After the opening credits, the first shot we have is a tilt shot, which is tilting downwards onto a bed of roses and a white picket fence, this is the complete opposite of the opening title, which is tragic and sad, a picket fence and roses makes us think of the "perfect American society" which is tidy and ideal. This is done by the director to begin to show us the setting of this 50's society, I film released in this decade that also shows a similar setting is "Back to the Future", which was released only a year before.
The setting of this film seems to be a town of perfection, like nothing could go wrong, which white picket fences are often linked to. We see this idyllic perfection in a clip where children are crossing a peaceful looking street. This shot is slightly slowed down using slow motion, this gives us the idea of the slow pace and care free live people have in this small town. This is reminiscent of how people interpret the 50's , which is the idea we are given from what the opening scene tells us.
Within the entire scene, it looks like there is a sort of filter, making the setting seem a bit darker and strange, almost blueish. This sets up the feeling that not everything is as it seems in this perfect down, and it hold a secret that we are the audience and the characters in the film are unaware of. A director also fond of using filters in his works is Tim Burton, who released Batman only a few years after this.
Later on in this film, we finally get the sense of dread we may feel later on in this film, as we experience our first death in the film. It is an old man what is suffering what looks like some sort of stroke, the music is continuing throughout this scene, this is very contrapuntal. This also shows us that this strange occurrence is isolated and hidden, as in this clip all we see is the man dying, while the positive music is still playing, makes the death seem like there is more strange things to come.
Directly after this, it begins to slowly zoom into the grass, this at first we would assume would lead to nowhere, but we see eventually a large swarm of beetles in the shade and darkness of under the grass. To some this might be an unpleasant image to see. These bugs may imply a dark and frightening truth about this small and seemingly perfect town.
Within the entire scene, it looks like there is a sort of filter, making the setting seem a bit darker and strange, almost blueish. This sets up the feeling that not everything is as it seems in this perfect down, and it hold a secret that we are the audience and the characters in the film are unaware of. A director also fond of using filters in his works is Tim Burton, who released Batman only a few years after this.
Later on in this film, we finally get the sense of dread we may feel later on in this film, as we experience our first death in the film. It is an old man what is suffering what looks like some sort of stroke, the music is continuing throughout this scene, this is very contrapuntal. This also shows us that this strange occurrence is isolated and hidden, as in this clip all we see is the man dying, while the positive music is still playing, makes the death seem like there is more strange things to come.
Directly after this, it begins to slowly zoom into the grass, this at first we would assume would lead to nowhere, but we see eventually a large swarm of beetles in the shade and darkness of under the grass. To some this might be an unpleasant image to see. These bugs may imply a dark and frightening truth about this small and seemingly perfect town.
No comments:
Post a Comment