SSC Film Studies

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

Film spectator-ship is a conscious activity where we use the same decision making and thought process as we would do in reality. Although the spectator is aware of the distinction between reality and non-reality, they respond in similar ways. Our existing knowledge of the real world allows us to make sense of cinema. Spectator-ship theories suggest that our response to a particular film is a lot to do with out psychology make up. Both the films I have studied, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket use alignment and allegiance to create a connection with the spectator.

As the opening of Full Metal Jacket does not establish a pre-existing genre convention, it discourages the spectator to align with a specific character. Each shot in the head shaving sequence is a medium close up that is four seconds long. The fact that all the new Marines are having their hair shaven off reinforces the essential loss of identity for conformity. Kubrick denies us to recognize any conventional character type and we are therefore encouraged to align with the Marines instead of an individual.

However, in the opening of a clockwork orange, Kubrick uses a blood red screen and non-digetic synthesized music to create a sense of unfamiliarity to introduce us to this strange world. The scene immediately cuts to a close up of Alex, identifying him as the 'protagonist'. We are encouraged to align with him at an early stage as only he looks into the camera, essentially having eye contact with the spectator. This dis-orientating world is difficult to understand and as it is Alex who explains it to us we look at this world through his eyes in order to make sense of it. Thus the opening scenes of both films use numerous techniques, A full metal Jacket persuades us to align with the group, where as A clock Orange encourages us to identify with the complex character of Alex.

Furthermore, the Boot camp scenes are intended to reflect the loss of identity and encourage the spectator to view the men as one. This is reinforced by the men being beaten up when they break conformity. There are many shots that demonstrate conformity, such as the wide shot of silhouettes, where we visually can not distinguish the characters as we are unable to make out individuals. The purpose of the boot camp scenes is to dehumanize the men into killing machines, Hartmann is arguably the cause of this through his use of abusive language and physical violence. Pyle and Joker stood out to begin with and Hartmann singled them out for this and physically hurt them. When they eventually do conform the audience align with this as they do not want to see them punished again. In a conventional genre the spectator would most likely emphasize with Pyle, as morally speaking the up coming 'soap beating sequence' is wrong. However, boot camp encourages the spectator to have allegiance with the Marines and adopt the military ideology.

The following scene in A clockwork Orange shows Alex and his 'droogs' assault an elder tramp. Alex's use of narration over this explaining his motivation for the attack essentially causes the spectator to view the man as he does. The close up shot of the alcoholic drink also reinforces this as we are being trained to see this man as a drain on society. Kubrick uses extreme close ups of Alex's to position the spectator closer to Alex and not the victim. Therefore some may feel sympathetic for the old man however, as sympathy drives disconnection we are more likely to have allegiance with Alex. Plus the mid long shots of the man contribute to driving disconnection as he visually distanced from the spectator. The extreme wide shot prevents us from seeing the brutality of the assault, we can only make out the shadows of Alex and the 'droogs'. Thus we are discouraged to view Alex as a monster.

The use of camera work in the 'jelly donut' scene in full metal jacket is the main technique that encourages the spectator to align with the Marine core and not Pyle. Hartmann decides to punish the marines instead of Pyle after discovering a hidden donut in Pyle's box. Pyle is positioned in the center of the frame whilst this group surrounds him acting in unison as they face the punishment. The Marines chant "Marine core" and Pyle remains silent eating a donut, depicting him as pathetic. Amongst the sterile, clean environment, Pyle is stood in a mess of food suggesting that he is a major threat to conformity. The low level camera places the spectator on the floor at the Marines level as they are forced to do press ups. We therefore align with the Marines as we can emphasise with their punishment.

When Alex is interrogated Kubrick encourages the spectator to view the police and the head teacher through the use of point of view shots from Alex. Therefore we have no other option but to view this moment from his view point. As Alex is outnumbered he appears more vulnerable, positioning him as a victim even after his despicable behavior in the previous scene. Kubrick's use of high angled shots, looking up at the grown men further positions the spectator in Alex's place, and makes the men appear as they are towering over us in an intimidating manner. It is evident that Alex feels as though he is being betrayed by his head teacher and as he feels that way the spectator shares allegiance with Alex and not the other men in the room. Plus, the actions of authority figures is deemed morally corrupt head teacher spitting in Alex's face makes the character dislike-able, especially since Alex appears as a young adolescent.  The police abuse their position when they begin to punch Alex, causing the spectator to no loner trust them, further driving the spectator to have allegiance with Alex and not the other characters.

During the home invasion scene the female is denied point of view shots, thus the spectator would find it difficult to emphasize with the character. Majority of shots are male point of views so we are encouraged to perceive the woman as an object, similar to their perception. The woman's red clothing draws attention to her body and the numerous mirrors in the hallway enables us to see every angle of her body. It also makes the house appear fun fare-like, and the juxtaposition of this diminishes the effect of the rape. The use of masks shifts how we view Alex as it literally changes his identity, therefore we do not see him as the same person during his interrogation. Furthermore, the spectator it is guided away from viewing the continued rape, 'viddywell' Alex tells us and then we're in a different location.

In conclusion, cinematography is very successful in manipulating the spectator to have an emotional bond with the pivotal character Alex and the Marine core, by encouraging the spectator to emphasize with Alex and possibly sympathize with Pyle but ultimately align with the Marine core. Kubrick achieves this through his use of point of view shots and positioning the characters specifically.