In my chosen sequence from "The Conversation" (1974, Coppola), surveillance expert, Harry Caul's paranoid fears have come to fruition, and through the technical aspects of these scenes, we recognize this before it is one hundred percent established by the narrative. The cinematography of the sequence, with special emphasis on the composition and the rare utilization of sound, gives subtle hints that the great measures Caul has taken to make himself untraceable have been botched. The way Caul is framed shows us his feelings of isolation and paranoia, and the non-diegetic sounds are edited in as a way to show closure for an act i.e. the time when Caul realizes he is no longer an invisible man and may be a factor in a murder again, a dramatic noise is heard. Minor foreshadowing also happens due to chiaroscuro lighting. The mise-en-scene ties together this sequence is to push both aesthetic and narrative agendas.
When the sequence I have chosen begins, Caul is in bed, and he has just woken up post-nightmare. Some of the music from the nightmare scene is fading out whilst he gets up, and the frame is tight on him, leaving little negative space on the left side of the frame. This composition coupled with the narrative of the scene prior shows us Caul's fear, his paranoia. The shot is also high-angle which can be interpreted as Caul feeling inferior due to the fact that we are looking down at him. The scene is also "moonlit" as it is taking place at night, resulting in the chiaroscuro lighting covering Saul's face in darkness. From these elements, we've deduced that Caul is having dreadful thoughts, and along with that, he is "in the dark" about what has happened and what is to happen. .
The sequence only features straight cuts, taking us moment by moment abruptly through Caul's life. Connected by one of these straight cuts, the next shot features Caul walking around, looking for Meredith, the woman he spent the night with.
