The scene changes to the setting of a school playground. It’s a noisy filled playground and quite different to the last scene, especially the fact that it is in colour. Individuality emerges, and it gives a grungy feeling.
The editing in this scene is clever, the camera focuses on David in mid-shot (showing him from the waist up), and shows him having a conversation with a girl. David seems to be shy, and is trying to ask her out. We see the girl responding and laughing at his slip-ups. The camera then shows a long full shot and we see that David was not speaking to her at all and in fact she is speaking to another boy.
A picture is shot as if you are the audience in a classroom. The teacher gives a message of a bleak future of the world ahead of them, that of a tough world. She is cut off in mid sentence, continuing in different words, but delivering the same message. The pupils look oppressed and there is an ominous silence in the room. It is all delivered in a factual, impersonal monotone, and the finishing phrase, ‘all right, can anyone tell me what famine is?’ is asked with artificial enthusiasm as if she’s talking to kids.
The camera focuses on a television and you can see David watching Pleasantville. He is slouched on the sofa and is eating a packet of crisps, and he is portrayed as an unhappy and depressed teen-ager. Pleasantville is shown as a predictable sitcom with clean jokes, and is proved so by David knowing all the words to this particular re-run. Whilst he is watching you can see a half in shadow mother being vaguely watched by David. She is portrayed as a non-caring single mother and is not ready to take responsibility for the kids and feels they are a burden. We then focus back on
Pleasantville; it looks staged, artificial and very unrealistic, but David finds the thought of a perfect, happy life comforting.
David is sitting at a table with a friend, discussing the fact that the Pleasantville marathon is on at six o’clock this evening. David is modestly dressed and mild mannered.
The camera pans swiftly across to twin sister Jennifer, and straight away, there is a comparison in the different styles of lives between the twins. We get introduced to Jennifer as the most daring of the trio, as we see her (mid-shot) smoking. She is portrayed as contemptuous, rebellious child. They are making comparisons between the two twins, and we see a group of boys start walking along. Jennifer’s group start a conversation with the boys, repetitive use of words, and minimal teen-age vocabulary makes it all seem overly exaggerated and staged. She starts a conversation with a boy, (the leader of that group) and tells him that her parents are out tonight and MTV is on at six o’clock (important parallel, since it clashes with David’s Pleasantville also at six). Jennifer is shown to be much more successful than David, and the boy says he will come.
Jennifer is sitting on her bed, describing that day’s conversation by means of another conversation. High-key lighting effect shows us that the film isn’t to be taken too seriously. She again is being daring, this time in the form of a dress; and whilst she’s on the phone describing what she is going to wear she says “it doesn’t make me look slutty!” implying how daring it actually is.
Another comparison occurs, as we see David also having a conversation on the phone. There is dull lighting, and it’s more of a plain boring room, in comparison to his sister’s. He’s talking to his friend about the Pleasantville marathon and how he is watching it alone. He is looking on wistfully as his mother prepares to leave.
Both David and Jennifer are both preparing for the evening ahead of them. There is a comparison again from the view of a mirror prospective. We can see them both checking their faces, her make up, his acne (zits).
The camera turns its attention to the awaited television, both David and Jennifer’s main focus.
Our attention is drawn back to the parallel of David and Jennifer. Jennifer is freshening her breath (for the date), whilst David is eating crisps (typical for someone spending the night alone).
The focus is set back to a dormant TV.
Back to the parallel, where Jennifer is packing her bag, whilst we see (from a birds-eye view) David is pouring his coke.
The television is still awaiting, dormant.
Parallel feet run hurriedly down flight of stairs. A hand swiftly grabs for the TV remote, as the parallel meets the dormant TV scene.
David and Jennifer are both fighting over the remote-control; Jennifer on the one hand has a date, whilst David has the Pleasantville marathon. David suggests she watches upstairs, but she says she is unable to since there is no sound (this shows us that it was beginning of modern technology that TV’s now had sound). The remote goes flying through the air, shot in slow-motion for effect, and brakes against the wall. David gets aggravated, (and again it shows modern twentieth-century where remote control is the only way to switch on the TV) because now he is unable to watch the marathon.
The door bell rings, and Jennifer hurriedly goes to get it thinking it’s her boyfriend. She opens the door, and impossibly the TV repairman’s there. Jennifer looks bewildered, but lets him in (there is a pun on the van, the motto ‘we’ll fix you for good!’). The man comes in, knowing the problem already, and opens the box (a pun again, ‘reliable’ written at the side of the box).
David explains that the Pleasantville marathon is on and he wants to watch it, the man immediately puts back the remote he just took out. Jennifer explains that she has a date, but the TV man looks uninterested and ignores her. He goes on to quiz David on Pleasantville; David even manages to recall it better than him.
The repair-man takes out a different remote, a bulky metallic looking transistor radio, and he says ‘it’ll put you right in the show!’
Lightening crashes, and it is shot from a birds-eye view giving an eerie, super-natural feeling. David (we see him from a view which is looking up at him) slowly puts his finger over the ‘on’ button, and the music in the background builds up suspense.
The TV is turned on, and David flicks through each channel one-by-one, until he settles on the 50’s sitcom channel where it is showing Pleasantville. There is a parallel now between the real world and Pleasantville (colour and black & white). Whilst David and Jennifer fight over the transistor, Bud and Mary-Sue can be seen fighting over the remote. As they are fighting, Jennifer’s hand slips and she presses the red button. The images of David and Jennifer start to become unclear, and start to crackle. Everything becomes slower, and the figures become digital almost, and then we see them on black and white on the TV screen, they have been transported into Pleasantville.