Our interest and attention can be captured at the beginning of a text by the effective use of various techniques.
The text that I studied is the movie “Pride”, directed by Matthew Warchus. The movie uses various techniques to capture the interest and the attention of the audience at the beginning of the text such as camera zooms, fast-paced action, and music.
The opening scene of the movie is a montage showing various original clips of the pit strikes and people fighting the police. Immediately the attention of the audience is captured by the fast-paced action. The viewer is left wondering the relevance of the montage and what effect it will have on the rest of the movie
Camera zooms are also used effectively to capture attention and interest. During the opening scene of the movie an establishing shot shows an apartment block, with a red banner saying, ‘Thatcher out’. The camera slowly zooms into the banner. This immediately draws the attention of the viewer to the banner. While Mark is in his house the camera zooms into the television, the camera then zooms into Marks face capturing the moment when his face fills with interest as he watches the television. Because of this, the audience is now interested in what is happening on the television. When Joe receives his birthday gift from his parent, the camera zooms in, making his face the most prominent object in the shot, drawing the attention of the viewer to Joe. This shot is effective because it tells the audience that Joe is the main character. The use of camera zooms is very effective because it forces the viewers’ attention to an area of the screen. The director wouldn’t be making unnecessary camera zooms if a particular moment or object was not relevant or interesting. By zooming into faces, the camera also affects the emotional involvement of the audience, by capturing emotions and facial expressions.
Another technique used to capture the attention of the audience is fast-paced action. When Mark leaves his house the pace of the movie speeds up. Mark is walking briskly as he collects buckets from his neighbours. The music is also at a quick tempo adding to the briskness of the scene. We also see Joe run out of his house too. Joe is also moving quite quickly as he runs over the steps onto the bridge. The camera is moving in a fast-tracking motion adding to the speed of the scene. This captures the attention of the audience because it is clear that Mark and Joe are moving with urgency. The audience is not entirely sure of the reason why Mark is collecting buckets, or why Joe is running, the interest of the audience is piqued because the viewer wants answers to the questions posed by the scene. This is a very effective technique because the interest and attention of the audience are captured very easily. Naturally, the attention of the viewer is drawn to things that are moving fast.
Music is also another effective technique that is used to capture the interest and attention of the viewer. During the montage, at the very beginning of the movie, an old acoustic song is heard playing in the background. Lyrics like ‘solidarity forever’, and ‘the union makes us strong’, are heard as the scenes play during the montage. The interest and attention of the audience are captured because it is quite clear that the choice of music is not coincidental, as the lyrics tie in perfectly with the scenes that are shown during the montage. There is no dialogue in this scene, so the viewer has no choice but to listen to the song. Music is also used when Joe and Mark are both shown running to the pride march. The music is very upbeat, it almost seems as if Mark is walking in time with the music. The attention and interest of the audience are captured as the music reaches a crescendo when the title of the movie is finally revealed. This is a very effective technique because it adds emotion to the scene and appeals to the auditory senses of the viewer.
In conclusion, with the use of camera angles, fast-paced action, and music, the director can capture the attention and interest of the audience, using these effective techniques.
During the comparative course I studied the texts “Pride” by Mathew Warcus and “A doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the above statement that our interest and attention can be captured at the beginning of a text by the effective use of various techniques. Throughout the entirety of both texts, a wide range of techniques are used to bring the texts to life. We are introduced to some of these techniques at the beginning of both texts, which causes us to be immediately captured and involved with the stories the texts are presenting us with. I will be discussing some techniques used at the beginning of “Pride” and “A Doll’s House” and explain how they are effective.
The first thing we see in a film or read in a play is immensely important as it can determine whether or not the audience becomes interested and if they have the desire to continue watching/reading it. In “A Doll’s House”, the first word read by the readers is “Hide” said by Nora, the central character. This technique of foreshadowing a main theme of the play gives the readers an opportunity to understand what they are to expect when reading the entirety of this text. We soon realise that Nora is an extremely secretive person, as she hid her sweets from her husband Torvald and more importantly hid the fact that she borrowed money and forged a signature in order to save his life. The audience receives a small insight and a sort of introduction to the theme that is secrets, due to this technique being effectively used at the very beginning of the text. The audience’s interest and attention is captured which allows them to express their desire to read more.
This effective technique can also be seen in the beginning of “Pride”. The audience is presented with various real life images and videos that were taken/recorded during the troubles in the 1980s, where the minors were on strike and the LGBT+ community were not being accepted by society. These images insinuate that the film is going to roughly be about what life was like for the people living during that time. The technique used here has the exact same effect as the word “hide” has in A Doll’s House, as they both give the audience an insight into what’s in store for them, and for what is yet to come. Due to this, it is clear that our attention and interest is captured at the beginning of both of these texts, due to these techniques.
An effective technique used at the beginning of both “Pride” and “A Doll’s House” is their authors use of language. The language used at the start of “A Doll’s House” gives the audience a brief understanding of the cultural context of the text. Torvald is introduced with his first sentence being “Is that my squirrel rustling?”, capturing the audiences interest and attention as he is immediately being possessive with his wife Nora. He soon after states “Oh Nora, Nora, how like a woman!”. Straight away, the audience now know that women during this time did not have rights like men did. The men were the ones who were in power: they worked for the family and the women looked after the children. This technique captures the audiences attention and interest as they have an awareness and understanding of the world of the text.
ReplyDeleteThe effective technique that is the use of language is also strongly evident at the beginning of “Pride”. Joe travels to London to attend the pride march of 1985 without his parents knowing. He stands on the path, hesitant to join in as he is afraid of what society will think of him. A woman walks past him with her daughter and mutters a singular word to Joe: “Disgusting.” This technique of using short language is extremely effective as the audience can grasp an understanding of the text’s cultural context, just from one single word. Society frowned upon anybody who considered themselves to be apart of the LGBT+ community, and because Joe then agreed to the woman, we also know that people were afraid to express themselves for who they really are. This technique provides the audience with plenty of information on how people lived in the world of both texts, causing their attention and interest to be captured.
These effective techniques combined allow both beginnings of the texts to be filled with insightful information, causing us as readers to become fully invested in both storylines, and to experience the desire to read more. Our attention and interest is easily captured as we involve ourselves with the lives of Joe and the members of LGSM, and of course observe the growth of Nora as a powerful woman.