A mother puts her child down in the yard for a moment to go into the house. While she is out of eye shot, he scoots into the playhouse -- but from her viewpoint, the infant has vanished. She attacks a passerby.
Not only does cameraman Billy Bitzer show his command of the camera, by composing the initial field to show the house and the yard, and then following the woman onto the street in a horizontal pan, but this is a good basic type of comedy, in which the audience understands the situation is not at all dangerous, and therefore can look upon the emotions of the characters as overwrought -- and, indeed, as payback for the sin of neglect. It's primitive, but effective.
Not only does cameraman Billy Bitzer show his command of the camera, by composing the initial field to show the house and the yard, and then following the woman onto the street in a horizontal pan, but this is a good basic type of comedy, in which the audience understands the situation is not at all dangerous, and therefore can look upon the emotions of the characters as overwrought -- and, indeed, as payback for the sin of neglect. It's primitive, but effective.
