In the audition scene there were a few subtle changes in the camera movement in order to differentiate the performance between Kousaka and Kaori. The clip below is a side by side comparison of their performance.



The camera work in Kousaka’s performance was more dynamic which gave her a superior presence as a performer. This of course supports the notion that she’s the better musician. The first example is when the camera pulled back from an extreme close-up of their eyes. In Kousaka’s performance the camera pulled back farther and faster. As you’ll notice in the shots above, for Kaori the camera pulled back to a medium close-up while for Kousaka it pulled back farther to a medium shot. The camera work in Kousaka’s performance was more dynamic which gave her a superior presence as a performer. This of course supports the notion that she’s the better musician. The first example is when the camera pulled back from an extreme close-up of their eyes. In Kousaka’s performance the camera pulled back farther and faster. As you’ll notice in the shots above, for Kaori the camera pulled back to a medium close-up while for Kousaka it pulled back farther to a medium shot.

Another difference is the shot size of the concert hall during their performance. The first image above is a wide shot of the concert hall when Kaori was playing and the second image is an extreme wide shot of it during Kousaka’s performance. The extreme wide shot gave Kousaka’s performance a larger sense of scale, which conveyed the better resonance and sharpness of her trumpet playing.

Kousaka’s performance also had more camera movement. You might have noticed that the pans, tilts and lateral tracking shots had a wider movement during her performance. These camera movements also showed more of the audience and their reaction which gave her trumpet playing more impact than Kaori’s.