The Wire scene breakdown
I'm watching The Wire for the first time (I know, I know), and I just got to this excellent scene in Season 3, Episode 9, Moral Midgetry. It was so good I feel like I have to talk about it. Spoilers ahead.
The setup: Avon Barksdale is the head of a powerful gang. He went to prison for a couple of years, but is back now. In his absence his Lieutenant, Stringer Bell, has been running the show, and doing a much better job of it than Avon ever did. Avon's skills like in expansion and empire-building, but he is a lousy curator. Stringer could never have built the organization, but he knows how to maintain it and keep it alive. As lifelong best friends, they've been on top for most of their adult lives. However, Avon's return from prison has threatened both the stability of the gang and the friendship between the men. Stringer is trying to go respectable and use his nest egg from drug dealing to get involved in less dangerous enterprises, but Avon can't see past street corners and turf wars. Avon's just started a gang war, and been grazed in the shoulder for his troubles.
There's one additional complication: Avon's nephew D'Angelo. D'Angelo was essentially a good kid at heart, and he went to prison with his uncle rather than betray his nephew. Eventually, D'Angelo decides to distance himself from the family, and get out of the drug game. He turns his life around. Stringer believes that makes him a liability, and secretly pays to have D'Angelo murdered in prison, which is made to look like a suicide.
Okay, setup done. Here's the scene:
At the beginning of the scene, Avon's talking to his soldiers. He's in an easy chair relaxing, while they sit up straight. Avon's in his element, directing a gang war, and you can see he feels alive and delighted. As Avon starts tearing down Stringer between 0:35 and 1:00, the camera angle makes him look taller, even though Stringer's a few inches taller. But at 1:05, when Avon hits "not smart enough," Stringer stands up straighter, and now he's the taller one in frame. Stringer is smarter than Avon, and both men know it.
The next brilliant shot is at 1:25, when Avon says "What life you snatch, huh?" and the camera shows his exposed back. The life Stringer snatched was D'Angelo's, and in so doing he betrayed Avon. There's a knife in that back, and Avon doesn't know it. The camera angle makes it look like Stringer is looking at Avon's back, not at his face. It's fucking awesome.
As Stringer confesses, the camera keeps Stringer in full frame. He's fully present in the moment. Avon's face, meanwhile, is shot in tight, myopic close-up. As Stringer keeps talking, the camera shoots him over Avon's shoulder, always with that exposed back. When the camera finally does have Stringer's body and Avon's face in it, Stringer's just a silhouette.
Stringer wins the physical fight easily by going after Avon's weak point, the same way he wins the war of words: dirty and cheap. Re-watching now, I notice that every shot of Stringer's face is framed to include his necktie, while Avon's garish expensive watch is contrasted against his bare arms and dirty undershirt. The costuming is further underscoring the distance between the two men. Stringer's moved on and up in the world, but Avon's still a gangster.
From 3:15 to 4:10 is a single nearly-wordless shot, almost a minute long, as the two men disengage. The exposed back is repeated, and they're almost never in the frame at the same time. The camera follows Avon first as he paces like a wounded animal, his focus returning as he flops down on the bed, until he's able to think, and then that thought must of course be: Stringer. The camera pans over to the already-composed Stringer, and you can see he's already thinking about his next move.
The last shot is Stringer on the left, Avon on the right, facing one another, adversaries. In the middle is the empty armchair, the dead man between them.
I've watched this like 10 times now. It's hard to express how much these 5 minutes make me squee.
The setup: Avon Barksdale is the head of a powerful gang. He went to prison for a couple of years, but is back now. In his absence his Lieutenant, Stringer Bell, has been running the show, and doing a much better job of it than Avon ever did. Avon's skills like in expansion and empire-building, but he is a lousy curator. Stringer could never have built the organization, but he knows how to maintain it and keep it alive. As lifelong best friends, they've been on top for most of their adult lives. However, Avon's return from prison has threatened both the stability of the gang and the friendship between the men. Stringer is trying to go respectable and use his nest egg from drug dealing to get involved in less dangerous enterprises, but Avon can't see past street corners and turf wars. Avon's just started a gang war, and been grazed in the shoulder for his troubles.
There's one additional complication: Avon's nephew D'Angelo. D'Angelo was essentially a good kid at heart, and he went to prison with his uncle rather than betray his nephew. Eventually, D'Angelo decides to distance himself from the family, and get out of the drug game. He turns his life around. Stringer believes that makes him a liability, and secretly pays to have D'Angelo murdered in prison, which is made to look like a suicide.
Okay, setup done. Here's the scene:
Click to viewAt the beginning of the scene, Avon's talking to his soldiers. He's in an easy chair relaxing, while they sit up straight. Avon's in his element, directing a gang war, and you can see he feels alive and delighted. As Avon starts tearing down Stringer between 0:35 and 1:00, the camera angle makes him look taller, even though Stringer's a few inches taller. But at 1:05, when Avon hits "not smart enough," Stringer stands up straighter, and now he's the taller one in frame. Stringer is smarter than Avon, and both men know it.
The next brilliant shot is at 1:25, when Avon says "What life you snatch, huh?" and the camera shows his exposed back. The life Stringer snatched was D'Angelo's, and in so doing he betrayed Avon. There's a knife in that back, and Avon doesn't know it. The camera angle makes it look like Stringer is looking at Avon's back, not at his face. It's fucking awesome.
As Stringer confesses, the camera keeps Stringer in full frame. He's fully present in the moment. Avon's face, meanwhile, is shot in tight, myopic close-up. As Stringer keeps talking, the camera shoots him over Avon's shoulder, always with that exposed back. When the camera finally does have Stringer's body and Avon's face in it, Stringer's just a silhouette.
Stringer wins the physical fight easily by going after Avon's weak point, the same way he wins the war of words: dirty and cheap. Re-watching now, I notice that every shot of Stringer's face is framed to include his necktie, while Avon's garish expensive watch is contrasted against his bare arms and dirty undershirt. The costuming is further underscoring the distance between the two men. Stringer's moved on and up in the world, but Avon's still a gangster.
From 3:15 to 4:10 is a single nearly-wordless shot, almost a minute long, as the two men disengage. The exposed back is repeated, and they're almost never in the frame at the same time. The camera follows Avon first as he paces like a wounded animal, his focus returning as he flops down on the bed, until he's able to think, and then that thought must of course be: Stringer. The camera pans over to the already-composed Stringer, and you can see he's already thinking about his next move.
The last shot is Stringer on the left, Avon on the right, facing one another, adversaries. In the middle is the empty armchair, the dead man between them.
I've watched this like 10 times now. It's hard to express how much these 5 minutes make me squee.