https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx75t8V4R70

From the start of the scene the audience can assume where Arthur’s headspace is at as it is established early on in the film that Arthur is suicidal shown in his joke book which read’s “I just hope my death makes more cents than my life” and when he pretends to be on the show he practices shooting himself telling the audience that’s what he intends to do once he’s actually on there however the shots leading up to it actually tell the audience that he has no intention of doing so before the scene actually reveals it.

This shown by having Murray make jokes about him about him before he comes on stage but he is shown is darkness, anger on his face and the camera shown at a low angle looking up at him giving the audience the sense that he has power over the upcoming event. Arthur in a wide shot does a little bit of slow-motion dancing calling back to his dance on the steps reminding the audience of this new “joker” form he has taken. I believe Arthur being shown here is also a specific choice as the director shows a character who the audience believes is about pull the curtain down on his own life joyously emerging from a curtain. Phoenix’s performance here is astounding showing the audience that the old Arthur wouldn’t dream of acting this way dancing around and kissing another one of Murray’s Guests all shown in wide shots to convey the point of view from the audience in the studio. The following shots are as both audience perspectives and camera perspectives as Phillips attempts to shoot and edit this scene like the interview would have been presented to home viewers with the exception of a few shots to the camera screen which leads to Joker being asked to tell a joke. The camera uses a wide lense and an audience pov even keeping a camera in shot to show how Joker looks to them, reaching to pull what the audience watching the film think is his gun but clever blocking with the use of Murray’s desk in a mid-shot puts the audience on edge until the reveal of the joke book instead. The scenes then begin to intense thanks to the use of score and Phillips going back to a cinematic approach to the camera work using close ups before going back to more calmer mid shots when the tension seems to decrease slightly.