witness by peter weir
...is message? (Filmic Techniques) The two characters that best portray the ideas and themes are the two characters in the scene Samuel Lapp and John Book. The main idea portrayed is corruption, when John Book answers a phone call while showing Samuel the mug shots, Samuel decides to wounder around the police station. He sees a man who calls him over, Samuel then realises the man is handcuffed to the chair, revealing he is a criminal introducing the first idea of corruption throughout main stream society. Then Samuel recognises a photo of police officers Mcfee as being the killer and shows his discovery to john book. Book nods his head and slowly withdraws Samuels pointing finger as a sign of understanding as the pair now share a secret of a misinterpreted police force. This scene doesn’t have much dialogue between the two characters which creates more tension as Samuel and Book only exchange their communication between facial expressions and physical expressions which weir made through cut away camera shots, this technique is very effective as with no dialogue it gives the scene more suspense for the audience. Weir uses tilt shots when Samuel recognises Mcfee to emphasis the significance of Samuels’s discovery thus making a change in Book and Samuels relationship. Wire also uses slow motion shots when Book realises Samuel has found something and begins to walk over to Samuel. This slow motion shot gives the more tension to the scene as the audience wounders how Book will receive the information Samuel has discovered. The first idea of innocence introduces in the film is the unspoken acceptance John Book shows Samuels discovery of Mcfee. As Book believes Samuel without question that he has found the murder because Samuel has no knowledge of who Mcfee is and is only pointing out the operon he saw at the murder scene. Making Samuel a clean witness. When Samuel innocently points at the photo of Mcfee we are reminded of the deception featured in Books world and as Book covers Samuel pointing finger we see here he has just realised this fact for himself. John Books relationship with Samuel Lapp changes as up until this plot point Books first interpretations of Samuel and his mother Rachael was they were a nusense, then when Samuel makes the surprising discovery Books interpretations change thus bringing them closer. Wire uses zoom in on Mcfees photo in a newspaper to emphasise Samuels’s reaction to the photo as he has discovered the identity of the killer and is surprised. Weir also uses a very effective two shot at the end of the scene with Samuel and Book showing their relationship they now share, although weir could have used a shot/reverse shot for this scene it wouldn’t have conveyed their togetherness as effectively. Also low camera angles from Samuels’s point of view gives him more independence now that he has made his discovery. Making him the main character in the scene at this time. Explain briefly what genre or (combinations of genres) is evident in the scene you have chosen. The genre portrayed in this scene is crime thriller. This is evident to the scene because its set at the police station and also...