Film Analysis Video

Movie Scene Analysis, The Great Raid, Sympathy vs. Hatred

Evoking emotion in an audience is the goal of any movie director but the great directors find ways in which the can make the audience love one group of characters and hate another group at the same time. In the movie The Great Raid director John Dahl does just that in his horrific depiction of the World War Two Japanese execution of the Prisoners of War from the Palawan Prisoner camp. He was able to use a series of filming techniques to show how the Japanese belittled prisoners of war and thought of themselves as dominant over the men who surrendered while at the same time depicting the Japanese commander (who would play a major roll as the antagonist in the rest of the film) as ruthless and merciless in attitude towards the American prisoners.

Dahl’s used camera angles, costuming, and background music in a way to show how the American POWs (prisoners of war) were thought of as disgraceful by the Japanese. One way he did this was by contrasting high and low camera angles when showing the Japanese soldiers and the American POWs. All of the shots of the POWs were taken as high angle shots which make the men seem smaller or less powerful while the shots of the Japanese soldiers to show their superiority over the POWs. Another technique the director used to convey this idea was the difference in the costumes; the Japanese soldiers were wearing sharp looking uniforms while the POWs had worn uniforms and dirt smeared on their faces to show how they are not treated well by the Japanese. The director’s decision to use oriental style music during the scene adds to the idea that the American soldiers are at the mercy of and in an atmosphere controlled by the Japanese army. These effects all lend themselves to the feeling that the American POWs are insignificant to the Japanese and are oppressed.

Dahl also focuses on the Japanese commander who is ordering the execution and portraying him as ruthless and merciless towards the American POWs. Dahl uses various camera angles and shots including close ups on the machine gunners, reaction shots, and having him either in the foreground or background of certain shots that show the scene unfolding. The director’s choice to show close ups of the machine gunners and connect them to the orders of the commander portrays the commander as ruthless and thorough in the extermination of the POWs. Dahl also follows up the shots of the machine gunners and the Japanese soldiers killing the POWs with reaction close ups of their commander’s face to generate a relationship between the commander’s orders and the brutality in the minds of the audience. Another example of the director’s techniques for creating this relationship and characterizing the commander are certain shots in which Dahl places the Japanese commander in either the foreground or background of the camera shot depicting the execution as it unfolds. These various camera angles and shot structures not only connect the Japanese commander to the murder of the POWs but through that connection characterize him as brutal and unmerciful.

Dahl cleverly structures this scene to show how the American POWs are less powerful compared to the Japanese soldiers and at the same time characterize the Japanese commander as ruthless and unmerciful by connecting his orders with brutality of the execution. These two ideas suggest that John Dahl was trying to make the audience sympathize with the American POWs and connect with them on an emotional level while building a hatred for the Japanese commander to last throughout the film as he plays the part of the antagonist. The director would not have been able to evoke this emotion in his audience by communicating only one idea, he had to organize the scene to demonstrate many different ideas in order to evoke the series of emotions he wanted to generate in his audience.

Word count: 653

Scene Analysis

My scene is the reanaction of a POW execution performed by the Japanese army during World War Two which was the opening scene following a narrated intro in the movie The Great Raid. The scene is one minute and fifteen seconds long. I picked the scene becuase it is replete with vaious different kinds of shots and an increased pace of shot cuts.
In the scene POWs are forced into dugout bomb shelters and the comendant of the camp hands his attendant a letter which issues the order to execute all of the prisoners. The Japanese then proceed in the task of blockading the POWs in the shelters with gas drums and burning the men alive. During this scene the director rapidly switches between close ups on the camondant, the burning POWs and a machine gun squad which is guning down the survivors as they crawl out of the shelters. The horrific scene is accompanied by Taico druming and the sounds of screaming but very little is actually said between any of the characters.
A few important shots are when we see the POWs in the shelters the camera is angled down to depict their lack of power. Also when we see one POW gunned down there is a panning and tilting action which happens simultaniously. The scene ends with a close up on the comendant as the screne fades to white in the smoke from the fires and the machine guns.

http://www.tudou.com/player/outside/player_outside.swf?iid=12551232&default_skin=http://js.tudouui.com/bin/player2/outside/Skin_outside_12.swf&autostart=false&rurl=

The video will need to load but my scene takes place between 3:50 and 5:05.

