The Outsiders - How effectively does the director create an atmosphere of tension, fear and drama in the scene at the park?

The Outsiders

How effectively does the director create an atmosphere of tension, fear and drama in the scene at the park?

“The Outsiders” was produced 1983 and directed by Frances Ford-Coppola. It is based on the novel of the same name that was written by S. E. Hinton in 1967. The saga is set in the late sixties in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when two conflicting gangs ruled the streets: the Greasers and the Socs. The Socs are the upper class gang, rich and snobbish; the Greasers are depicted as scruffy louts, named ‘Greasers’ as a result of their long, greasy hair.

The film is told from the point of view of Pony-boy, one of the younger Greasers. It details the effects of one tense meeting between the Greasers and the Soc’s girlfriends. The scene itself presents a tense and fearful atmosphere, climaxing as Johnny, another Greaser, kills a Soc, in a dramatic attempt to defend his friend Pony-boy.

The opening long shot of Pony-boy and Johnny shows them in their own territory, sauntering out of the frame towards the left. They are depicted alone, indicating their powerful influence in the area; they are walking freely, showing they are at ease and don’t feel threatened. However the boys are being followed by the Soc’s, who intend to provoke a fight in the Greaser’s nearby park.

Soon the Soc’s blue Mustang crawls slowly into the frame. The engine growls menacingly; this effect gives the allusion of a jungle situation – the car becomes a wild predator, hunting its prey. The jungle signifies a fight for survival, where only the fittest will live to gain supremacy; a fight without mercy in a place without rules. The playground is an innocent place of fun in daylight, but the mass of metal turns into a jungle at night.

The camera cuts back to the Greaser’s feet, but the shine of the car’s headlights remains behind them. This illustrates that the car has successfully located its prey and is now closing in upon it. The boys are unaware of the arising situation, but from the camera angle, we the audience are conscious of the nearing car. This gives the expectation that something is going to happen. The camera then tilts, showing a two shot, medium close up of the boys faces; we are aware of their expressions and their ignorance of the Soc’s presence; they are in their own little world. This creates tension because the audience may suspect a surprise attack, which would be very dramatic.

The camera cuts to a tracking shot of the car. This is a medium long shot, which shows the Socs glaring at the two boys. Again the focus is on the growling engine, indicating that the predator is about to strike. The boys turn around and spot the Mustang, although they are temporarily blinded by the sharp glare of the headlights. The blinding light indicates a threat, because you are in the dark as to who is standing behind, friend or foe. The director deliberately places the camera behind Ponyboy’s head to give the feeling that you are in ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The Socs leave their car and approach the climbing frame, where the retreating Greasers wait in anticipation, high up on the apparatus to indicate their superiority in the area. This position also allows them maximum vision of the surrounding area, and consequently the approaching opposition.

The camera cuts to a close-up of a Soc with a flask - which is presumed to contain alcohol. The alcohol indicates that the Soc’s are drunk, consequently they may be agitated and more than willing to allow a fight to take place, but they may not know when to stop. The next frame is another close-up – this time of a Soc wearing rings or knuckle-dusters. This is seen to frighten Johnny as he already has a big scar on his cheek from a previous encounter with the same knuckle-dusters. The camera cuts to a close up of Johnny’s pocket, as he checks that he has his pocketknife with him; it appears as though this is like a security blanket for him. This expresses his fear as he is anticipating the need to be able to defend himself and it raises the stakes even more.

The director deliberately chose these three close-ups, as he wants the audience to understand that they are significant and become fearful in anticipation. He wants them to realize that they’re all going to be used later on in the film and will all play an important part. They show that there is going to be a serious fight, someone will get hurt and someone will resolve it using the knife.

The next frame shows a Soc who appears in a very relaxed manner; he is taking a swig from his hip flask and does not seam bothered by the prospect of a fight. However the Greasers seem very uptight and worried as they begin to realize that they are outnumbered and do not stand a good chance of winning a fight.

