The director implies that if you have a big fast car then you can get a beautiful girl. The director shows this when a woman steps out of the car in a short mini skirt and reveals a lot of her leg. The director does this because he knows that his target audience will be in the 13-30, male age group and seeing sexy women will appeal to them. These types of shots will help sell the film and several of the shots may cause the viewer to watch the film again. Another good use of camerawork by Rob Cohen is when the camera pans up and down the lady’s body like a man’s eyes would. This shows that the women are looking for men and the men are looking at the women in the hope that they will go out with them because they have big fast cars.
Rob Cohen uses a lot of stereotyping in this film. An example of this is at the start of the race where we see the cars lined up and the drivers in each of them. The camera then cuts to close ups of each driver. We see the main character open a laptop with his engine status on and then he turns around and switches his NOS (Nitrous Oxide) on. This shows that this person knows a lot about cars and that he is also a bit of a “rude boy”. By rude boy I mean that he does not like to obey rules and tries to act hard in front of his friends. The camera then shows the black man, and a lady implies that he will be with two women that evening if he wins the race. This reinforces the argument that if you have a big fast car then the ladies will be attracted towards you. After this the camera shows Vin Diesel.
He does not need the women to entice him or the computers to help him. He is the stereotypical “hard man” because he does not need help from anybody or anything. Following Vin Diesel the camera shows the last driver who is Japanese. He is playing on a Playstation 2 instead of looking at girls or turning on NOS. This is another stereotype as Japanese people are usually related to high tech objects.
Rob Cohen uses film language to show that the film is based around illegal activities. An example of this is when the road is closed for the race and the police radio monitor that one of the drivers has in his car. As the race is quite near the beginning of the film it is a good idea to have examples of illegal behaviour so that the viewer knows that the main basis of the film will be around the police and people who break the law. This type of storyline and type of film language will also appeal to the target audience because it is exciting and takes them into a world that they probably would never be part of and that is the main purpose of many films.
Film language is also used to show that each of the drivers will do anything to gain respect. An example of this when the drivers are racing and, even though their cars are falling apart, they keep pushing their cars to the limit. Rob Cohen uses film language again to make his film appeal to the target audience. A lot of the target audience will look up to the drivers as they may be budding racers themselves or they may be currently modifying a car and they want to know what they will be able to achieve once they have finished modifying their car. This kind of scene will attract the viewer and benefit Rob Cohen because then more people will see his film.
Rob Cohen uses a lot of exaggeration to emphasise his most important points. Examples of this are when the cars fall apart during the race and when the car’s on board computer is warning the driver that something dangerous is imminent and he just switches the computer off. In real life when cars are being raced the passenger floor does not just fall through onto the road by itself. Rob Cohen uses this to emphasise the fact that the racer is daring and that he does not fear death or pain. Again this is attractive towards the viewer because the viewer wants to see action and death defying deeds. This point also applies towards the second point concerning the on board computer showing a warning.
To conclude I believe that Rob Cohen has put his meanings across using film language admirably. He has used subjects and objects that will appeal to the target audience including cars, women and crime. These three themes are the main basis of the film and Rob Cohen has exploited these three themes so that his film will appeal to a larger target audience. At the end of the day the film has to sell and this film would have done very well at the box office because of the relationship that is built between the viewer and what is going on on-screen.
