Cinematography technique · used in 3 films
Building long stretches around 1 performer's face and body with little or no dialogue. The camera stays close and lets their behavior tell you what they are feeling.
Examples
Francis Ford Coppola · 1974
Robert De Niro plays the young Vito in a community that speaks Sicilian, so he has almost no English dialogue. He builds the performance out of stillness, observation and deliberate movement. Vito is always watching, and you can see the intelligence behind the authority he eventually has.
Where to see it: Young Vito's early scenes in Little Italy. He carries out his first killing during a noisy street festival, without saying a word.
Robert Zemeckis · 2000
Tom Hanks carries long stretches of the film almost alone. The island sequences have no score and almost no human dialogue. They demand a performance made only of physical behavior, problem-solving and his face. He has to show what is going on inside him with nobody there but the camera and a volleyball.
Where to see it: Chuck's early time on the island. He opens the packages, struggles to find food and water and learns to make fire with no one to speak to. The camera gives the problem-solving and the despair equal attention.
Luca Guadagnino · 2015
Marianne has lost her voice, so Tilda Swinton has to act with signs, whispers and her face. The film keeps the camera on her while others talk around her. You learn what she thinks from how she looks.
Where to see it: The villa conversations. Marianne communicates by signs and whispers while Harry takes over the room.
Questions