By analyzing the same scene of the movie Taxi Driver, I noticed the frame, staging, performance of the actor and the prop that I haven’t found last time.
The actor who acts Travis did some little movement before meeting Betsy. He buttons up his jacket and cufflink, also pulls off his jacket a little bit to make him looks tidy. His performance tells the audience that he wants to leave Betsy a good impression.
When Travis is talking with Betsy, most of the shots just focus on one of them, like dirty over-the-shoulder shot, medium shot and close-up. While there is a shot that is the medium shot for both Travis and Betsy, and Tony stands behind them. The reason why the director took this shot was to highlight Tony, but in a not that high-profile way, since he is not the main character in this scene. Compared with the dirty over-the-shoulder, which shows the interaction of Travis and Betsy and shortens their physical distance, the space between them is quite wide in this shot. The director put Tony in the middle and framed his characters to form a triangle pointing to Tony. When the conversation was going on, the noticeable action is staged behind it. The audience tends to notice Tony and read the initial thought of Tony. The director pointed the audience’s eyes through the frame and the placement of the characters throughout this scene.
When Travis is talking with Betsy, he puts his hands on Betsy’s table which allows his body to move forward a little bit to shorten their physical distance. When Travis says he doesn’t have time to do the volunteer job cause he needs to drive the taxi, then Betsy asks him with a confused look, “So what exactly do you want?” He leans his elbows on the table to lower his body, tries to make their sight horizontal, which makes their talk more personal. Besides, because Travis is trying to ask Betsy out. If Travis talks with Betsy with his body straight, it makes him look so condescending. The position that leans on the table with elbows makes his word more convincing and sincere.
Betsy is sitting in her seat throughout the whole scene, and she was shot in close shots, over-the-shoulder shots and medium shots, which give her less chance to show her body language. We know that body language makes a difference to the performance of the actor, it gives the character a vivid image and tells the audience more information about the story of the film. In this scene, the actress who acts Betsy chooses to keep playing with the pencil. On the one hand, the usage of the pencil helps the actress to give casual and natural performance. To the director, since the actress doesn’t have many movements in this scene, the appliance of the pencil makes her behavior more visible and practical. On the other hand, the pencil tells the audience more internal thoughts and feelings of the character. After Travis left, Betsy shakes her pencil with a smile, and the speed of shaking pencil shows that she is happier than what is shown from her look. It is like the puppy would wag its tail when it feels happy.
Those small movements that the actor and the actress did in this scene and the use of prop contribute to their character shaping. what’s more, the director applies the different frame and staging to lead the viewer’s eye. All of these greatly advance the story.
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