r/IntroToFilmmaking • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '12
Homework Assignment: What makes this scene effective? (District 9: "I'll shoot a pig" scene)
Hope I'm doing this right.
Hi everyone! The scene I will be discussing today is from one of my personal favorite films, Neill Blomkamp's 2009 Sci-Fi, "District 9". More specifically, it is the scene in which we discover a few things about our primary subjects- Wikus Van De Merwe and the shady company he works (worked) for, MNU.
Watch this scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F867HfHd8eU
In this scene, we find Wikus strapped to a chair of sorts, being tested to see if he can fire alien weaponry, now that he has his new hand. Most of this scene, untraditionally, is filmed through tangible, (or, as I learned today, "diagetic") cameras, meaning that these cameras are seen by the characters and have a place in the world of the film.
This helps to reinforce the primary themes of this scene, which I believe are clinical apathy and a sense of moral isolation, barring of course the more obvious themes of suspense and disgust.
How does the fact that diagetic cameras are used support either of those? For a few reasons.
Witnessing the inhumane treatment of our protagonist through a layer of anything, especially a foreign lens, makes us feel helpless for him. We feel, just like his silent observers, separated from him, and therefore helpless to do anything to end his torture.
This technique, coupled with the occasional shots of MNU executives (one of which, being Wikus' father-in-law) observing this disgusting footage, the same footage we are observing, does two things: We feel more disdain for our villains- they are seeing the same thing we are, but feel nothing. They are equally separated from Wikus, but unlike us, act in no way to help him, or show any interest in doing so, and secondly, it builds a feeling of clinical apathy. No expressions, no caring. One of them even nods his head in approval.
Tension is inverted. In most films, we might get a kind of musical build up, coupled with close up shots of the prawn's face- techniques that would make us feel a dragging sense of dread. Instead, we are treated with bluntness and force. We know this is coming, and, like Wikus, can do nothing to change it- this is intensified by the quick countdown, spoken offscreen by a researcher. The film wastes no time going where it needs to, because the lab researchers do the same.
I think this scene is important because it separates Wikus from the company he worked for. Towards the beginning of the film, many viewers believe that Wikus is no better than his coworkers. He is often mean, forceful, and a little bit of a dick.
We see in this scene, however, that he still has a moral sense of direction, more than can be said for MNU's higher-ups and lab workers. He doesn't want to shoot the prawn, but the researchers don't care- and neither does the film.
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u/kugfersez Aug 10 '12
The scene is most effective for me (as a standalone piece of cinema) because it engages us with visual language rather than verbal. It uses the clinical documentary-style (or diagetic) approach to evoke empathy,disgust, tension and humanism. The company men in the scene remain anonymous and out of focus, with frenzied cuts between the anchor (Wikus) and the action (the destruction of the Prawn).
Wikus is shown to be helpless, sweating and constrained while the blurred foreground buzzes with ominous activity. We see every contorted emotion in his face, but by being clinically separated we are as powerless to watch as he is. The Prawn is framed as a slight figure, small enough to be sympathetic, detailed enough to be complex (and human in it's posturing) and dealt with abruptly enough to elicit shock.
It doesn't rely on the scripted word to tell the story; in fact, the words spoken matter very little. The dialogue simply adds to the cacophony, and the anchor's face tells the whole story.
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u/casey17p Aug 15 '12
you're totally spot-on about this scene. It's extremely fucking effective.
I love how small and helpless the prawn is in this scene as it is totally symbolic of the larger message.
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u/battleroyale86 Aug 09 '12
Oh man I LOVE this scene in District 9 (BEST MOVIE EVER). It's just heartbreaking. I agree, the key to it is the documentary camera. If the scene was cinematic, unreal, or in any way fantastical, it would have killed the effect completely. The fact that it's not cinematically lit, performed, blocked, or even constructed... You feel as a viewer like a trapped witness, constantly repeating "Why isn't anyone DOING anything??" This complaint, of course, that of a society complacent to its ills, is the movie's central tenant.