caffienekitty | SPN Meta: Visual Framing in Croatoan (2.09)

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SPN Meta: Visual Framing in Croatoan (2.09)

All right, since I'm not doing anything with the film studies course I took, I may as well write a teeny little meta. Other people might have already noted this elsewhere, but I noticed it tonight and wanted to point it out. Oblique speculation and observation only. I don't read spoilers.

When I rewatched Croatoan I noticed this shot as one that might make a good icon if I could find a decent cap (thank you Supernatural.tv) I didn't notice the first time I watched because I was distracted and muttering "You aren't going to tell us are you, Kripke, you bastard" like everyone else was. :-)

The Screencap

Here's the thing, as I was fiddling with the cap above I noticed what is going on with the framing in this shot. Dean and Sam are right together, as visually close as they can possibly be. Both are facing outward from their mutual central point; Dean is facing outward to the left, and Sam is (essentially) facing outward to the right.

Dean's View

On the left side of the frame, what Dean is facing is a cluster of timbers which stretch from the top to the bottom of frame, setting up a visually imposing set of vertical barriers. Dean is facing a wall that he can't get past. The way the shot is framed adds to a sense of trapped-ness for Dean, and emphasizes the way that the character would probably rather completely forget what John told him, and get away from everything, but he's reached a point where he's got no option, and has to tell Sam. The way he is visually blocked into the frame by the timbers emphasizes how much he'd rather not have to do this, and how trapped he feels by events right now.

Sam's View

Sam on the right is facing an open path, that heads off into sun-dappled chaotic greenery, and away from Dean. This... doesn't bode well, to me, for Sam taking whatever Dean's going to tell him very well. Sam isn't blocked into the frame at all; the vertical elements of the fence timbers on Sam's side do not run completely to the top and bottom of the screen, and actually almost blend together into a horizontal band leading alongside the path. Sam has a clear and apparently inviting way out, visually. But it's a way out that takes him away from Dean who is facing the wrong way to see it.

That's pretty much the point where I go 'ouch' and stopped thinking about it for the evening.

This shot visually emphasizes a turning point Dean and Sam are at, I think. It's been a long time since I took film studies, so I could be way off-base, but this is just what I think. What do you think? Or am I thinking too much?

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Dude, you're awesome and you can never think too much about stuff like this. This is the kind of stuff I *love*.

I can remember when I first watched Croatoan thinking how strange the shot was - off balance. But I didn't go back to examine it. I love your analysis!

Thanks! I love the cinematography. Most of it seems to be simply practical, but every so often there's nifty shots like this that just get you.

That is way cool. I never see stuff like that, but I think your analysis of that shot is really intriguing. Is it the 11th yet!?

Not yet, dammit! Although I did hallucinate earlier this week that it was the week of the 11th and that the new episode was tonight. Work is eating my brain apparently.

Ooo, good catch, nicely done.

I'm trying not to think too much about the secret because we're so close to finding out what it is at this point. It better be darn good. *le sigh*

I'm pretty certain I know what the secret is, but I could be totally wrong. Either way, I'm preparing several coping mechanisms to deal with all possible results. Regardless of what it is, I think there's going to be a mass plot-bunny explosion throughout the fic-writing audience.

mmm interesting. I also notice that Sma and Dena are virtually merged into one here - they're not going any where alone (is hopeful).

i was also taken with a couple of other points - and i have no idea what they mean. It's a pastoral scene, a peaceful scene of nature. It is light - rare on this show which is all about shadows. Its also still. They boys are ususally in motion, and when they are not there in a diner or a motel room. Although in the frames before the Impala dominates left of screen.

I suppsoe it all adds up to emphahsising this as a moment of choice - to stay trapped or go down the inviting (but unknown path), to stay together or separate, to move or stay still, to choose the light or the darkness.

Or maybe its just pretty boys having a beer ;)

The way they're visually sharing the same space is just so nifty. The pastoral thing is like the 'calm before the storm' too, or the eye of the hurricane.

Or maybe its just pretty boys having a beer ;)

Could be. I'll admit, if I'd just come from a town where anyone and everyone was infected with a demonic virus and trying to kill me, I wouldn't be to keen on having a round at the pub with the locals for a while afterwards. Also, as has been pointed out elsewhere, it's beer continuity. Those are probably the beers that Dean was bringing into the hotel room at the beginning. Our show has beer continuity. I like that.

