The final scene of the television series The Sopranos takes the conventions of shot reverse shot and turns them on their heads. This is done by place the protagonist, Tony Soprano in the shot that have previously been his own POV. When tony first enters the restaurant that he is meeting his family in, we see Tony walking through the front door, the shot reveres and we see a first person POV of how Tony sees the restaurant, the shot then reverse back to a close up of Tony’s face. In a conventional shot reverse shot the next thing we would expect to see is a closer shot of the restaurant, to see what Tony is focusing on, or perhaps a different shot of Tony moving, or taking a seat at a table. Instead what we are met with is the exact same POV shot of the restaurant, but instead this time Tony is seated at a table in the middle of the shot. He has just entered his own POV.
The scene continues with a variation of shot of what is going on the restaurant intercut with shots of Tony’s personal POV, for example the shots of the jukebox. As the scene progresses and more and more people entre the restaurant more POVs are introduced, however Tony’s is the only first person POV we are shown. The scene clearly belongs to him. As more people come in, it becomes evident that any of these people could be the one to end Tony’s life. As this happens Tony’s first person POVs become more and more intense, as if he it noting himself that it could be the last time he is seeing the world around him.
The only time the camera leaves the presence of Tony is to see Meadow park her car outside. David Chase, the director, said this about watching Meadow park her car ‘I tried to build the tension and suspense as much as possible. That’s why I could go back out to Meadow and her car parking. I could use all that stuff to affect the pace. I think almost every director is thinking about the pacing. That’s what directing is. I did want to create the idea that you would wonder if something was going to happen in there. Meadow is filled with nothing but very, very deep emotions about parking her car. But possibly a minute later, her head will be filled with emotions she could never even imagine. We all take this stuff so seriously—losing our keys, parking our car, a winter cold, a summer cold, an allergy—whatever it is. And this stuff fills our mind from second to second, moment to moment. And the big moment is always out there waiting’
The interchanging shots, and the song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ playing in the background, as well as the quite final yet casual conversation, such as ‘remember the good times’ builds the tension to an extreme height.
David Chase also said ‘It was my decision to direct the episode such that whenever Tony arrives someplace, he would see himself. He would get to the place and he would look and see where he was going. He had a conversation with his sister that went like this. And then he later had a conversation with Junior that went like this. I had him walk into his own POV every time. So the order of the shots would be Tony close-up, Tony POV, hold on the POV, and then Tony walks into the POV. And I shortened the POV every time. So that by the time he got to Holsten’s, he wasn’t even walking toward it anymore. He came in, he saw himself sitting at the table, and the next thing you knew he was at the table.’
It fascinates me how a decision on how one character’s POV shots are going to be can set up the entire tone and suspense of an episode or film. The way in which Tony sees the world is with extreme paranoia and as an audience we are made to feel the same way. With Tony ‘see[ing] himself’ in every scene, it is as if he is taking greater notice of his life and we are therefore forced to do the same.
Interview with David Chase:
http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1502-Spring-2015/Shot-to-Remember-The-Sopranos.aspx