy use of slow motion was used to show characters paralyzed state of mind. They are lost in their routine of doing same thing over and over again, going to work, getting noodles and accepting the unfaithfulness of their spouses.  In that scene we don't see our protagonists ever stopping and having a conversation with each other, when she is walking up the stairs he is walking down. Yet we get a sense of developing bond between them. 

The continue editing was used to show a slow passage of time, to emphasize our characters routine. In mise en scene Wong uses Liz-zhen dresses to show the passing of days in that scene as well as thought the movie. In my opinion that scene plays one of the most important roles in the movie, for it establishes characters emotional bond as well as resemblance in each other lives.  The use of cinematography, cuts and mise en scene shows us the psychological state of characters. The scene ends with slow motion shot of rain on the sidewalk as the reflection of Liz-zhen and Mo-wan feelings.

The Conversation - Scene Analysis

From Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, the scene I'm analyzing is the one in which our protagonist, Caul, invites a fellow surveillance expert from the East coast, Moran, back to his workplace for a post-convention party. Among him are other guests, including Caul's partner Stan and a showgirl floozy who seduces Caul. This scene says so much more than what's on the surface, revealing a lot about Harry Caul, as well as the theme of the film.

For one, the dialogue spoken by Moran is invasive and annoying. Throughout the whole scene, he interrogates Caul about a previous assignment back on the East coast. He keeps asking him, "So how'd you do it? Back in '68, how'd you do it?" He then tells the others that this job Caul was involved in later resulted in the death of two people. Caul never directly answers the question, leaving us wondering why, for someone who invades others' privacy for a living, he's so guarded and protective of himself. Perhaps being in the surveillance industry has left him in a permanent state of paranoia. Or perhaps he simply wishes to not reveal the information of his secret, a humble way of keeping his reputation as "the best in the business."

This section of the scene also differentiates Caul from Moran through choice of lighting, costumes, and set design. At one point in their conversation, Caul unlocks the heavily guarded chain link gate into his personal workspace, adorned with a sign that reads "Keep Out." While this is a practical set design move (i.e. it makes sense for someone in his profession), it also represents his undisclosed nature: he's both literally and figuratively locking others out from his life (and in this case, Moran). Another interesting aspect of this scene is the fact that while Moran is questioning him, he's fully visible and well-lit standing in the main room of the warehouse with the rest of the party guests. He wears a rather tacky and colorful red leisure suit and has slicked-back hair and gold jewelry, boasting about his newest "bugging" invention, a pocket pen that's a mini microphone. He speaks to Caul through a barrier: an odd sandblasted piece of colored glass that only reveal Caul's shadow. When we get a shot of Caul's reaction to Moran's questions, we can see that the glass is in the way and Caul's face is half hidden in the dark. And Caul's clothing choice is much more subdued: plain gray suits, glasses, nothing fancy. This shot composition separates the two as complete opposites. Moran isn't hiding anything. He's boastful and egotistical, and reckless in his profession. On the flip side, Caul is careful and precise in his profession, hiding his personal life from others.

This scene certainly isn't the longest in the film and it doesn't necessarily enhance the "A" story plot of the recorded conversation and the impending murder, but it reveals so much more that's under the surface. Through use of shot composition, dialogue, costume and set design, and mise en scene, this scene in Coppola's The Conversation emphasizes the protagonist's guarded and mysterious life rooted on his profession as a surveillance expert, as well as the theme of the film: invasion of privacy and its consequences.

Burnett's Killer of Sheep

Charles Burnett’s film Killer of Sheep is rife with metaphor for the hardship of growing up in an urban society below the poverty line. The majority of these metaphors are predominantly expressed visually throughout the film, although none have quite as much impact as the scene in which the protagonist, Stan, is working at his job at the slaughterhouse. Three sheep are pulled from the stifling crowd of livestock to be strung up together from the ceiling to move on to the killing floor. The on-screen visual then cuts immediately to a group of 3 boys from the neighborhood crowded onto one swerving bike as it travels down the street. The positions of the three boys are paralleled directly by the positions of the sheep during the cut, drawing the obvious comparisons between the boys and the sheep.

