Screencap Saturday #2

After managing to capture The Social Network in 160 frames, I decided to try and bring the next film to you in about 40 less. Unthinkingly I chose The Help, which made the number impossible to shrink down.

Framing a human face in a film is all about expression. What does the frame convey about the person's emotions? How does the frame explain the story? What do we learn about the character through the frame?

The Help is a story about expression, about women who were not afraid to express themselves no matter what other people thought. Hence, when I began sorting the screencaps I took of the film, it was impossible to leave a lot of them out, because without a lot of the frames the story could not be conveyed. In many scenes of the movie, the characters rapidly go through emotional changes, and you'll notice a few frames side-by-side that are almost identical aside from the characters' expression. That's what tells the story.

Tate Taylor and his casting directors did a fabulous job of finding women who are incredibly talented at expressing their feelings without words. Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis are all brilliant at this (Spencer, Davis and Chastain are all Oscar-nominated). So without further ado, I present to you The Help, in 210 frames (Directed by Tate Taylor, cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt, editing by Hughes Winborne)

*spoilers beyond this point*