Willa and Lockjaw first meet in a wide shot in a church. This dramatic shot is thoughtfully composed:
- It uses the rule-of-thirds and puts Willa at a golden ratio. On my capture below, she’s at 2,000 pixels over and 1,250 pixels down. (Credit to my son for seeing the ratios at play.)
- Lockjaw is at another point on the thirds, and is placed higher in the frame than Willa, looking down at her. This creates a visual of the power dynamic.
- Their relative positions, and Lockjaw’s seated posture, also convey that Lockjaw is about to judge Willa. The feeling is amplified by her cuffed hands and the altar rails, which give the feeling of a courtroom bar (barrier railing) behind her.
- The vanishing point behind Lockjaw brings our attention to the altar behind him and, in this shot, he appears small before it. In the film, Lockjaw’s antipathy toward Willa is related to his goal of joining a religious extremist group. The inclusion of the altar and the religious iconography, as well as the lighting and colors, create the atmosphere of a Renaissance painting. In the context of the film, it conveys not an endorsement of Lockjaw’s actions, but rather that he is small before a larger force and that his actions are being judged.
Grid measured in pixels of this screenshot
