There were only 1281 people in Castle rock so it was a very small town. We can see that it is 1950’s because of the cars and types of clothing. Down the High Street there are a few shops. We identify Gordy going into a magazine shop, where we hear the jingle of the cash register and we acknowledge it is old-fashioned now. Then he takes a short walk up a path where he leaves the town, to his tree house, which he shares with 3 other friends Chris, Vern and Teddy. They are all good friends but all quite different. Gordy is the smarter one of the bunch of boys. He knows what he wants to do with his life. Vern is the more childish one, who is very easily frightened. Teddy is the less sane one, taking after his dad, who is suffering from shell shock after fighting in a war years ago. Then we have Chris, the leader of the group. The bravest one who is ready for anything. On the way up to the tree house, ‘Rockin’ Robin’ is being played, followed by the voice of a man on the radio. This music helps us see that it is 1950’s, but it also shows happiness and livelihood.
This is a beginning as we can see where the film is being set clearly and we get a grasp of the film straight away.
Stand By Me
Train Scene
This is the second sequence, which was about 4 minutes. This is where we see all for boys standing in a line. They are stationery looking ahead along a bridge holding a railway line. This sequence begins with a song, the opening lyrics are, “Everyday it’s a-getting’ closer goin’ faster than a roller coaster”. These words show what is happening in these young boys lives. The roller coaster in this song shows the boys getting older and coming closer and closer to adolescence. They do not notice it is coming but it is! They are maturing and becoming young adults. Just like this obstacle in front of them that they have to cross, it symbolises them walking through life showing that your every step is moving you ahead in life.
So the boys are standing together trying to decide the path to take. Teddy decides he is going across the bridge and starts on his walk so the others jus follow behind. We see Gordy’s knowledgeable here where he bends down to feel the tracks and see if any trains are coming. Whilst the boys are walking we see many different camera shots showing us the bridge from long-distance showing us how far the boys have to walk along this extremely long link to where they are going. At one point they show us when Vern trips and his ‘lucky’ comb drops out of his pocket and straight through the train planks. This is relevant because we see the comb drop from birds-eye view showing us the long fall into the water below. The camera cuts to a different shot showing us the boys walking in twos. They cut from one set of boys to the next set of boys showing us how far they are from each other. Then the unthinkable happens and they find a train is coming. Gordy sees it and shouts train and we see this in a close-up view. They all start running for their life and Vern stumbles and falls over making him not want to get up again as he was very frightened. Gordy shows his friendship values here where he tries his hardest to persuade Vern to get up. He could have just left Vern and gone with the other boys but he did not. Apart from the serious point of that section of the scene it also has a certain comedy element in it. They show a close up of the boys’ faces when they are running. This is good because it shows us the boy’s facial expression and gives the moment a good effect. The sound of the train tooting right at the boys back creates tension between the audience because they do not know if the boys are going to beat the train or not. Once Teddy and Chris had reached the end of the track Vern and Gordy were still running. Here we see a front view of the two boys running with the train right up behind them and still getting closer. Speedy cuts from the front view and showing us from the side of the track create so much tension you feel like shouting out to them as Teddy and Chris were. Telling them to keep going as fast as they could and to just beat the train. They eventually jump just as the train is about to hit. Silence is set and we are left thinking if they have survived or not. We then see the boys on the embankment and Teddy cracks a small joke to break the tension.
Just like the song about roller coasters this scene helps us to see that the boys are coming ever so close to puberty and they are becoming more and more matured each day. The train is the push chasing them into adolescence.
The race with the train has parallels elsewhere in the film, like where the two gangs of boys were racing each other to see who gets to the body first. That was speedy and breathe taking as well as the train scene. There was when Gordy was being chased from the dog in the scrap yard and Chris doing his best to get Teddy off the track before the train came and killed him. The characters in this scene are portrayed in very different ways. We see that Chris can step down from being leader as he lets teddy make the decision of crossing the bridge, Teddy is not very serious at all and thought that was fun, Vern is very slow and easily scared, and then we have Gordy who in my eyes was shown as the brave one for saving Vern and the only one who was on a lookout for the train.
Stand By Me
Last Scene
This scene is set in a hilly area. It was like a forest with a lake in it. The boys were there with the body when Chris’ older brother and some friends turn up. They came for the same thing as Chris and friends, to get credit for finding the dead body. After that little sequence the boys decide to leave the body and call in anonymously. So they set out on their journey again on their way back to their little town. They do a silhouette shot of the boys walking through a field of some sort where the boys are walking in single file, quite spaced out showing that they are growing apart and coming to the point in their lives where they are no longer as close as they thought they were. The instrumental of ‘Stand By Me’ is being played as they walk back home. It is played as very upbeat as if to say that they have now sorted out things in their lives that were hidden before. It very quickly becomes early morning showing us that they had been walking all night and not stopped once. We get a medium shot from the back of the boys as they are at the entrance of their town. They slowly walk into the town together and then stop again. They are now in a kind of semi-circle shape so they are all being seen. They then all depart and the camera follows each of them. Gordy and Chris are the last two and they walk to the tree house instead of going home like the other two. They have a small talk and then Chris walks off first.
Then the voice-over comes back that we heard from the beginning telling us that Chris become an Attorney and was stabbed in the neck after trying to break up a fight in a restaurant, as he had always been the peacemaker. As they tell us that he died his body slowly fades away like he has become a ghost and passed on. This is a very good effect as it does give you the feeling of him being a really good person and should not have died.
The camera then cuts to a where we then see a man on a computer writing out what looks like the story we were just told. The computer is black and the writing is green so it stands out against the black background. We see the man from a sort of 45 degree angle looking at the computer and then we see that he is the narrator who has been telling the whole story and been reminiscing about his old friends when he was younger. Then the camera cuts to the door where we see two young boys come in and interrupt the man telling the story. We find that the man is Gordy but as a much older man. The camera goes back to the computer where he types that he never had the same friends again to this day like the ones he had when he was younger. He then stands up and the camera follows. He goes out side and the camera stays on the inside of the window and watches him playing with the two little boys as if to show that apart from everything that has happened recently and in the past he will still get on with his life but still remember his friends forever.
In conclusion to this story I think it was very beneficial. I learnt a lot about camera shots and soundtracks and never knew how important they were in a film. This film was rather interesting to analyse as it was not too long and had a good storyline. I think the setting was very good and went well with the story. I now know why people are put where they are and certain settings are used rather than other ones.
I enjoyed this film because it had many cliff-hangers where you had to think to yourself for a minute, ‘What is going to happen?’ There were many good camera shots, like in the train scene as the boys were being chased.
I would recommend this film to everybody, as it is very educational on friendship relations and reaching adolescence. This film is very touching as you see what the turn out is in the end. Chris who turned into a really nice person was fatally killed after trying to help others sort out their problems.
