The mural is only seen by the viewers as they see the interviewers and cannot be seen before that, the only background for Spud is the bare wall, this suggests that he himself is stripped of ideas for his answers to the questions he is presented with until the mural is seen by the viewers and he is given ideas from the location he is in.
The characters are set up in a teacher to class style with the interviewers at the top of the room with a large desk and Spud at the bottom. This could also be compared with a courtroom set-up, in both cases the way the characters are placed suggests authority to a child. Spuds behaviour is childlike also as we see later in the interview.
The props used in the scene also support the language used. For instance, because he is nervous, Spud is using lists of three to fill his answers out, he does this because to list something is an empty piece of evidence which Spud presents in the form of his intelligence. As a viewer, one can see Spud struggling for words and therefore says the first three words which are relevant to each other to prove his intellectual skill, however, the interviewers see through his ploy immediately, just as the audience have by this point. A good example of Spuds listing comes part way through the interview:
Interviewer You applied via the council, there was no need to “get you’re
in the door” as you put it.
Spud Sorry, you’re the man, the dude, the chair. I am merely here,
well obviously I’m here, we can see I’m here.
The props also come in threes, as well as the three interviewers; there are three chairs, three bottles of water, three sheets of paper and three doors leading to the room. Two of the doors are behind the interviewers and one is behind Spud. This shows the viewer the easy escape for the interviewers and Spuds struggle. These threes are all supporting factors introduced to the scene by the director to emphasise Spuds insecurities and constant listing s of three’s.
The table used by the interviewers is the only one present in the room and a wooden bar beneath is shows the definite space between them and Spud; this is also shown by the large gap between the two parties. The effect this has on the interview is dramatic as the audience can see the definite space, the two extreme social classes burst through the image and really puts emphasis on the huge divide, not only physically but socially, mentally, and interlectually.
The lighting used in this room is high key and is simple room lighting, which we would expect to see in the room of a house. It is not bright but it never changes and this reflects in Spuds persona. He never changes the approach to the interview and uses the same tone in his continuously wavering voice.
The director, in this scene, has reinforced the fact that Spud is full of ideas by subtly placing a bare light bulb above his head in the side-angle shots, this gives the viewer the typical “idea = light bulb above the head lighting up” image, however in this case the bulb is not alight which suggests that all of Spud’s ideas are irrelevant and will never be appreciated.
Another prominent colour feature of the interview room is the bright red “NO SMOKING” sign on the wall behind Spud, this is ironic because we are aware that Spud is under the influence of drugs all the way through the interview. In this case the sign almost appears as a warning to Spud.
The clothes the individuals are wearing support what we presume are their social backgrounds; one interviewer is dressed in a tracksuit showing his position within the industry Spud is trying to, or not to, become part of. The other two interviewers wear brown and black dull suits and each wears a jacket. These people’s personalities match their clothes, restrained and of an upper class in society. Spud however, although making the effort and wearing a blazer style jacket, matches this up wit a pair of black trousers and a v neck sweater bar a shirt. His clothing shows his scatty outlook and his lower standing within the community.
The reinforcement of the distance comes in the form of the body language, which is used by each of the two parties. The three interviewers all sit looking down to Spud. Whereas Spud looks up at them and has a slouched, hunched over appearance. His knees often face away from the interviewers and his hands although moving almost on the second are often in a fist-like shape.
The social standing of the two different parties is made very clear in the characters clothing and hairstyles. For example, where the lady interviewer has a middle aged heavy shoulder length hair, the older of the two males has a very conservative side parting of old gray hair and the younger man has a smart short back and sides, we see Spud with a harshly shaven sides and longer top has a punky rebellious look. We automatically assume just from this that Spud is of a lower class than the interviewers.
All of the camera distances on Spud are medium shots. However the camera angle used for the interviewers is a long shot from below, this is because they are made to look slightly larger than they are, this gives an impression of authority.
The Camera angles vary through four different types:
The first is Eye-level angle - One of the most commonly used shots in the scene it is used because it's the perspective most familiar to us - we usually see things from our own eye-level. These are used in part when Spud is speaking to the interviewers. This is effective as it puts the shot into a reality, as if it could really happen, this is what the audience is looking for to identify with.
The second angle used is referred to a side-shot angle and in this case is used first when Spud looks at the mural, we see the side of his head in a close-up, he then turns so we see the back of his head, then returns to his original stance, this is a perfect shot as it is used best when associated with jolting movement, this is exactly the nervous twitch of Spud which makes the angle work.
The only high angle used in the scene is a back-high shot and shows the view from the back top of the room as if it was a security camera. This shot reinforces the “security” issues Spud experiences throughout the interview, for example his constant use of lists of three and his body language.
The movement between two shots can be seen as a separate angle all together. The movement from medium to long shot only happens on one occasion but it changes every second for 7 seconds. It gives the effect of a jam, as if the angle is stuck, like a record that jumps. This supports Spud’s speech as he jumps and has an abrupt speech pattern.
The language used is all in a Scottish language which sounds like a Glasweigan accent because it is very “throaghty”. The interviewers diction is much less of a broad accent than Spud’s. This gives us an impression of them being educated, whereas Spud’s throaty accent, which at times is hard to understand, is very uneducated and has a much limited vocabulary, we see this because of the repetition of words such as “like”. This reinforces the effect of the lists which Spud uses to fill gaps in conversation. This gives us an idea of Spuds mind, filled only with one sound at a time and not compatible with multiple sounds to deal with.
Spud tries hard to fill the soundless room with his chatter, he does this because the room is silent apart from the gently tapping of the ever failing heating system. Spuds endless and boring chatter gets him nowhere with the interviewers so he uses exaggerated facial expression when not speaking. For example when he is listening to the questions of the panel he nods and uses his eyebrows in excess to accent his agreement. In contrast to this the interview panel simply look on with blank faces in what is a mixture of boredom and confusion at Spuds over-enthusiasm.
This scene is cleverly edited using straight cuts and jumps to create a random and jolting movement. The editing in one part of this scene looks as follows:
Spud: No actually I went to Craignewton (straight cut) but I was worried you wouldn’t of heard of it (straight cut) so I put the Edinburgh College instead (straight cut) because they’re both schools right? (Jump) and we’re all in this together (jump) rather than the details (jump) yeah? (Jump) People get all hung up on details (straight cut) but what’s the point? (Jump), like which school? (Jump) does it matter? (Jump) Why? (Straight cut) When? (Straight cut) where? (Straight cut) or how many o grades did I get? (Jump) could be six, (jump) could be one (jump) but that’s not important (straight cut) what is important (straight cut) is that I am (straight cut) right? (Straight cut) That I am? (Straight cut)
Interviewer: Mr. Murphy, do you mean you lied on your application?
It is clear that all of the editing used makes Spuds speech fast and hard to keep up with. This is an excellent way of creating an image of confusion for the viewer. We see this editing throughout the scene and compares incredibly accurately with the character and language the character is using.
The reason I felt this scene was as effective as it was, was because of the clashes of social backgrounds and the humor this presents especially as we as an audience know Spud is under the influence of drugs. An tightly controlled scene provides an interesting analysis with the added bonus of taking a brief look into some-ones potential, or of course in Spuds case, the lack of it.
By Eleanor Wolff