As in many films before a big fight, the camera cuts to close-ups of each character’s face to show their true emotions; this makes the atmosphere very tense. They stand glaring at each other for a long period of time, until Ponyboy spits at Bob, a Soc. This is taken as the beginning of the fight. The music takes a dramatic turn; it becomes frantic and jumpy, creating an exciting effect. Suddenly drums begin to beat as the pace of the scene rapidly increases. The drums can be inferred to represent the heartbeat; the increasing tempo indicates the increase of the boy’s heart rates.

As the fight continues, the director uses a tilted frame to focus on the fountain. The skewed camera angle depicts the disorientation on both sides of the fight. A Soc grabs Ponyboy and forces him down, into the fountain; the camera follows his movements in and out of the water, allowing the audience to experience the character’s feelings and consequently empathize with them. At the points when the camera joins Ponyboy beneath the surface of the water, the music becomes muffled, adding to the sensation; the blurry water also represents the confusion. The camera movements are very jerky, which also shows disorientation and struggling. The Greasers appear to be fighting a loosing battle. The pressure enforced on Ponyboy whilst underwater denotes the seriousness of the struggle and the possibility of ensuing tragedy. We can see that the Soc.’s don’t know what they are doing; we want to be able to intervene, to help Ponyboy and Johnny, but we cant.

The camera cuts to a low angle shot of Johnny lying on the floor. He notices Ponyboy in trouble at the fountain and the camera cuts to a close-up of a pocketknife being flicked open; this makes the scene very dramatic as the audience begins to realize what’s going to happen next. There are more frames of Ponyboy under the water before a wipeout shot of very dark red; the dark red suggests blood (and consequently bloodshed) and the darkness insinuates that Ponyboy has blacked out. The crescendo of tension in the scene is suddenly released by this wipeout.

An eerie, silent darkness follows, surrendering to a gradual rising of light. This in turn gives way to a birds eye view of three people lying on the ground. Everything is very calm and settled, showing the aftermath of the ‘war’. The director does this to reduce the tension after the climax of the last scene.

The camera cuts to an upside-down close-up of Ponyboy’s face – looking upside-down is disorientating, but the boys are disorientated as well. A tracking shot then follows him as he starts sitting up. The camera then cuts between more close-ups of Ponyboy’s face and medium shots with Johnny still holding his pocketknife. Both Ponyboy and Johnny’s reactions suggest that they are in disbelief as to what has just happened. The frame showing Johnny still holding the pocketknife suggests that he is feeling regret for something and that the pocketknife is involved, this leads the audience to think that Johnny may have stabbed someone. Their expressions clearly depict the sudden realization that they have actually killed a human; although we are still led to believe that they are the ‘goodies’ of the film.

The next frame is a low-level shot of a corpse; the following long shot leaves the corpse in view but also includes Ponyboy being sick to one side. This indicates that the reason why he is being sick is not only because of his ordeal in the fountain, but also because of the body. The corpse remaining in the frame shows that it is still the thing that is uppermost in their minds. At this point the scene seams very surreal.

Dogs barking and a passing train bring the boys back to reality; they reflect the normal world – although, since the incident in the park, everything has changed for Ponyboy and Johnny. They know that although the world is the same, nothing will ever be the same for them again. This different frame of mind ends this scene, and the train disappearing, exiting the frame, symbolizes the end. This scene is the main focus for the remainder of the film. Ponyboy and Johnny run away to escape the police, as they know what they have done is wrong; the film follows their time on the run.

Overall this scene is very threatening and the lighting reflects this, keeping the scene in darkness. The music is very effective as it follows the characters thoughts and actions closely; increasing the speed when there is a fight and fading out when the fight ends, as if it is a heartbeat. It also keeps the scene moving along when no one is speaking so that the tension is increased.

I think that the director has successfully created the correct amount of tension, fear and drama in this scene. He is clearly able to show the characters emotions without the use of words. The camera work is very effective because the director has carefully chosen shots that capture the true emotions this scene provokes.

1712 Words