Exam answer

How important is cinematography in driving the spectators emotional response in the films you have studied?

Spectatorship is a conscious thought process that we use when viewing a film exactly the same as we do in reality. To make sense of a cinematic experience audiences use their existing knowledge of the real world to fill in the gaps within a film, this makes the audience respond in a similar way to the way they would in reality. This is how audiences make sense of films as they compare the film with reality without knowing they are doing so.

The opening sequence of A Full Metal Jacket are 4 second long medium close ups of each of the men who are joining the Marines. In the shots the men are all getting their heads shaved and being made to look the same - this removes any identity that the men have. The shots, frame and fact they are all being made to look the same is showing the audience that all the men are equal and the same, denying the audience any chance of recognising a protagonist which was Kubrick's aim.

The opening sequence of A Clockwork Orange begins with a red screen and non diegetic music bringing the audience into a unfamiliar world. The scene then cuts to a close up of Alex slowly tracking backwards however Alex never breaks contact with the camera making the spectator align with him. The spectators are denied a chance to align with any other character as Kubrick has used certain techniques such as no other character looking directly into the camera to encourage us to align only with Alex.

In the second scene of A Clockwork Orange witness an attack on an old tramp, drunk and singing in a tunnel. Alex narrates us through this assault trying to justify the reason he and his Droogs have chosen to assault this elderly man giving the audience a point of view from Alex wether we agree with him or not. Kubrick uses close ups of Alex to position the audience close to him. When Alex and the Droogs begin to beat the man we can only see the silhouettes of them making us unable to identify which one of the men is Alex making us as an audience associate the violent attack with the gang rather than Alex as an individual.

In the next couple of scenes in A Full Metal Jacket we see the Marines in bootcamp. These scenes distances us more from the characters as we are shown the men being dehumanised and losing their identity. The Sargent Hartman abuses the men verbally and physically to make them conform to meet the requirements of the military - "you are all equally worthless". Hartman re names the militants to further dehumanise them.  Kubrick makes the audience align ultimately with the group and the military as we are experiencing the training process that the militants must go through to become soldiers. The two characters within the group who are made to stand out are Private Joker and Private Pyle. The two are targeted by Hartman when we are first introduced to the group for failing to conform to Hartman's standards. They also stand out throughout bootcamp because Pyle stuggles to keep up with the group and so Joker has to help him. The audience should really empathise with Pyle in these sequences however they are more aligned with the military teachings and the group as the audience know that they must conform to fit in and not be punished like Pyle. Whenever Pyle is conforming he is in the shot with the other soldiers and is ignored as an individual however, when Pyle fails he is shot separately from the other marines making a point that he is not conforming. Hand held camera is used on Pyle to highlight his failure and his physical appearance - this adds realism as we are forced to watch him fail and be humiliated to further dehumanise him. This is also a constant juxtaposition between Pyle and the core to reinforce his failure and the groups success.

In the home invasion scene in A Clockwork Orange we see Alex and his Droogs with their faces masked while they make the attack - this changes the identity of Alex and makes it hard for the audience to view him the same as we do without the mask. The scene provides the audience with many male POV's however denies us to have the females POV - Kubrick does this to make it difficult for the spectator to emphasise with the woman and to avoid them from viewing Alex as the woman does. Alex says 'viddywell' to the spectator who has the POV of the man being attacked - this guides the spectator away from the rape that is about to be committed as we do not visually see it happening. The way in which Kubrick has filmed this scene means that the spectator will struggle to de-align with Alex because he is masked and viewed as a different person.

In the Jelly donut scene we see Pyle being singled out completely by Hartman making him stand above everyone else while the rest of the group are punished because of Pyle - Pyle is positioned in the centre of the frame silent yet surrounded by the rest of the militants who are shouting 'Marine Core' whilst doing press ups all in unison. Sargent Hartman blames the group for Pyle's failure telling them that they have 'not motivated Pyle'. As Pyle continues to drag the group down and continues to get the group into trouble Joker begins to drift away from him and like the spectators he aligns with the rest of the militants ultimately punishing Pyle themselves.

The interrogation scene in A Clockwork Orange is when the spectators view alex at his most vulnerable as he is outnumbered by the 3 police officers and the head teacher. Alex is made to feel intimidated in this scene and as the spectator has gained a tenor with Alex and we see from his POV we feel empathy for him. We see Alex being beaten by the police and being spat at by his head teacher - these actions by the authority distances us away from the law as the spectator see's this as morally corrupt and makes it unable for the audience to align with them. We are more attainted to align with Alex who has been positioned as the victim which reflects how he see's himself as we are guided through the film through his narration.