Proxemic patterns 2

The same shots in order of appearance; their efficacy and effect.

Extreme close up: The helmet is iconic and the hand is clearly touching it in an itimate way that someone who has a long relationship with a tool would do. This combined with the intimate proxemic pattern both between the character and the item and of the shot, has a dramatic effect on the audience. The cold green light amplifies that emotional response.

Medium shot: (mid shot/waist shot) :our response to the character and his plight is actually enhanced by intimate proxemic pattern between the character and the helmet, while the shot which is in the personal proxemic pattern informs us and affects us. the positioning of the character at the center of the shot speaks to his weakness.

Very Long shot: Now that the audience understands the situation, the vessel is brought into

focus. The audience learns more, but the public proxemic pattern again allows for information to be acquired, but not for there to be an emotional impact.





Extreme Long shot: Informs the audience of the setting at large, in this case to show the
hopelessness of the situation. The public proxemic pattern however allows for no real emotional response. (so possibly a mistake on the part of the director/editor)

Medium Close up: This character's plight is enhanced by the personal proxemic pattern, but not at an intimate level as that cannot be maintained for too long without draining the audience.

Close up? Medium shot? This shot is fun because it is also almost a POV shot. It is not however and the legs of the secondary character of the shot serve to help frame the Waist shot (Medium shot) of the character at the center of the shot, who is displayed as being weak this time by being at the bottom of the frame (still in the middle) at the feet level of the secondary character. The green/blue cold lighting continues but the location of the character in juxtaposition to the legs of the secondary character (note that the are in an intimate proxemic pattern to each other) is what drives the shot.

The audience, at a personal proxemic pattern, feels empathy with the one, sympathy for the other.

Long shot: Something or someone powerful has arrived and the weak character can do
nothing. The interplay between them is at the same level as the audience and the characters.
As there is a social proxemic pattern the weak character and the audience share the same emotion of uncertainty.
The position of the new character on the left of the frame and above the character we know, and the fact that the former is a source of bright light, reflecting on the other, tells us intuitively that the former is strong and good and will help the latter.

Close up: We now see and feel the character's response to the new character/entity. The intimate proxemic pattern between the character and the audience allows the latter to feel his exhaustion and relief.





















Medium Close up: This shot is an odd one. The audience is meant to have an established relation ship with this character, even though the other character does not (weak dramatic irony at best) thus the use of a shot that applies the personal proxemic pattern. As a result however the shot has no real power to it, which is a shame as this is meant to be THE most powerful character of all.