SPN Meta: Visual Framing in Croatoan (2.09)
All right, since I'm not doing anything with the film studies course I took, I may as well write a teeny little meta. Other people might have already noted this elsewhere, but I noticed it tonight and wanted to point it out. Oblique speculation and observation only. I don't read spoilers.
When I rewatched Croatoan I noticed this shot as one that might make a good icon if I could find a decent cap (thank you Supernatural.tv) I didn't notice the first time I watched because I was distracted and muttering "You aren't going to tell us are you, Kripke, you bastard" like everyone else was. :-)
The Screencap
Here's the thing, as I was fiddling with the cap above I noticed what is going on with the framing in this shot. Dean and Sam are right together, as visually close as they can possibly be. Both are facing outward from their mutual central point; Dean is facing outward to the left, and Sam is (essentially) facing outward to the right.
Dean's View
On the left side of the frame, what Dean is facing is a cluster of timbers which stretch from the top to the bottom of frame, setting up a visually imposing set of vertical barriers. Dean is facing a wall that he can't get past. The way the shot is framed adds to a sense of trapped-ness for Dean, and emphasizes the way that the character would probably rather completely forget what John told him, and get away from everything, but he's reached a point where he's got no option, and has to tell Sam. The way he is visually blocked into the frame by the timbers emphasizes how much he'd rather not have to do this, and how trapped he feels by events right now.
Sam's View
Sam on the right is facing an open path, that heads off into sun-dappled chaotic greenery, and away from Dean. This... doesn't bode well, to me, for Sam taking whatever Dean's going to tell him very well. Sam isn't blocked into the frame at all; the vertical elements of the fence timbers on Sam's side do not run completely to the top and bottom of the screen, and actually almost blend together into a horizontal band leading alongside the path. Sam has a clear and apparently inviting way out, visually. But it's a way out that takes him away from Dean who is facing the wrong way to see it.
That's pretty much the point where I go 'ouch' and stopped thinking about it for the evening.
This shot visually emphasizes a turning point Dean and Sam are at, I think. It's been a long time since I took film studies, so I could be way off-base, but this is just what I think. What do you think? Or am I thinking too much?
When I rewatched Croatoan I noticed this shot as one that might make a good icon if I could find a decent cap (thank you Supernatural.tv) I didn't notice the first time I watched because I was distracted and muttering "You aren't going to tell us are you, Kripke, you bastard" like everyone else was. :-)
The Screencap
Here's the thing, as I was fiddling with the cap above I noticed what is going on with the framing in this shot. Dean and Sam are right together, as visually close as they can possibly be. Both are facing outward from their mutual central point; Dean is facing outward to the left, and Sam is (essentially) facing outward to the right.
Dean's View
On the left side of the frame, what Dean is facing is a cluster of timbers which stretch from the top to the bottom of frame, setting up a visually imposing set of vertical barriers. Dean is facing a wall that he can't get past. The way the shot is framed adds to a sense of trapped-ness for Dean, and emphasizes the way that the character would probably rather completely forget what John told him, and get away from everything, but he's reached a point where he's got no option, and has to tell Sam. The way he is visually blocked into the frame by the timbers emphasizes how much he'd rather not have to do this, and how trapped he feels by events right now.
Sam's View
Sam on the right is facing an open path, that heads off into sun-dappled chaotic greenery, and away from Dean. This... doesn't bode well, to me, for Sam taking whatever Dean's going to tell him very well. Sam isn't blocked into the frame at all; the vertical elements of the fence timbers on Sam's side do not run completely to the top and bottom of the screen, and actually almost blend together into a horizontal band leading alongside the path. Sam has a clear and apparently inviting way out, visually. But it's a way out that takes him away from Dean who is facing the wrong way to see it.
That's pretty much the point where I go 'ouch' and stopped thinking about it for the evening.
This shot visually emphasizes a turning point Dean and Sam are at, I think. It's been a long time since I took film studies, so I could be way off-base, but this is just what I think. What do you think? Or am I thinking too much?