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the two shot
Sometimes two people will occupy the frame together. This can just be a way to show shoot a dialogue, but....
To emphasize antagonism or alienation, characters can be put on opposing sides of the screen.
In this scene from My Beautiful Laundrette (top), the blonde man is fighting with his gang members; the director uses the sides to keep the sense of antagonism going.
This can relay yearning or fear; a desire or even a faraway thought. In Up, the married couple stare up and off screen to show their shared fantasies. The scientists stare in awe as alien vessels arrive, and a woman stairs off in horror when she realizes she is with a murderer.
The center of the screen is the focal point. It is often neutral. It puts an image front and center. Close ups, extreme closeups and medium shots use center space. In Amelie, the happy face of the main character is often in center screen close-up.
If a character looks directly at you then you can feel intimacy or discomfort or even intimidation. Breaking the 4th wall is rare but can be powerful.
In Spike Lee's Inside Man, the main character, a bank robber, stares right at the audience in a way that is intimidating.
A character or object pushed to the bottom or a bottom corner signals entrapment, weakness or vulnerability.
In All Is Lost the boat is made to seem smaller & not so safe because it is in lower corner. The dalmations plight is emphasized via lower screen, and the status of a grunt Marine seems lowdown.
An image pushed up toward the top connotes power, pride, intimidation, or superiority. Or maybe something godlike or heavenly. At right, in Rosemary's Baby, the husband seems stronger or in charge, emphasized by him in the top of screen, Below, from Streetcar, the Stella occupies the upper screen; below right, it's the monster who seems strong.
An image pushed off to one side can relay loneliness, outsider status or lack of balance. In 12 Years Slave the main character is off to the side to show something is amiss. In Taxi Driver Travis' alienation is captured with him pushed to the side. Mrs. Robinson is a lonely woman, evinced as she is on the side, even though her seduction makes her seem powerful.
... it can also show some sort of
connection between 2 characters... romantic, friendship, buddy-buddy, a meeting of the minds.
or maybe just a way to compare-contrast
Nosferatu
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Frenzy
Breakfast at Tiffanys