For my scene analysis, I’ve chosen a short clip from I, Tonya, the recent biopic about America figure skater Tonya Harding. This scene shows Tonya, played by Margo Robbie, preparing to perform the Triple-Axel while a man who has been paid by her mother taunts her from the crowd.

At the start of the clip, we see Tonya walk out from the shadows of the corridor and into the light as she heads towards the ice rink. As the scene takes place in a stadium, the light is very hard and fills her whole face when she is facing the rink. From this angle we can also see a a light from the corridor which acts as a back light and helps her to stand out from the other figures in this shot. It appears to have been shot with a wide aperture as the depth of field is quite shallow, which can be seen by how blurry the woman behind Tonya is despite how she appears to be walking right behind her.

As Tonya reaches the edge of the rink, the camera pans across to show the man in the stands. The point of focus switches from Tonya to the man as he says “you suck.” It quickly shifts back again to show Tonya’s reaction. Both Tonya and her coach are still receiving a great amount of light from the stadium lights, while half of the mans face is in darkness as he is side on meaning only the left side of his body is receiving the same light.

Tonya moves to confront the man, but her coach stops her and forces them to switch positions and with their sides to the rink, as she tries to prepare Tonya for her performance. The camera then cuts to a close up of the coach who is now standing so that most of the light from the stadium is falling on her hair and her face is in the shadows. This is contrasted by the over-the-shoulder shot of Tonya, who standing so that half of her face is in the shadow and the other half is in the hard stadium light. Just before she goes on the ice, she turns to face the ice so her whole face is lit up, suggesting she’s ready to be “in the spotlight” for her performance.

We are then shown the man returning to his seat, where the light appears to be diffused as the light is spread across the audience. Once again, a wide aperture has been used to achieve a shallow depth of field, allowing the camera to shift focus from the man to Tonya’s mother as she pays him.