The implications of such a cut are vast and far reaching, with many layers of depth ranging from the most obvious issues of overcrowding in poor urban neighborhoods being akin to the conditions faced by sheep packed into slaughterhouses, to the much deep-seated commentary about the futures faced by these specific boys due to the nature of their upbringing. The sheep on their way to be slaughtered paralleled with the boys’ doing such a seemingly innocent activity of riding a bike down the street hints at their eventual approach into adulthood that can, because of the opportunities not afforded to them by their environment, end in very few ways.

In the final moments of the scene, we see the boys on the bike swerve to avoid an incoming car, falling from the bike and scrambling into the street to avoid being struck, again paralleling the children’s immediate danger in the scene with the eventual plight of the sheep and, although the children avoid it this time, the implications still remain.

The Conversation Scene Analysis

In Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation," the scene in which Harry breaks into the hotel room is the climax of the film and also the most memorable scene that conveys that all things are not exactly how they seem. After Harry leaves Robert Duvall's office, his paranoia reaches new heights. Harry is hesitant but eager to find out if he really saw the woman murdered on the hotel balcony or not. After harry breaks into the hotel room, Cinematographer Bill Butler does a slow pan shot around the room as if it were from Harry's point of view.

As we enter the hotel room, we see the bathroom light on and hear the diagetic sound of water running while the camera is panning around the room. The room is dimly lite and it appears as if no one had rented out this room and no murder had taken place previously before. Harry along with the audience are confused and suspicion is at an all time high. After Harry hears the running water, he notices the bathroom light is on and the door is open. This leads us to believe that someone may have been in the room earlier since the light was left on and the running water was either coming from the sink or the shower.

As Harry walks into the bathroom, we are taken into a point of view shot of Harry looking down at the toilet and realizing that the sound of water running he heard was coming from the toilet. The sound of the toilet we hear in this scene is the sound one would hear after flushing a toilet and the toilet in this scene appears to be unused because it still has the wrapping around it. Harry understands this and is suspicious of it.

The only consistent sound in the scene at this point is the sound of the running water. Up until this scene, throughout the film we had heard the non diagetic score mixed in with the diagetic sounds in the film. Using diagetic sound for the majority of the climax builds eerie tension and anticipation for what awaits when Harry flushes the toilet and all of our suspicions and speculations are confirmed. Walter Murch deciding to utilize the sound a toilet makes after being flushed to get Harry's attention and speculation about the toilet connects to the central theme of paranoia because it shows that Harry's paranoia wasnt getting the best of him and he did actually witness a murder being commited. As soon as Harry lifts the toilet seat up, an eerie non diagetic score plays. Throughout the film, we consistently heard the same types of non diagetic songs playing but the song that plays during this climax is very eerie and conveys the feeling of discomfort and disgust.

Cinematographer Bill Butler choosing to position the camera behind Harry's feet in a mid shot gives us an uneasy feeling that makes us cringe and the shot placement makes it feel like Harry is trapped and cannot escape the overflow of blood. The blood overflowing at Harry's feet is symbolic because its almost as if it was Harry's fault this happened and now he has gotten the blood on him.

Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Daren’s Meshes of the Afternoon provides a large bevy of scene analysis. A scene that sticks out is a sequence that occurs almost a half a minute into the film. We are introduced to the films intimate world by the sunny, street contrasted with dramatic shadows reflecting in sunlight. A hand appears with a flower, slowly setting it down, the hand abruptly dissipears in a jump cut, instantly transitioning us into the strange dream logic that occurs throughout. A hand is seen through shadows, as it picks up the flower and begins to walk away. A silouette of the woman appears sniffing the rose. Through the constant use of silouette mingling with reality, we are being shown how this dream world operates. It shows her continuing to walk down the street, but the camera quickly reverts back to her going up a staircase and trying to open a door. Several shots like these occur throughout the film, perhaps because Daren wants to make clear that her character has several identities that come and go whenever they please within the dream state, showing us the audience through tricks of continuity and highly clever camerawork. We are shown another shot of her trying to get her key but having it fall down a flight of dramatically lit steps, where she opens the door, perhaps indicating that we are going through another layer of the dream as an audience member.

