Media coursework

Dead Poets Society

Rebecca Kelly

For my media coursework I am going to study the scene in ‘Dead Poets Society’ were Neil Perry commits suicide.  I will examine the media techniques used in this scene and how they affect the audience.  I will discuss how the director uses different shot types, camera angles, camera movements, sound and lighting to create the atmosphere and suspense of the scene.

The story of ‘Dead Poets Society’ is set in an American prep school called Welton High.  The main characters are Neil Perry, Todd Anderson and Mr.Keating.

Neil is a talented student and is well respected by his friends, he shares a room with Todd.  Todd has an older bother that used to attend Welton.  Todd feels he has to match his brother’s high achievements.  Neil and Todd are thought by Mr.Keating.  Keating encourages the students to think for themselves, he also used to be a member of the Dead Poets Society.

When Neil is contemplating committing suicide the lighting and camera movements are vital throughout.  If the type of shots and sounds were the same all the time, there would be no drama or suspense.  Even though normal shots are used, the director has done an excellent job of making them as dramatic as possible.

The beginning of the scene starts with Neil and his father entering a room.  A table lamp lights the room, this is called ‘realist lighting’.  Whilst the actors are inside the room, wind can be heard blowing around outside.  This is known as an ‘ambient sound’.  The director uses practical lighting and background sounds to create a calm but uneasy mood during this part of the scene.

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When Neil and his father are arguing the camera is pointing on whoever is speaking.  The camera points up at Neil’s father, it points down at Neil.  The director uses the low and high angle shots to show that Neil’s father is the dominant character.  But when Neil stands up to his father the camera is behind him, showing, perhaps, that he is willing to stand up to his father because he really wants to be an actor.

Further on in the argument the camera sweeps across the room in a pan angle movement.  In this shot we can see ...

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An occasionally very insightful analysis that uses the technical language of film studies reasonably well. This is quite a good essay, but it is weakened by a weak conclusion and a poor sense of essay structure. It is a pity the author chooses to limit the analysis to how the cinematic devices deployed in this scene affect the audience. The truth is that it is never just the cinematic devices used in the film that affect the audience; a full picture of how movies work would have to take into account how the audience's beliefs and prior knowledge affect the way they perceive things in the film. In the case of this film it would mean some discussion about how the audience relates to reprentations of wealth and privileged class, and to the ideologies of "freedom" and "individualism" that are explored both in the narrative and in the characterisation of every person we meet in the film. I have given feedback on how to tighten the structure, and in some places on how to improve the depth and detail of the analysis. Current grade: 3 stars