Compare and contrast the way the director of 'Billy Elliot' and the author of the novel make us sympathetic towards the character of Billy as the film and novel begin.
Kajal Maisuria
Billy Elliot
Compare and contrast the way the director of ‘Billy Elliot’ and the author of the novel make us sympathetic towards the character of Billy as the film and novel begin.
The film, ‘Billy Elliot’ is about a boy called Billy, who loves dancing. The story is set in the north of England in the 1980s, where the only jobs outside cities would be in factories or coal mining. The director of ‘Billy Elliot’ uses many techniques in which to make us like/empathise/feel sorry for Billy.
The film begins in silence with a close up on the gramophone. This immediately makes us think that the music is going to be very important in the film, as first impressions always count. Billy starts jumping on his bed. The director uses the camera to get a close-up on Billy’s feet and the gramophone. The gramophone gives us the sign that the setting for the film is in the past. As the music plays the director uses slow motion to make Billy jump in time to the music as it shows us his feet only, this shows he would be good at dancing and he has rhythm. I think the lyrics to the song are quite a strong point as it also relates to the dancing theme. ‘I danced myself right out the womb’. The director does close-ups of different parts of the body of Billy, to show us what he does while he is jumping. The close-ups on his face show us that he enjoys doing what he does and has a good sense of humour and a kind-heart.