A Thousand Stars: Episode I, Part 6

[matril]

Movies are more than a series of still images. The movements of the camera and the juxtaposition of shots are a crucial and unique aspect of their ability to convey a story and a mood. Here's a potent example, entirely free of dialogue.





First we see a long shot of the queen. In contrast to our first look at her in a regal position on her throne, bristling with power and authority, we now view her dwarfed by the enormous hall, a small figure in a wide, lonely space. In a closer shot, she gives a simple but eloquent gesture of bowing her head. The next shot tells us why. Through the bars of the window, reminiscent of imprisonment, the queen is a helpless witness to the invasion of her city.

Not only is this conveyed with an adroit, economic use of wordless visuals, it is also brutally brief. Theed had no real defenses; their communication was shut off; there was nothing they could do to stop this. Just like that, they have fallen to the Federation's power.

Next, a secret hiding in plain sight, if you know where to look...

Comments

[krpalmer]

While of late I haven't been getting my thoughts together in what seems time to reply to your posts in this series, I have been keeping up with them with interest. I suppose I could still try and mention how the Italianate architecture of Naboo's human settlements helps make it distinctive (and how I could imagine a different "pastoral planet" being introduced through it having different kinds of buildings).

Not that long ago, I saw someone suggesting your first frame of Queen Amidala might be compared to the shot in Episode IV where the hologram of Princess Leia first appears in the "Lars garage"; the figures are about the same size, in about the same place, and the "blue orb" towards the side could be seen as resembling Artoo's position. In bringing it up, though, I do have to acknowledge that seems a "deeper reading" that shouldn't distract from what the shot says about the actual story at that moment.