Also, I have to say that your black and white icon of Dean freaks me out, because everytime I see it, I think Dean's eyes are solid demon black, (which... guh. And gah! And eep!) but they aren't. :-)

oh yes demon!Dean would be *guh* and *gah* and *eep*

but mainly *guh* !

hey I wondered whether you'd seen any of

anteka's picspam/metas? Her latest is the Season 2 part of looking at the Impala as a metaphor for Dean's emotional state (http://anteka.livejournal.com/193550.html#cutid1).

I wish my reply could be more coherent, but all I can muster right now is squee for how awesome this is. I was getting these vague impressions from that shot in Croatoan but I didn't completely examine it the way you did and it delights me in a very geeky way that someone else did :) I remember being driven nuts in film class by how ever single frame had to be taken apart, but in instances like this is clearly means something. So yeah, thank you for sharing this!

Anytime! I hadn't conciously noticed it either until I went to make an icon from it, which makes it even better because cinematography is supposed to do stuff like this without being overtly noticed as doing it while you're watching the show. So very awesome!

(Also, your icon made me giggle, thought you should know :-D )

That's both lovely and heartbreaking. I do think that Sam's reaction to the secret, whatever it is, won't be good - his initial reaction will most likely be to push Dean away, if for nothing else than that Dean kept a secret from him for so long, especially one this big. But I have LOTS of faith that the boys will inevitably gravitate back together and be, if anything, stronger and more connected than ever, because that's who they are. At this point, their bond is so ridiculously strong that it can survive literally anything.

That's what I'm hoping, anyway, because anything else will shatter my wee little heart.

Oh yeah. Their bond will survive, I'm certain, but it sure looks like the implication is it's about to take a serious stomping. *pats the bond comfortingly*

Well spotted :D
That framing is damn telling, and framing like those do not happen by chance, no-no. It's the visual language of film/tv, sometimes we just 'get it' automatically, but I think it's always importnat to point it out.
My favourite framings in SPN are all the shots of John in a cross-like position, foreboding his sacrifice for Dean in IMTOD, and the way the camera pans out from the deer's eye in Salvation and then again exactly the same in DT...only this time the eye is Dean's.

thank you! :)

I keep seeing icons of John standing in the light in a kind of fog with his arms out, but I don't remember that shot from anywhere in the series. *fights the urge to immediately re-watch the entire series, because, ya know, gotta sleep*

It's a still from the set of Salvation, it wasn't in any footage from episodes aired :D

i have so much glee for your film studies meta!

dean's boxed-in-ness continues throughout that scene, actually - in the last sequence he is shot against a dark background (the path is dark behind him, and the 'cluster of timbers' hedges him in on right of screen). sam's "what? dean, what did he tell you?" is complemented by the camera panning in on sam's face, and turning slightly, so sam is framed by an expanse of open water and sky... so, dean's being backed into a corner - he knows he's gonna have to tell sam even if he doesn't want to - whereas sam's completely unsure of what is coming, and has no clear markers of guidelines (except for the path away from dean, as you pointed out... nooooo!)

i also like that in the cap you've chosen, sam is perched on the fence (not the most stable of positions), while dean is leaning on it fairly heavily... i'm sure there's a metaphor in there, too, but i am TOO HOT TO THINK (bloody melbourne weather...)

also ... sam's view is totally of dean's ass...ets.

sam is perched on the fence (not the most stable of positions), while dean is leaning on it fairly heavily... i'm sure there's a metaphor in there, too, but i am TOO HOT TO THINK

ooh ooh oh, i think I've got it... Sam, despite his enthusiasm, is still on the fence about hunting. So although he faces the side Dean is standing on, he still isn't quite committed to that world, so his feet aren't on the ground. And Dean is leaning heavily on the fence, trying to feel normal by leaning to that space between, and looking out away from his world. But his feet are planted and he's not going anywhere...And maybe the fact that he's looking out to where we should see sunlit water and sky, but all we see is those bar-like posts, is indicative of how trapped he is in his life, while Sam could always walk away...

wow, so much meta in one shot!

Yeah, Dean's very much up against the visual wall in that scene, and Sam has all the wide open space and clear paths. It's so awesome and nerve-wracking at the same time.

I KNOW!

