Editing techniques such as the flashbacks were probably the most effective in the film, as
Sister Prejean sat beside Poncelet at the table; short clips of the murder scene were flashed back on the screen, it was used to show what Sister Prejean’s guess on how the murder may have happened. The sounds of gunshots and the screams of the raped girl echoed through her head. There was a lot of panning around during the film, I think the best time this was used was at the end of the film, when Poncelet was lying on the death chair receiving the lethal injections and you were able to see the facial expressions of both Poncelet and the people looking on as the camera changed angle. You could see Sister Prejean crying and Mr Percy with a firm determined look upon his face. Right up until the point Poncelet actually freezes. The camera pans back and forth, capturing the expressions as well as emotional stress on everyone else’s faces. At the end of the film where Poncelet had actually died now, the final cut shows the camera pulling a close-up of his face and super-imposed images of the two victims either side of it, fading in and out in a mysterious ghostly manner. I think that particular scene was edited with the super imposition to show the victims waiting for Poncelet to join them in the after life when he dies.
Section 2
In the film “Let Him Have It” the opening sequence consists of a camera pan around the set to show the situation and movement, panic action and sound effects. After the bricks had been removed from the wreckage, there was a medium shot if the family and a close up of Derek’s dad, using a high angle shot looking down at Derek.
I think there were two sides to Derek’s life, the first being with his family, his normal self, calm, careful and has feelings but nervous. We only see the other side of Derek when he is with Christopher Craig, which is a careless individual with no feelings.
The first shot we saw of Christopher Craig in the film, was after Derek and his Sister Iris walked up their road and the camera stopped and focused on a man in black, Christopher Craig. During this shot there was a bell sound in the background which interlinks with the end of the film where the clock is ticking away Dereks last few moments of life as if to say, “it’s your time now Derek” the bell being the reference of time. He then appears pointing a gun in another scene; this gives us a first impression of him being a “gangster”. Chris Craig was the key focus in the classroom scene with him acting as the leader and ultimately showing his obsession with guns.
The first time the filmmaker shows us that Derek has very low mental abilities was when the owner of the shed caught him and his friends (not Chris Craig) breaking in. As he shouted loudly at him and shone a flashlight into his eyes, he began to have an epileptic fit. He was sent, because of this, to an approved school for boys in which a gang of other boys surrounded him (the “Chris Craig Gang”). Not long after, he was ordered to leave the school because the teachers classed him as “easy prey” and too vulnerable. We, the audience, were then certain that Derek was not the same as everyone else.
Derek at this time was forced to join the army but had to under go an examination before hand, in this scene, the camera pans around from his feet to his head showing what he is connected to, the camera continues to pan round the room way from Derek, to the other equipment that is being used for his examination. As Derek was having an epileptic fit, flashbacks to the recording sheet were used to show how serious the fit was.
At the next scene in the house, close up shots of Derek are used to establish his loneliness, the music in the background played to show his happiness. Both Derek Bentley and Matthew Poncelet in the two films have a good side and a bad side, the good side being thoughtful, caring and honest, the bad side being disrespectful, not caring and dishonest. Although with that said, Poncelet knew what he had done and accepted it in the end, where as Derek, because of his mental disabilities, didn’t know exactly what he was doing apart from trying to act like Christopher Craig.
Christopher Craig persuaded Derek to go out, Derek is up above in the security of his house with a backlight of ward golden colours, where as Chris Craig is shot, looking down at him with a streetlight shining on him, showing a sign of evilness. But when Craig’s brother was sent to prison, the person who he looked up to most, he changes from the popular kid with not a care in the world, to a child again. The use of close ups in Chris’s room after Dereks was told to “go away” show this, as we see Craig lying down on his bed the camera sees him placing a gun onto his bed side table, next to it, some toy cars. Indicating there is still a child side to Chris Craig, bearing in mind he is still 16, he tried to act like an adult but couldn’t face up to reality after his brother was taken away.
Section 3
Sister Prejean is a very loving and helpful woman because she put everything on the line just to help a defenceless human being like Poncelet be freed from Death Row. On the whole, Sister Prejean is a very simple, plain woman. Her clothing is very ordinary and original. I also noticed that she did not wear any make-up. She was always honest to herself and everyone she knew. What I found difficult to understand was that Sister Prejean went to every family who was involved with the case and assured them that she was on their side. I think she was probably saying that to put everyone at ease. So they wouldn’t worry about the situation.
Section 4
Derek Bentley had a family of loving, caring people. His dad, I think was the strictest of the lot, although he never wanted to upset Derek, he just wanted to make sure he would not hang around with Chris Craig. The caring from the family for Derek is shown when Chris Craig is waiting outside his house, Dereks parents tell him to go away and to leave him alone. However, as Chris Craig starts to walk away, the camera slowly zooms in on the parents, up until the point of Chris no longer in the picture, leaving a sense of solidarity within the parents.
Iris, Derek’s sister, is probably the most confident of the family because whenever she sees Derek in a sad or unhappy mood she says to him, “don’t worry” meaning that everything is going to be alright. She frequently says this during the movie to put Derek at ease. Dennis, Derek’s brother, didn’t have a major part in the film really. The Bentley family and the Poncelet family are very different financially. Poncelet’s family are the poorer of the two although, Bentley’s family are not that well off, they have enough to get by. In addition to this, Derek had a far better background than Matthews.
Section 5
Matthew and Derek had their own accomplice to stay with, in Matthew there was a guy called Vitello who we never really saw or heard that much about apart from flashbacks of the murder sequence, it was filmed in semi-darkness and came across as brutally violent showing Vitello as well as Matthew as cold blooded, darkening appearance and made an evil character.
Each case had its own way of carrying the death sentence. The most effective was Matthews because flashbacks of the murder sequence were used after each injection was given. The click of the machine which gives the injection is echoed by the gunshots in the flashbacks. These use of sounds help to give the end of the film a sense of balance and justice, it is as if Matthew is been paid back for what he did.
Conclusion
After viewing both the films in full, I think that Capital Punishment should only be carried out in the most extreme cases like a bomb attack or continuous murder cases. There was definitely a message that came through to me ‘DONT NOT get mixed up with any kind of gang because BAD will always come from it’.
Capital Punishment was presented in “Let Him Have It” more biased than how “Dead Man Walking” presented it
The films were a joy to watch, they were interesting and informative, and I recommend that everyone watches them to understand what really goes on when someone is sentenced to death.