Month: June 2019

Characters.

Evey – Her persona changes through the film, even to the extent of facial expressions. The narration of the starting of the film about Guy Fawkes. Both listening to the show as Evey puts on makeup and V puts on the mask. Both hiding their faces. It begins as innocent and small against other characters. Constantly mirroring V. Clothes too small, belittled. Valarie story – outcast by her parents after coming out to them. Sun and warmth, nature is so present in the story, of past times. Her flat with her female lover always smelt of roses, roses stopped after the American war came to London. She loves everyone despite the features of any person, loves everyone. Walks out of the darkness of the cell in the light of V’s home. Arms up in the rain just as V did as he emerged from his torture.

V – Symbol for anarchy upside down. Face cast in half shadow and light. Constantly speaking with words starting with V. Collector of fine things, academic for his appreciation for the finer things. Cooks the egg in the hole, a subtle gesture of the forbidden. V showed in reflection. Sees Edmount Dontay as similar to V, choose vengeance over love. Leaves Scarlett Carson roses. Red V on the door of his cell. As he talks of hate he compares what he did to Evey as what to happened to himself. Walks out of the center on fire on the 5th of November.

Camera Shots.

Parrell scenes of Evey and V at the beginning along to TV talking about the domination of the population. Small second in commands overshadowed by the General. Low angle shots for police/enforcers. All homes show flags and obedience. Camera shots rising to high with Evey and other pure characters as V speaks of surveillance and manipulation of the citizens. Pan showing the books in the room where Evey finds herself, surrounded by knowledge and literature. Low angle as V screams coming out of the fire.

soundtrack.

Starting soundtrack of rising up feeling. The bells chime as the dark city sleeps on the morning of the 5th of November. Glorious sound as the buildings blow up. Classic orchestra soundtrack varying from intense and apprehensive to glory. Powerful speech from V over the V. Both scenes where Evey’s parents and Gordon are taken there are intense non-diegetic sounds.

Dialouge.

“Remember the 5th of November” “The power of ideas” “The guy defending them” “This is for your protection.” “Fairness, Justice and Freedom are more than just words.” “If they ever find this place, you will be the least of your worry.” “People should not be afraid of their governments, the governments should be afraid of its people” “We all did what we had to do” – Survive. “If the government ever searched my house you would be the least of my worries”. “You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you are beneath it” “There are no coincidences, just the allusion of coincidence.” Reoccuring talk of coincidences – egg in the basket, the chief talking about the attacks. “All you have to do is cooperate” “I remember how the meaning of words changed” “Different became dangerous” “You have no fear anymore, you are completely free”

Important things you see.

Degraded building, very low end, scared children accepted as normal, shocked by spiders, build up of suspense, the eye scans stop everything you are doing.

Symbolistic camera angles.

• The birds eye view of Spiders breaking into the apartments in a feat of complete invasion of privacy gives an outside perspective of the peoples lives getting invaded.
• The spiders perch on top of the victims as they scan them, looking down upon them. The spiders nature of looking down on the victims shows the hierarchy of the society in which technology is placed on a pedestal and human race is looked down on. Connotations of spiders are scary and very unliked as a species.

Important things you hear.

Fast violins – Music suspense combined with silence, ability to talk across the whole building, spiders communicating, spiders physical size compared to the sound of the tapping.

Enhancement of Diegetic Sounds.

• The tapping sounds are intensified as the spiders infiltrate the citizens privacy. This emphasises the intense impact they have on the symbolism of the scene.
• The Spiders screeching portrays the humanistic traits which the technology is developing and the communication alludes to the intelligence of this technology and humans reliance on it.

Non Diegetic Sound.

• Suspenseful music added in post production to create suspense and leaves us wondering on the fate of John.
• It also contributes to the overbearing control of the spiders and pre crime unit which the citizens of the building endure.

Paragraph.

This particular extract of the piece ‘Minority Report’ is essential to the overall theme of control created by Steven Spielberg and is intensified by the Cinematography Techniques of camera angles and sound. The control of the Dystopian society which John finds himself fleeing from only reveals its true dictatorship to John when he is hunted by his own unit. The utter and complete disregard for privacy and rights of the citizens is an evident part of the Spider Scene. The bird eye view angle which follows the Spiders in search of the to-be murderer shows the high position of technology in the society and establishes the citizens value to the government. It emphasises the disregard for human life, they are framed like animals in captivity, rats in a maze whom “are free to go anywhere as long they stay in the maze”. This accompanied by the elaborate use of Diegetic and Non diegetic sound, of which Spielberg was able to give the viewer insight into the citizens true apprehension and fear which holds the innocent in constant submission. The birds eye view and fast paced violins installs fear in the hearts of the citizens and viewers and this fear is what holds them in the captivity society. In alternate sections of the scene, the high position the spiders take when scanning the eyes forces the victim to look up as the spiders to perch high above the eyes. The intensified volume of Spiders screeching and tapping has a large influence on the scene and alludes to the undeniable control the surveillance and pre crime unit in the lives of the less fortunate. This reinforces the place of technology in the hierarchy of society and shows the strict encouragement of citizens to ‘look up’ to the higher powers. The spiders are portrayed as evidently large and powerful through the continuous use of low angle camera angles which gives a prospective how dangerous and powerful they really are in these citizens lives. Control is also highlighted through the manipulation of Sound in the Spider scene. Diegetic sounds, the tapping and screeching of the spiders alludes the over.