*bites nails*

*loves your icon*

Whoa that's cool! Hopefully just Dean letting this out and letting Sam carry part of the burden will help "break down the wall".

Hee! I love your optimism! :-)

FILM STUDIES LOVE! I love seeing people pick up on things like this, especially because I do it myself, so to combine that with my favourite show makes me happy in my heart.

I've only watched Croatoan once so far, but I think you're pretty close to the mark with regard to that scene - the thing I love so much about Serge Ladouceur's cinematography is just how well it lends itself to analysis like this. Everything seems subtly purposeful, but works even if you dont read between the lines.

You've made me want to go back and rewatch now ;)

Serge Ladouceur kicks cinematography butt. Like the long shot of Metallicar driving alongside a green field under a stormy sky in Bugs, and the shot at the end of ELaC.... Well-suited for in-depth analysis or just going 'Ooo, nifty' at. Awesome stuff!

Film geeks unite - this was the first link I clicked on at

spn_newsletter and, knowing you were talking about visual framing, I knew as soon as I saw the first show where we were going with this. I think it's setting the scene for the next episode, at least.

Oh, very much so, if not the rest of the season. The visual dynamic is implying all kinds of future developments, and I don't think they'll be over and done with in a single episode.

What do you think they are implying though? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Okay, I've posted it in a new thing here. ;-)

Here fromt he newsletter. That's a lovely observation. I think the show does thing like that a lot -- who's in foreground, who's in the background but I've never been able to really pinpoint it. You put it together so well.

I agree about the barriers for Dean and the path for Sam, and interesting you point out Dean can't see the way out that Sam is facing.

I don't suppose you'd do this for other episodes? *hopeful smile*

Hm. I don't know. This one just kind of grabbed me. Maybe during summer hiatus, but no promises. :-)

ooh, I love your analysis of this shot. It's so insightful, and i totally believe it.
I wonder though, if there's any siginificance to how much of them you can see. Because Dean almost completely blocks Sam in the shot. I wonder if that's supposed to suggest Dean holding him back maybe? Because there's always been the undertone of "Dean took Sam away from where he was safe" Took him back out of the sunlight and into the dark...

I think their position is primarily to put them in the same space as each other visually, forming a an apparently unified whole, while in truth the rest of the shot is implying that they could very well fission away from each other.

Dean blocking Sam... well, he's been blocking Sam from the secret all this time, protecting Sam from knowing something about himself. Yeah, that could kind of be 'holding him back' in a sense, but it's not necessarily that Dean is keeping Sam away from where he's safe, because the Demon did toast Jessica after all, so it has no qualms about going after Sam and Sam's loved ones in the 'safe' environment. More like Dean is keeping information from Sam that might cause him to make what Dean sees as a bad choice, whether it actually is or not. To Dean, anything that takes Sam from him would be a bad choice, because Sam is everything he has left.

I thought I was the only one who would notice stuff like that! laksjhdasj I love film studies~

Okay, well, here's what I see. I agree with most everything you wrote about. Except for the Sam bit, which I'll get to in a second.

Both boys are in the left, and Dean's almost completely overlapping Sam. Which I think speaks to how this is Dean's dilemma, which'll quickly become Sam's once he spills the seekrit. It's beautifully shot - look at Dean's silhouette! In animation, a good, defined silhouette is key because it conveys the most information visually in the shortest amount of time. Like if there is a silhouette of a man with a gun facing you versus sideways, sideways is much more clear. Anyhoo, Dean's pose is perfectly situated so you can see the distress in his body language (also a great time to point out what an amazing actor Jensen is!).

As for Sam, well. What this shot is is open framing, which is like you said, a shot with a clear way out. I mean, apart from the symbolism, it's gorgeous. A really nice, energetic composition. Open framing generally gives the feeling that the viewer and/or characters are not trapped, have that way out. Which Sam's gonna take, I think, in the next episode! A little foreshadowing, but I guess we'll see!

Love you for posting this. ♥

(also a great time to point out what an amazing actor Jensen is!)

Is there ever a bad time? :-D Both of them are 'hitting it out of the park' this season.

Soooo true, they are both just. I mean, they nailed the characters from the Pilot on, but now that they're doing less conventional stuff, they're exploring the nuances and... I LOVE IT OMG. :X

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SPN Meta: Visual Framing in Croatoan (2.09)

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