Examine the cinematic techniques used in the film East is East

East is East

Examine the cinematic techniques used in the film

   e. Camera shots and angles.

     East is East is a film about the crash of eastern and western culture in a multicultural family in which, the father, George, is a Pakistani and the mother, Ella, is a British. In the movie, different cinematic techniques are used in order to show this theme of culture crashing. Among the cinematic techniques, camera shots play an important role in presenting the idea and showing the emotions of the characters, while angles are effective in putting emphasis on certain characters, places or objects.

     The use of camera shots in the movie reflects different situations when eastern culture crashed with the western culture. At the beginning of the movie, a medium shot is used to show the parade where all the children of George and Ella carrying a crucifix. As it seems that they are the only Asians among all the white faces, this shot creates a dramatic opening as it is against the religion of Pakistani, that is Muslim, to carry the symbol of Catholic, the crucifix. What follows are a series of close-ups of each children, Abdul, Tariq, Saleem, Meenah, Maneer and Saijid, these close-ups show the happy faces of the children, which implies that they are not conscious of their tradition religion, and at the same time, introducing the children one by one. Then the camera quickly cut to the close up of George, who is the firm believer of Muslim, this creates a dramatic tension as the two different religions, Muslim and Catholic, represented by the close-ups of the characters. The scene in the Mosque where the children have their lessons on Urdu also shows the crash of the two cultures. A medium shot is used to show the scene when the children are having lessons, Tariq and Saleem are seen to be wearing T-shirts and jeans while the other kids are wearing traditional dress. Another series of close-ups shows that Tariq and Saleem are bored during the lesson, this shows that Tariq and Saleem are influenced by the English culture although they are living under the Pakistani environment created by their father. They are reluctant to know more about the eastern culture. Towards the end of the movie, in the scene when the Shah family visited the Khan family, cut is used to show the contrast of the Shah and the Khan. The camera first shows the traditionally dressed Shah, then cut to Ella with western clothing, Meenah with the sari (which Mrs. Shah later commented it as not traditional), Tariq and Abdul in suits. This creates a scene where eastern culture, presented by the Shah, versus western culture, presented by the Khan. The use of camera shots is effective in showing the cultural differences.