Composition Meaning

The two major subjects in this photo are Mufasa(left) and Scar(right). On Mufasa, you see lots of slanted lines indicating movement. His eyeline is directly looking at Scar and the front of his body is also pointed at Scar. His legs are interesting also. The leg on the right fades into the ground so his paw isn't shown, but his paw is assumed. The leg on the left is on an almost parallel line as his leg on the right. However, his paw is pointed out. The line it is pointed toward cuts off Scars departure. This makes it seem like Scar is trapped and must face Mufasa.

Scar is interesting as well because his legs are more straight and vertical. This makes it seem like Scar is stuck, and stiff. Scar is not preparing for a fight or conflict. He isn't preparing for it, he's just holding his ground. Perhaps the most interesting part about Scar here is the his head. The line that he is holding his head is downward. This points his head towards the feet of Mufasa, making it seem like he is expressing being below Mufasa. It isn't obvious why Scar is doing this, it might be out of fear or a desire to avoid conflict.

Contrast

The creators are also sending a message here between the two characters. Scar, on the left, is in the shadows. His body is darker. There is also a bit of contrast in the back of Scar which makes his body look even darker. The lightest part of Scar is his mouth, and compared to other parts of the photo, it is quite dark. His mane is also one of the darkest parts of the photo.

One the other hand, Mufasa is the lightest part of the the image. Similar to Scar, his mane is the darkest part on him but the lightest part is considerably brighter than the rest of the image. His body really shines with the light source hitting it directly. There is also a highlight on his face. However, the rest of his face is somewhat in shadow which could be symbolic.

Alignment

The alignment here is a little different than the other photos from this scene. In this photo, there is just one subject as opposed to two and this is intentional. Mufasa here is almost center aligned and this makes him the center focus of the photo. He is looking straight and is standing tall and you see sort of a nobleness about him because of it. Also, his eyes are aligned which shows that his head is straight, not tilted at all. There is also a little bit of rule of thirds with his eyes because they are right on the top third line of the photo. His eyes are somewhat tilted down which makes him seem a little bit sad as well.