What do you think is the director’s purpose here? I believe that the director’s purpose is to show the World the idea of technology taking over. That they have a mind of their own and this can be seen when the spiders are trying to find John so they can scan him. Together they work as a team to get into the underfloor lighting, this shows the idea that technology has a mind of its own. In the rapidly growing age of technology and the inter activeness that we have with it on a daily basis Spielberg has emphasized the individual minds of these ‘spiders’. Also by using a electronic spiders is helps put across the idea of them as a living thing to be afraid of. In the real World spiders are normally seen as something to be afraid of Spielberg has played on this fear.

What might the director want you to think? How much technology has taken over. The negative affects of technology on society. The fear that technology may take over and control our lives. 

Cinematography techniques

  • Spiders all work together, in society people are worried technology will rise up against
  • John under the spiders in the bath, showing the superiority of them
  • We see spiders as a threat already in everyday life, we fear them
  • People immunised by technology..used to the spiders being involved in all personal aspects of life..sex, bathroom, arguments, young children. They have no choice or freedom  
  • Technology flawed because they didn’t realise it was the right person
  • Blue light in corridors, warm light in the people’s rooms, John’s room becomes more blue throughout the scene
  • Close up of the bubble coming from his nose then popping, suspense music leading up then stops when the bubble tops, then the sound of the spiders start
  • Crescendo music
  • ^ deep leading up to John jumping in the bath, spiders have a high pitched crescendo
  • Drum beat, representing johns heart in the bathtub
  • Diegetic sound louder than non dietetic when it seems John has gotten away with it, then when

How do the chosen cinematography techniques create an effect on audience and the director’s purpose? Camera shots and lighting give the viewer the feeling of fear of technology and that it will one day control us.

How does this extract sit within the overall context of the film? Dystopian , people living rundown

 

  • Continuously address 2 cinematography elements (examples of these) and how they work to address directors intention.
  • Give audience response= correctly describe the effect for you
  • Discuss how these reflect societal ideals/thoughts/options… and possibly discuss times when we’ve seen this in history etc.. (e.g WWI)

 

Based off a 1956 fiction story by Philip K. Dick, the movie is based around technology. In this scene where the pre-crime police units are coming into a typical rundown dystopian building looking for John Anderson, they use electronic spiders as an extension of themselves. Stephen Spielberg uses camera angles and sound to enhance his purpose of portraying a world where technology has taken on a mind of its own and the way it infiltrates all personal aspects of daily life.

Electronic spiders are released around a typical dystopian building in which the pre-crime units are searching for the fugitive John Anderton. With an extreme low camera angle the spiders ‘come to life’ in accompany with non dietetic crescendo music, the purpose of this is to create the feeling of fear in the viewers that the occupants in the building are feeling. By viewing the spiders from such an extreme low angle it increases the idea of the threat that these spiders have on the citizens, technology is a ‘big’ problem in this society. The spiders are accompanied by a constant orchestra of an ever increasing crescendo, this leaves a lasting sense of suspense in the viewer for they know that there will be a build up to something big. Once these spiders have come to life and start to search around the building so they can eye scan the citizens inside, we see a birds eye view of the people inside. These people appear small and insignificant in comparison to the spiders who appear bigger than they actually are, they control and place fear into the vulnerable. Spielberg has chosen spiders because they are seen in society as something to be feared, people are scared of them and how something so small can cause so much harm. Through a birds eye view shot there are young children running away from them in accompany with diegetic sound to hear their screams of fear and discomfort, because the spiders are not yet scanning the children the non diegetic sounds of the orchestra are louder than that of their screams. This is done purposefully by Spielberg to enhance tension throughout the viewers so they can understand the emotions of these children.  As the spiders begin to climb the children to scan them we hear the diegetic sounds of the spiders clicking steps become louder than that of the non diegetic music. Panning over the scene we see a couple having intercourse, these are also vulnerable people and these spiders interrupt their most intimate and vulnerable states. We can see their discomfort as well as hear it because of the choice of a birds eye view shot and the combination of diegetic music for dramatic effect and non diegetic sound so the viewers can hear the screams of the people.

 

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Join the conversation! 2 Comments

  1. You have some great commentary in here, Tegan. One thing to note – why a bird’s eye view shot? How powerful is it for the scene and for further showing how controlled citizens are?

    Reply
  2. FEEDBACK:
    Hi Tegan,

    You raised some good points in here. I want you to now consider:
    – a societal response – how does the text reflect society?
    – developing your sentence crafting and the fluidity of ideas – it sentences were almost bullet-pointed in feel
    – Be more pointed in discussing the director’s purpose.

    Keep this in mind when you actually attack your 3.9.

    🙂

    Reply

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