blog post #3

For this assignment I chose the tap dance scene from the indie movie gummo, in which one of the characters lifts makeshift weights in front of a mirror while his mother tap dances in her deceased husband’s tap shoes in the same room. the mirror is very significant in this scene as it covers an entire wall and thus allows more of the setting to be seen in a shot. What is interesting about the director’s use of the mirror is that it allows for the all of the shots in the three minute scene to break the 180 degree rule. In fact, the shots are so dynamic in position they switch from all sides capturing the subjects in 360 degrees. The mirror almost gives the impression that the characters are in more places than one, so the cuts from all sides merely add to the entropic demeanor of the film. The chaos that the movie depicts throughout is captured in an organized manner by the compositions of the seemingly random shots. The eyeline matches of the subjects to themselves as they look at their reflections brings about a sense of focus and harmony in an otherwise messy room. a big factor in the delivery of this scene is the order the shots are taken in. A beginning mid range shot of the main room without the mirror in view gives the impression that the subjects are in a place of pandemonium, yet as the camera pans right and the first subject’s reflection appears a sense of purpose emerges hence giving the character’s actions meaning.