I have been watching the show ‘The Crown’ for a while now and the cinematography of the show has never failed to impress and intrigue me. Apart from very visually appealing sets and splendid costumes, one thing from the show that really catches my eye is the way specific scenes of the show are filmed. A great example is a scene from Season 3 Episode 9 of the show; the episode is called ‘Imbroglio’.
This scene (above) from the episode is so striking in the sense that this scene is so engaging. The 7 characters have been positioned in a way in which they balance the shot; 3 characters to the extreme left of the shot and 4 characters to the right. This scene captures the entirety of the characters from their head to their toes, making it a long shot. This provides us with a much wider frame to observe. The shot has an eerie, foreboding effect on the viewers as it seems like the characters are staring right at us. The shot increases tension and anticipation. The fact that all the characters are wearing black and are directly looking at the camera at the same time, contributes to the tension built up in this scene. The background is rather dull, which makes the characters stand out even more as they are all wearing jet-black clothing. Every character’s costume is of varied length, and the queen’s (fourth from the left side) dress has a triangular cut. This cut of her dress breaks the monotony of all the other costumes being black and straight-cut. The queen is the only person standing straight in this shot while all the other six characters are standing in an angle. This seems to be reinstating the authoritative power of the queen. The tall and wide pillars in the background appear to be sturdy. Since the queen is the only one standing straight in this shot, it seems as if she is a manifestation of the pillars who stands tall and holds her family and her nation together.
I must have watched this particular scene about fifty times and it just never gets old!