The beginning of the scene starts with the location
and the date of the scene being displayed for the audience to read as the scene
is set in 1947. The reason behind this would be to give the audience an overview
of the context before the movie begins, this helps the audience understand the
historical setting of the scene as well as grasp an idea of the behaviour of
the characters and social standards of the time. The body language of the mass
of characters is a very relaxed and gives the scene an almost sluggish feel to
it making the audience perceive the characters to be very abrasive towards
others in their field of work.
This is followed by a loose frame of a room
full of people, ten transitioning to a panning shot of the entire space. The focus
is then zoomed onto the only standing character in the scene. This is to draw
the attention to the speech the character is giving as well as present to the audience
the hiarchey of the actors that will later be important to the storyline. The body
language of the speaking character is very confidence with hands placed on
hips. This pose established confidence and dominance over the other characters
of the scene, this indicates to the audience who is in charge.
‘mathmatician’ is repeated multiple times y
the only speaking character in the scene in order to present to the audience the
context of what the film is going to be about. This is important in the first
scene as it sets up the storyline for the entire movie and engrosses the audience
into the film in order to find out more about how the storyline will develop.
The camera angle is then flipped 180
degrees to an eye level shot of who will later be the main character (John Nash).
This angle is used in order to portray the separation of the main character
from the other people in the room, this foreshadowing technique explains to the
audience that this character’s isolation from society will later be a
significant element to the films storyline. The body language of John Nashes character is
of complete contrast to that of the other characters in the scene. This again
mirrors John Nashes isolation in society and that he is different from everyone
else, which will play a large part of the storyline later in the film. His body
language is very ridged and he sits with his arms crossed to portray to the
audience his shy and closed nature. Also the character has a constant fiddle
which the audience would perceive as nervousness as well as the ambition to
suppress his fellow characters by listening to and understanding the speech
that is being given.
The scene then flips back to a low angle
shot of the speaker at the centre of the room. The reason the character gives
his speech in the centre of the room is to portray to the audience that the speech
is the centre of the main characters world and his aspiration is to one day be
stood where the speaker is stood. The camera angle then follows the speaker as
he moves until the camera then takes a tight framed zoom onto the character as
he directly approaches the audience through repletion on the word ‘you’. This creates
empathy from the audience towards the main character, John Nash, as the audience
begin to understand the ambition of his character and his need to develop as
mathematician.
The lighting used has a very bright and
open yellow tint to it relying on the reflection of sunlight. The reason
behind this is because audiences usually
cannot the colour of yellow with knowledge and wisdom which mirrors the films
context of highly academic university students. Also the colour of yellow is
usually associated with happiness and optimism as well as imagination. These three
qualities of the colour become very important to the storyline as the film
progresses and the fact that they are unveiled in the opening scene creates yet more
foreshadowing for the audience to watch as the fragment of the main characters
imagination is the focus of the films purpose.
From the use of the dark wooden props (tables,chairs
and bookcases) and the browned colour scheme of the costumes the scene is
littered with shades of brown, which I perceive to be an ironic point made by the
film makers and the colour brown is usually associated with a homely feel of
stability however this atmosphere that is created by the mix of shades of yellow
and brown is of complete contrasted as the film later represents anything but
stability. Another prop used is the use of cigarettes, this is done deliberately so that the audience gets a reflection of the time period and the social
standards of the time in order to understand the historical context, thus the
behaviour of the characters and their mannerisms. Also the costumes used
represent the historical context of the time. All of the characters are smartly
dressed in suits and ties, this gives a very formal and strict visual aspect to
the scene as well as mirroring the strict and unwilling to be accepting side of
society that was rife during the 1940’s to 1950’s. Also the scene only consists
of male actors which is an intentional casting choice as it mirrors the social
standards of the historical period as during these times women were viewed as lesser intellectuals and wouldn't be present in a room of mathematic graduates.
Finally the scene ends with a head on frontal
view of the main character (John Nash) this is used as a subjective shot as the
audience see the character as if they were looking though the eyes of another
person in the room. This gives the audience the effect us truly understanding
the characters ambition to succeed on an empathetic level.
The music used throughout the scene is a
gentle piano melody in order to create a clam and soothing atmosphere and easy
the audience into the film. I would argue that by using this music there is a
calm before the storm effect as the audience are fooled into believing that
the film will be of a simplistic nature however it will be later revealed that
the film is based on somebodies mental breakdown.
The dialogue of the scene has been editing
so that the audience only hear the parts of the speech that are of particular importance
to the development of the story. The dialogue has been faded out in some areas
in order to sow the audience that not all of what is happening around you is important
and that is a foreshadowing effect of the events that occur later in the film.
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