 <unk> ' dominating visual style was deliberate and composed , with a <unk> design that provided " a sparse , almost surreal feeling — a bright , <unk> , hard edged , near <unk> @-@ like take on American <unk> " ; <unk> constantly directed his set <unk> to empty the frame . He made Lester 's fantasy scenes " more fluid and graceful " , and <unk> made minimal use of <unk> , feeling that stable shots generated more tension . For example , when <unk> used a slow push in to the <unk> ' dinner table , he held the shot because his training as a theater director taught him the importance of putting distance between the characters . He wanted to keep the tension in the scene , so he only cut away when Jane left the table . <unk> did use a hand @-@ held camera for the scene in which Col. <unk> beats Ricky . <unk> said the camera provided the scene with a " <unk> [ ... ] off @-@ balance energy " . He also went hand @-@ held for the <unk> of Ricky 's <unk> footage . <unk> took a long time to get the quality of Ricky 's footage to the level he wanted . For the plastic @-@ bag footage , <unk> used wind machines to move the bag in the air . The scene took four takes ; two by the second unit did not satisfy <unk> , so he shot the scene himself . He felt his first take lacked grace , but for the last attempt , he changed the location to the front of a brick wall and added leaves on the ground . <unk> was satisfied by the way the wall gave definition to the outline of the bag . 