Killer Of Sheep

I choose a scene from Charles Burnett's Killer Of Sheep for my Scene Analysis. The scene stands out in my mind because of its use of visuals to set the tone of the characters and surroundings. The scene is when the father and his friend go to a house of people in hopes of buying a car engine from them. The two enter a small, cramped apartment with an injured man lying on the floor next to the engine and three other circled around a table playing cards.
The first thing the viewer becomes aware of is just the confined, cramped space of the apartment and the spacing of the characters from one another. As a member of the audience, I felt very closed in and uncomfortable in the space and also imagined how hard it would have to be for all four members of the household to coexist in such a small area. The man that is obviously holds the power of the household sits at the table, between a woman and another man. He is the farthest in the room from the father and his friend and silence all when he speaks. He is also the only one in the room wearing any kind of "fancy" clothing. I would imagine he must have been some kind of neighborhood hustler that was trying to pawn off a rusty motor. The whole relationship of the interaction of the household and closed in feeling speaks to the ominous, imprisonment feeling the film holds in full.
The injured man lies on the ground parallel to the old engine. The roll of the man and piece of machinery seem almost interchangeable. The man has no job and the engine has no car. The man asks for money and the engine is about to be sold. Both hold extreme doubt because of their dreadful condition and their value is questioned. This seems to relate to the theme that the people in this community have nor more worth than an object or an animal.
Though technically the next scene, when the father and friend carry their newly acquired engine from the hustler's apartment, the audience is given the tone of struggle that appears over and over in the film. Not only do these poor men have spend their little amount of money on a broken down engine, but they have to struggle their way down flights of steps and cover ground to get to the truck. The long shot is painful to watch as the two men grunt and struggle to the old pickup. They finally make it and hoist the engine onto the bed of the truck. But the fools do not secure it and it falls off the truck and is destroyed when they drive off. This is much like other events in the film that show a struggle and almost obtaining something yet falling short and being disappointed.
One could look at almost any one scene from Killer Of Sheep and come up with a list of themes and insights into the film. And by just comparing a handful of them together, the lists of themes and purposes of the film will line up more and more.

The Conversation

In “The Conversation” by Francis Ford Coppola the scene in which Harry Caul encounters the woman in the elevator is an important scene that conveys many themes of the film.  When Harry spots her in the elevator the use of shot reverse shot shows the woman and then Harry who is staring at her from behind.  There are also close ups of Harry who seems to cower in the corner instead of warn her of her pending murder.  A high angle shot makes Harry seem smaller who is paralyzed with fear in the elevator. Harry is incredibly guilty from his the deaths that have resulted from his previous recordings and is a paranoid character. The use of shots in the scene conveys this well.

Mise en scene also emphasizes the paranoia and guilt that the protagonist experiences during the scene. The lighting is dim and helps to set the suspenseful mood.  The use of other characters and having the elevator extremely crowded creates a claustrophobic feel, which helps to create a stronger sense of panic and intensity in the scene.

The use of diagetic and non diagetic work well in this scene to help emphasize the fear and panic experienced by Harry.  When Harry steps onto the elevator there is eerie non diagetic music playing that has a suspenseful tone.  There is also a diagetic whoosh of air that grows increasingly louder as the scene progresses and plays on Harry’s increasing fear after spotting the woman.  At the end of the scene there is a loud screeching sound and it is unclear where the sound is coming from until it cuts to the next scene and it’s established that its diagetic sound from the reels Harry is listening to.  Diagetic sound is an important theme of the film since the recorded conversation is an important motif that is constantly revisited.