Discuss some of the techniques used in your chosen films to provoke audiences into taking a particular point of view towards characters and key events.
In the opening sequence there is a close up of someone sharpening a knife, this could be a metaphor for the whole film, establishing that the film shows people living on a knife-edge, which suggests they’re all going to end up being involved or being a victim of crime. This would give the impression that every character the audience see’s/ meet’s within the film is either involved in crime or will be. The point of views that’ll be taken by audience will represent the characters negatively.
In the film as it progresses it introduces you to different characters and each character you’re introduced to has a story/ chapter.
In the first story you are introduced to the main character Rocket. You see him talking to his friend about a job. A tracking shot is used to follow him and his friend as they walk through the slums. This shot cuts back and forth from Rocket and his friend to a group of people chasing after a chicken, who has tried to escape to avoid being killed and eaten.
In the opening scene you see shots of the chicken, accompanied with straight cuts have been used to reveal people preparing food. There’s a close up of the chicken looking at the people. The fast paced shot suggests the chicken is frantic as he looks for a means of escape, this links with future scenes showing other characters trying to escape the slums. However the result ends up with them either wandering back into the slums or being killed in them. This also links with the perception that everyone is linked in with crime one way or another.
In this opening scene you see confrontation when the chicken comes to a stand still in front of Rocket and his friend and behind the gang of people who were chasing it. The gang of people are all holding guns up at the chicken and towards Rocket and friend, they tell them to get the chicken and a long shot is used to show Rocket edging toward it. Rocket doesn’t have a gun but a camera. Similar to a gun the camera shoots at people but to create photographs not to create a killing. The camera and the guns suggests that things are limited in the slums, you either pick up a gun or you pick up a camera- Rocket chooses a gun.
Behind Rocket and his friend you see a police car pull up. You see the police men get out of the car and walk towards them all. A straight cut is used to show Rocket’s reaction to seeing the police. Then a 180° pan/ turn is used to show the police. The camera then tilts into a dutch angle, suggesting a distorted world and uncertainty. The camera then turns 360 ° and goes around and around to show the conflict between the police and the gang. This shot then goes into another of Rocket in a similar situation but back in the 60s. The dutch angle that has been used to capture the police creates an uncertainty on whether to trust them or not, which is the impression this angle gives to the audience about the police.
You see the police later on in the film taking Rockets money when he was younger and telling him to leave what he was selling and get in the car. By seeing the police taking the money from Rocket shows them as corrupt, also agreeing with the dutch angle before which was used to show them as untrustworthy.
[Talk about: genre, urban stories, how they live etc]
