This is a very striking still image from LA Confidential. There is a lot going on in this frame, so there is a lot to talk about. LA Confidential is a very well shot movie, so when this frame came up I was very surprised. What would appear to be our main focus is thrown right in the middle of the shot, in the lazy frame. This very uncreative shot bothered me, until I figured out what the frame really wanted the viewer to notice. The gunned down man isn't the most important aspect to the frame, it is the empty cash register. The director used the lazy frame to trick the viewer into thinking the gunned down man was important, but upon another inspection you realize that the empty cash register is. This comes into play later in the movie, when the viewers realize that it is all a setup, and that the perpetrators planned for the Nite Owl Cafe to look like a burglary.
More simplistic than the still frame I choose for LA Confidential, this shot from Double Indemnity is still very telling. One of the pivotal scenes leading up to the murder, Neff and Phyllis meet in a grocery store to go over details of the plan. In this still frame, the viewers eye is drawn towards Phyllis's face, which has a look of disgust and stress. The way the light hits her face (while a shadow hits her body) emphasizes this. The director wanted the viewer to focus on Phyllis and her emotional reaction to what Nef was saying. Subtle shots like this is what makes Double Indemnity great; in a black a white movie the director still can use light and shadows to draw the viewers eye and emphasize whatever he wants. Genius.
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