The scene I have chosen to deconstruct this time is from the 1976 film adaption of Stephen King’s novel Carrie. It is quite different from the movie Juno in almost possibly every aspect besides them both being teen films. Drawing off elements of art cinema, Carrie features supernatural abilities within a high school setting, drawing on teenage issues such as puberty, bullying and romance as the film centres around the prom. The film is more disturbing than frightening in my opinion. Director Brian De Palma’s style is also notably different and unique, which also encouraged my decision to choosing this scene.

In this scene, Carrie is in class and surrounded by class mates and her teacher whom is reading a student’s poem. The student is revealed to be Tommy Ross, a popular athlete who eventually later in the movie goes to take Carrie to the prom. The scene opens with a close up on Carrie’s hand, copying down the poem word for word. What happens next is a zoom out, which in many cases, is avoided during shot construction. However, De Palma includes frequent zooms throughout his film, so much so that they seem unnecessary and random at times. However, I believe this one works as it establishes Carrie’s like for the poem, as well as then zooming out to establish where she is and where the voice is coming from.

The shot is then dragged out to be quite long, panning around the students until turning around to focus in on Tommy and become a medium close up. When the teacher announces Tommy’s name, a whistle is heard, assumingly from outside. It’s almost as if it was used to demonstrate Tommy’s athletic nature, yet the teacher goes on to speak of his “home runs” right after which leads me to think, was it necessary?

The most extraordinary shot, however, is the double focus on both Carrie and Tommy that De Palma constructed. Tommy is seen at a close up, while Carrie is shown over his shoulder at a mid-shot. De Palma is famously known for his shots using a Split Focus Diopter, which is a half convex glass attached to the camera’s main lens. It helps create that double focus, and in the case of this scene, capture the emotions and reactions of two characters at once. You can even notice the blurry line in the scene through Tommy’s hair. I think this shot is brilliant as I don’t recall seeing it done so well. As Carrie announces her admiration for the poem and Tommy is seen as bothered by her doing so, the shot shows the division between both character’s personalities and personas.