Lord of the flies.

Lord of the flies

A plane crashes on an uninhabited island and the only survivors are a group of schoolboys. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. The novel was a piece of writing genius, and the idea still remains within the film, however I don’t believe the scripting and acting left the optimum film possible within Lord of the flies. However some parts of the film were converted to the big screen with some success, some bits more than others. Nevertheless this is a good film all round and was quite a challenge to analyse.

The opening sequences in the film lord of the flies are quite symbolic, and well-done considering the time and money put into it. They start with different still shots of school life with music and a Latin lesson in the background. This shows us what the children on the island were like before moving there. There is then a shot of choirboys singing, this also shows us the contrast of normal disciplined choristers and the brutal savageness of the hunters. Then there is a shot of a typical English summer, with tea, cricket and sunshine. Then suddenly tribal drumming begins, and with it comes pictures of war, this is done well as it shows the link between tribal ways and the destruction of war, this also comes up later on in the film. As the pictures of war become more and more intense so does the drumming, this grabs your attention just as the film is beginning, this work well as it makes you want to find out what is going to happen. Then there is a picture of a plane, then an explosion and then it cuts back to the plane that starts’ spinning round and round, this is supposed to be a plane crashing.

The first actual film shot is a wide angle shot of the island and then a close up of Ralph climbing through the jungle with great ease, there is then a shot of piggy struggling to make his way through a couple of vines, this shot is juxtaposed with the shot of Ralph to show Piggy’s awkward way of doing things and his physical inability, this is done a lot throughout the film. As the two find the beach there is music in the background, which implies they have discovered paradise, however the surroundings do not fit the mood whatsoever. Ralph immediately strips down and runs into the water, piggy is then left falling over attempting to take of his socks and shoes, even after the clumsy struggle to remove his footwear he doesn’t dare touch the water. There is then a long shot of Ralph swimming, at this point in the book Ralph shows of his swimming abilities and piggy is left to the side to show his physical inabilities, however Ralph is too far out to be able to distinguish whether he is drowning or doing front flips underwater. Ralph then finds the conch and piggy explains its uses to Ralph, this shows us at the beginning that Piggy is the brain of the outfit as he always explains what to do, but is unable to actually carry out the plans so leaves the execution of things to Ralph. Ralph blows the conch and there is a wide-angle shot of the beach to show the power of the conch’s blow and how far the sound travels. There is then a mid shot of the gathering place where piggy is going around collecting names trying to organize things; this shows Piggy’s maturity above everyone else’s. Suddenly there is a distraction, and everyone turns to look across the beach and there is a long shot of the choir in full uniform singing as they parade along the beach. As they reach the gathering jack steps forward and begins inquiring about adults, he seems surprised there are no adults but slightly pleased at the same time. The choir are then asked to introduce themselves and one by one, and in a rather military fashion they go through their names, this is done rather well as it shows their civil and orderly way of doing things, this also shows a contrast of the neat and tidy way of doing things in comparison to the barbaric face painted mayhem that is soon to occur. As they go through everyone replies formally and politely apart from roger who replies with a discerning face and looking away from his questioner. This shows his brutal side before anyone else even begins to consider savage behaviour.

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Later on in the film Simon is killed in a brutal misunderstanding, however in the book it doesn’t imply that there is a misunderstanding whatsoever, merely that everybody is caught up in the moment and look for a scapegoat to vent out the passion of their tribal dance. Nevertheless this scene is done quite well, there is no artificial lighting, only that of the fire, which creates a nice effect. There are constant extreme close ups of faces and fire, the face shots are quite disturbing as all the children have face paints and they are screaming and yelping in a rather worrying fashion. They do their usual “kill the pig spill its blood” chanting and there is a close up of Ralph and Piggy joining in, this is to show how irresistible the dance is, and how it can draw in anybody, even Piggy. After a while of dancing and screaming and fire, there is a shot of Simon inspecting the mountain where the so-called beast is supposed to be. He discovers that it is only a dead paratrooper. He goes back to tell them but as he is crawling through the undergrowth he is mistaken for the beast. There is a close up of a boys face as he shouts “THE BEAST!” everyone reacts immediately and starts to run towards Simon. As they come towards him there is a constant shot reversal to show it from both points of view, there is a point of view shot showing the crowd of boys running towards Simon with spears and then a close up on his face to show the pure fear he is experiencing, then there is another point of view shot showing all the boys crowding around Simon with spears, then there is a shot from the boys point of view showing simony trying to run away. Unfortunately Simon only makes it to the water before he is killed, this is done in mid shot. There is then a mid-shot of Simons body floating away in the water, then Simons body is gone and we are left with a shot of light glimmering on the water, there is then a choir singing which shows Simons innocence and religious undertones, but also it is quite ironic as the people that are singing to commemorate his death are also the ones that killed him in the first place.

Even further on in the film piggy meets his end at the brutal hands of Roger. Ralph, Piggy and Samneric are all going to confront the tribal gang on the other side of the island; the tribal gang have a fortress, which is basically a rockery with more dangerous edges. The main part of Jacks gang are high up on the edge and this is where the main point of view shot is shown from, the other is from Ralph’s point of view looking up at everybody. Ralph and jack begin to squabble and Piggy feels things are beginning to get out of control, he starts to try and reason with them but with no prevail. There is an extreme close up of a stick being wedged under a large stone. Piggy continues to shout and there is then a close up of Rogers face as he pushes the stick down to dislodge the rock onto piggy. This is done quite well as it shows Rogers scheming outside of the group. Piggy is struck back into the sea and there is silence, with no movement just amazement. Ralph looks on at Piggys body amazed, until suddenly the realization hits him, and he turns looks at jack and his group and runs away, there is no attempt to stop him from the savages. This is slightly different from the book; in the book the savages feel no remorse and begin to attack Ralph in an attempt to kill him. However here the savages feel remorse and are just as shocked as Ralph, this is to imply that most of them still have some civilized behaviour left inside them, whereas in the book it is described as if they don’t care whatsoever about Piggy dying and that they want more blood. I am not entirely sure which version I prefer but I think that Golding’s version is slightly more real to the behaviour of the savages. At the end of the film Ralph is being chased by the savages, and has no option but to run as they are not only chasing him with force but they have set everything on fire. As he is chased across the beach by the savages, you can hear them in the background chanting “kill the pig, spill his blood”. As he runs he trips and there is a tracking shot of him crawling along the floor, this creates a the feeling that you are there experiencing the whole thing, as he crawls he gradually slows down, and the impression that the savages are gaining on him is created by the chanting getting louder and faster and generally more intense. Suddenly the chanting stops and Ralph bumps into a pair of feet. The camera is pointing down at the feet and slowly pans up towards the face. This creates the feeling that this is person of authority and quite high importance. It is a sailor who looks around at the fire and smoke, there is shot reversal to show the sailors responses to the boys and the boys responses to the sailors. The savages arrive and are shocked; they stop chasing and just stand still. There is then a close up of Ralph who is looking down, he slowly looks up at the camera and starts crying with happiness. I feel this is an effective ending to an average film. But it doesn’t even come close the atmosphere of terror and then joy created by William Golding in the book.

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