This scene from It’s a Wonderful Life involves George visiting Mary, whom he has a small romantic history with. After leaving in a somewhat heated manner, George returns to get his hat, as Mary has just answered the phone to her husband. From this point onwards is what I will be deconstructing, focussing mainly on framing.
Framing/Foreground and Background
– Mary in foreground, on phone in a mid shot, to left of frame, facing away from George
– George in background, picking up his hat in a long shot, to right of frame
– On phone, Mary goes from bored hello, to overenthusiastic smiles – putting on act for George – George notices enthusiasm in background, gradually walks into foreground
– cuts to wider shot with same basic framing – Mary calls for George just as he exits the frame, upon which he returns
– through asking to talk with George, Mary’s husband unknowingly brings George and Mary together – physically(in the frame), and also symbolically
– as husband wants to talk to both of them, they are forced to stand close to each other, listening to the receiver
– rather than shoot George and Mary in individual close ups, one two shot is used to emphasise how close together they are
– this same frame is kept for a long, long time – they trade glances with each other, visibly uncomfortable,
– length of shot builds tension up to passionate kiss where tension is released –
– the difference in height works to show the effort it takes for them to look at each other
other things
lighting – black and white, classic soft lighting
sound – no music – seems like a classic, uplifting romantic score would be appropriate – has story relevance though, as Mary had just broken the playing record in frustration of how George’s visit played out