Lucas and Some Details More: Scene Analysis: Cashback

First, a synopsis by the IMDB: "After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild."

Cashback is a British Romance/ Comedy. The protagonist Ben working on night shift, falls in love with one of his co-workers, Sharon. At some point in the film, his boss is about to give himself a surprise birthday party and delivers to Ben the job of finding a stripper for the party. Ben doesn't know where he can find a stripper, but his long time friend knows. Here's what follows:

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Ben and his friend enters in the strip club. It's the first time that we're in this place, so the environment is introduced with Wide Angle Lenses (Deep Depth of Field) (we can see a slight distortion at the edges of the frame) for our eyes to catch everything on focus. Still, We can notice that Ben is positioned in the frame following The Rule of Thirds. Also, the lighting coming by the windows traces diagonal lines towards Ben. The cinematography is guiding our eyes to the protagonist.

(Img 1) Medium Long Shot

In the next shot, with Wide Angle Lenses (Deep Depth of Field) we see the main attention to the two girls from the club: One with red underwear that briefly passes by, and the main attraction stripper. The red underwear girl starts at the Rule of Thirds, but leaves the frame while the main stripper stays at the center of it. Again, our eyes are guided by the composition of the frame: the (bored) stripper has lines granted from the depth of field towards her (both lights from the window and from the local architecture), not to mention the disparity of the colors.

(Img 2) Very Long Shot

Next, we come back to the previous frame, but as Ben and his friend walks to the bar, the camera Pulls Back and Pans Left, resulting in the image below. The thinking is the same as the stripper's frame, but in addition to the guiding lines, we have Ben still on the Rule of Thirds instead of a centered, end of Depth of Field girl. We're also introduced to the bartender, who's Ben's friend ask for two drinks.

(Img 3) Medium Shot

Next shot, now the stripper is following the Rule of Thirds and we got close to her. We're still on Wide Angle Lenses to the details around her, like the public with a lame atmosphere.

(Img 4) Long Shot

Following Hitchcock's rule with the size, we have one drink delivered by the bartender. Now we change a Telephoto Lens (Shallow Depth of Field), the drink it's the only thing that matters on the shot right now. The camera Tilts Up and he asks what was the other drink. This shot serves like a punchline for a joke.

(Img 5) Close-Up on the drink...

(Img 6) Tilt Up to Medium Close-Up

Ben's friend remembers the bartender that he was supposed to bring two drinks. In counterpart, the bartender responds and goes away. Ben and his friend chat a bit and then turn their heads to the right. We have a repetition of the Image 4, where they're looking at, followed by a shot of one of the spectators, showing how lame the public is. We come back to the duo, as they leave the frame.

(Img 7) Medium Close-Up: Telephoto on the duo, we already know the place so lets focus on characters

(Img 8) Medium Close-Up

(Img 9) Medium Close-Up

(Img 10) Long Shot

(Img 11) Medium Close-Up

(Img 12) Medium Close-Up

We're back again with the image 4, but Ben and his friend enters in the shot, looking for a place to seat. The stripper has a toy gun, and shoots to something out of her frame. By the position of the characters in both shots, we can tell that she could be aiming at the two, predicting the future conversation.

(Img 13) Medium Close-Up/ Long Shot

(Img 14) Close-Up

They sit and watch the stripper do her performance. Ben is positioned on the left side of the frame, a little bit obscured and out of focus while his friend has the center, light and focus in his favor. They're looking to opposite directions, telling us how much each one is comfortable there.

(Img 15) Medium Close-Up/ Medium Shot

We have a Low Angle of the stripper in the center, giving her the position of power between the three. Overall she doesn't seem to care. Then we come closer to her, in a MCU shot. With a Tilt Down we're supposed to follow her body, but she squats, “cutting the crap” and facing the duo to the conversation.

(Img 16) Medium Shot

(Img 17) Medium Close-Up

(Img 18) Tilt Down

She enters in the frame of Image 15, on the right corner. We don't see her face, only her body as she extends a cup of tip towards the boys. Then, we cut to her expression as she asks for tips in Low Angle. The contrast between the light on her face with the shadow in her eyes put emphasis on her skeptical look. She asks a tip to Ben too.

(Img 19)

(Img 20) Over the Shoulder, Medium Close-Up

(Img 21)

Now we have a really shallow depth of field when Ben gives his tip (Notice his position on the Rule of Thirds stressing his eyes towards the stripper, the light on his face and the line made with the stripper's arm). The camera pans to the right and we stay on Ben's friend frame. The negotiation is mainly between him and the stripper.

(Img 22) Close-Up

(Img 23) Close-Up, "Over the Shoulder"

While this happens, Ben has no interest in the conversation and turns into his own fantasy with Sharon. Ben is almost in the center of the shot, but his friend is also in the frame, completely out of focus with the Telephoto Lens (Shallow Depth of Field). This with the slow motion effect, shows that Ben is in his own world, disconnected to everything around him.

What we see next is Sharon as a stripper. Wrapped in darkness, it seems that her only source of light is the pole which she is dancing in slow motion, revealing a black curtain instead of purple one from the original stripper. The distant shots shows her form defined, but the close shots shows Sharon a little bit blurred: as an illusion/fantasy, we can't get too close.

After the last shot, we come back to Ben from the Image 25 while the camera does a Character Dolly towards him. We can notice that this vision has an effect on him as we watch the movement and the light increases, illuminating his face.