Cinematography: Framing and Offscreen Space in M
01:00:06
	Narrator: Shortly after the opening shots in M, we see Elsie Beckmann walking home, bouncing a ball in the street. Then in one of the more subtly frightening images in the film, there is a shot of a poster offering a reward for catching a child murderer. As Elsie bounces her ball off of it, a dark shadow of a man drifts over the poster. This ominous image is captured from a low angle, recreating Elsie's point of view. The framing and angles hint at a menacing figure lurking just offscreen, on the edges of the image.
01:00:39
	Narrator: Through its framing and use of offscreen space, M rigorously avoids graphic violence, thus making that violence more mysterious and disturbing. You see the shadowy stranger buy Elsie a balloon from a blind man. Shortly after, all we see is Elsie's ball rolling away in the grass in a chilling medium long shot that shows the balloon tangled in telephone wires. Demonstrating how cinematography can create complex symbols and connotations, these shots dramatically depict Elsie's death without actually
01:01:07
	showing it. The tangled balloon also serves as a metaphor, suggesting that Elsie's death more broadly represents a twisted modern world that traps and destroys innocents.