Anouilh's Antigone, 4

motivation of characters:

Each tragic character is motivated by something different. Oedipus is motivated by his curiosity to know the truth about his past. Antigone in Sophicles' version is motivated by her commitment to her family in honoring them and dying with them. This motivation is similar to that of Antigone in Anouilh's version. However, Medea is motivated by her own emotions, her lust for revenge and her desire to show her dominance over Jason and the city.

fate is what controls the characters:

Oedipus is the obvious example of fate; he cant alter his foreseen future. Medea on the other hand seems to have that power but regardless of her actions she is still destined to a life of pain and grief. Both Sophicles' and Anouilh's Antigones are controled by a diffrent kind of fate. They make the choice to bury their brother and there for are destined to die but they see no other alternative and believe it is their duty to go through with it. There isn't any other option so in that sense they are controled by a fate outside of their control.

Anouilh's Antigone, 3

• During Creon and Antigone's argument Anouilh uses the idea that the townspeople are seen as animals or beasts from Creon's point of view throughout the passage. This characterizes Creon as a king and also shows his idea about how he should lead the people. The metaphor suggests that the people are belittled and viewed as unsivilized by Creon. It also suggests that Creon has the power to control them and that they are not cappable of seeing through his lies.

character discription

The Gaurd:

He is motivated by two things: greed and his fear of death. The gaurd who speaks to Creon first is portrayed as a cowerdly boy who only came because he lost a coin toss. "We flipped a coin and i came right over" (22). The fact that the three garuds flipped a coin to decide who would tell Creon the bad news indicates that they are all scared he will kill them for their insubordination and that they are scared of death. Later we see the gaurd's selfish side when he pleads to Creon that he would not be punished if the two other gaurds spoke about the body being buried. He didn't seem to care about whether or not the other gaurds were punished as long as he would be spared from the punishment.

The motivation of the gaurd serves in characterizing him in the story. It contrasts his selfish views with those of Antigone's to add depth to the story.

Anouilh's Antigone, 2

4 Literary Techniques and their Effects (or how they Affect the play)

1. Imagery/Metaphors of Antigone and cute-harmless things: "A little young for what, my kitten" (14). The use of a kitten to describe Antigone is how Anouilh characterizes the nurse and her view of Antigone. It can also be a portrayal of how the city people view Antigone; A harmless little baby, fragile, and cute.
2. Metaphor of Ismene as fruit: "She's like fruit" (17). This metaphor portrays to teh audiance how Antigone views her sister. She compares her to fruit to make her seem sweet, desierable, and beutiful.
3. Parallel Structure: "We love you, we are alive, we need you" (19). Draws atention to Ismene's words and creates a depth and structure to the rebutal of Antigone's desire to bury her brother. Ismene uses the ideas that Antigone's family loves her, that they are smart and still alive, and that they need Antigone, they dont want to live without her. This literary technique is used to get the audiance to sympathize with Ismene's point of view.
4. Metaphor of tragedy and a machine: "The machine is in perfect order; it has been oiled ever since time began, and it runs without friction" (23). The image of a machine in context with the topic of tragedy portrays it as unstoppable, inevittable, and purposful.

Anouilh's Antigone, 1

In the 1940's Europe was either in one of the biggest and most destructive wars in history or in the economic depretion which followed the destruction of the infustructure in many of the countries. The Nazi's views and methods of control lead Europe through a very dark period of time. People followed the Nazi party's beliefs because if they didn't they knew that they could be very severely punished. There was a lot of fear and deception in Europe and it took the rest of the world's combined efforts to stop the Nazi reign and fix the problems.

Europes history will probubly influence the characterization of the central characters (Creon more dictoral, Antigone more rebelious, etc...). It may also influence how these characters make their dicisions and what they decide to do. The plot may also be shifted in certain minor ways to reflect that period of time.