Comprising a single shot, this excerpt from Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie includes several sizes.
It begins with a on a yellow handbag and finishes with a of the empty station platform down which the female character is walking. We thus move from a framing that leaves part of the woman’s body , to a shot that shows her entire body within the .
The dominant shot size that intervenes between the beginning and end of the excerpt is the, held for a few seconds by the as the camera briefly follows the character’s walk : the woman’s body appears to be cut mid-thigh by the frame.
As the traveller moves from the towards the , she reaches the of the frame. We then gradually discover the space around her. This is composed of , lines, traced out by the two platforms and trains on either side of her. These lines towards the centre of the frame. This situates the in the same place as the centre of the image. The image is also composed of lines, mainly the orange line painted on the ground, which the woman follows closely as if this marking traced the movement blocked for the actress. These lines and the absence of people on the strangely deserted platform clearly highlight the and underscore the geometrical, almost aspect of the shot composition. Likewise, notice that the woman stops at the same level as the first pillar of the platform shelter, which completes the graphic balance of the shot.
