How does the director Steven Spielberg, use film techniques to convey one or more themes in his film, War of the Worlds?

by jsquarer (student)

Steven Spielberg utilizes many techniques, in his film, War of the Worlds, including camera work, actors and sound effects to convey various themes such as family relationships. An initial scene, ‘Eve of the War’, establishes the relationships amongst the family especially around the central character Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) which are built upon in ‘Coming of the Invaders’. ‘Worst of Man’ is a turning point in the story where Ray’s character is developed to reveal the love for his children. In ‘The Fight Begins’, Spielberg uses sound-effects to convey the development in Robbie’s relationship with Ray. ‘Underfoot’ and ‘Earth Under Them’, are some of the closing scenes where the extent of Ray’s relationship with Rachel Ferrier (Dakota Fanning) is realized and his love his emphasized, further developing this theme.

‘Eve of the War’ is one of the first scenes in the film where various camera angles and dialogue are used to establish relationships within the family. The relationship between of Mary-Anne (Miranda Otto) and Ray Ferrier in ‘Eve of the War’ is cleverly shown by using a low angle shot to look up at Mary-Anne while she talks down at Ray imparting that she is the superior in their relationship and also more competent. However the key relationship is established in ‘Coming of the Invaders’, between Robbie and Ray when they play catch. As the argument between them heats up, they throw the ball harder at one another until Ray breaks the window by throwing a ball at it showing the tension between them. Through Robbie’s dialogue, Ray’s incompetence as a father is emphasized as “[he does not] pay for [schooling], Tim does”. Robbie’s direct statement to Ray, “You’re an asshole” amplifies how unscrupulous and unusual this father-son relationship is. Ray’s bond with his daughter, Rachel Ferrier (Dakota Fanning) shows how irresponsible he is and further establishes his ineptitude when his ten year old daughter is organising the food for him. From the two scenes, the tension between the family members is shown using various camera angles and dialogue.

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‘Worst of Man’ is essentially a turning point in the story where the audience witnesses Ray’s love for his children. Robbie wears his cap backwards. Spielberg uses this symbolism to show Robbie’s youth and rebellion against his father. The director uses sound effects to establish the danger at the war zone where the military is attempting to fight off the alien. After Ray hands the car over to Robbie, he wears his cap correctly because he is given adult-like responsibilities. Not only that, but Ray trusts Robbie which shows how the theme of family relationships develops. Later in the scene, Robbie hands the car over to Ray as they approach a mob of people showing that he still relies on his him and this demonstrates the change in their relationship. This also is supported because for the first time in the film Robbie calls Ray “dad”. When the crowd is still attacking Robbie and his father, Ray gets attention with his gun. He asks “Where is my son?” and when their car is almost lost, Ray wants “the daughter not the car”. Both of these examples of dialogue in the scene and his actions shows how their relationship is changing and to what extent he will go to save the lives of his children. In a later scene, ‘The Fight Begins’, Spielberg uses sound effects and dialogue to show the trust and belief between Robbie and Ray. Distant sounds of machine guns and bombs convey the danger of the fight to the audience. Despite this, Ray allows Robbie to go and fight with the army over a simple statement, “Let me Go!” demonstrating the trust relationship between Ray and Robbie. Thus, with the help of dialogue and sound-effects, the theme of family relationships is developed.

‘Underfoot’ and ‘Earth under Them’ show the audience the extent of Ray’s relationship with his daughter Rachel using camera angles. ‘Underfoot’ begins with Rachel waking up to a tripod eye staring at her. Ray then wakes up because of her screams and quickly uses a spade to try and cut it off showing that he is far more of a responsible father than initially. When Ray confronts the tripod outside in the Martian landscape, Spielberg uses a low camera shot to amplify the tripod’s enormity compared to Ray. This effect is then made even stronger when Rachel is taken up by the tripod as this also is done using a low angle shot. Despite the danger and enormity of the tripod, Ray sacrifices himself and lets the tripod carry him away. This shows that despite the danger confronting him, Ray will do anything to save his daughter. Once in the cage, Ray finds Rachel and calmly approaches her when she is in deep shock showing that he now knows how to deal with her. This is a stark contrast to earlier in the film when they first escape and Robbie is forced to take care of Rachel. When Rachel is about to be taken up by the aliens inside the tripod, Ray jumps and covers her surrendering himself to the aliens, showing once again the extent of their relationship. Through some of the closing scenes, the extent to which Ray’s relationship with Rachel has developed is shown with the help of camera angles and Ray’s actions.

Spielberg combines various camera techniques, sound effects and dialogue in order to cleverly and effectively convey themes in his film, War of the Worlds. The relationships within the family are established at the start of the film using dialogue and camera work showing Ray’s incompetence as a father and a husband. The theme then develops positively as the film progresses. The relationships between Ray and his children experience a turning point in the car scene allowing the audience to see the extent to which Ray has developed.

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