Brave Heart - Close Reading

Braveheart

Visual Element.
Close up – There are a lot of close ups of the main character while he his talking to the local men that said that they would fight, trying to motivate them and persuading them to fight. There is a lot of close ups of the main character when he is pacing up and down on his horse, the close ups on his face show us that he is trying to make eye contact with the local men (his ‘warriors’) to get his message through to them. The extreme close up is also important to show us his facial expressions. His facial expressions can give away a lot about how he is feeling, and not only can you hear the determination in his voice, you can see it in his face when he is talking when ‘extreme close up’ is used.

Aural Element.
Music - The music is in the background, you can hear it if you listen carefully when the main character is talking about freedom and you can also hear it when he stops talking to think or when he is waiting for a response from the ‘army’. The music starts off slowand slowly builds up as the ‘army’ becomes more hopefull for their freedom. It sounds sad, hopeful and inspirational at the same time. The music adds to the feeling of hope that builds up within the ‘army’. The music in this scene is important because it makes it more tense. The instrument is a violent, it is high pitch and classical-ish style.

Editing and Production Design.
Setting – This scene is set in a field. The huge open space is significant because that is the kind of area where wars used to happen. The weather is significant because if they were in this field and it was a really sunny day it would make it look like a happy scene, but because it is a windy and overcast day the audience can tell that it isn’t a very happy scene.

Character.
Costume and Make-up – The ‘army’ and the main character in this scene are wearing old fashioned clothing, because it is set in the past. Their clothing is also quite tatty and dirty, leading the viewers to believe that they havent had a chance to rest in a while. Most of them are dressed in dark colours, for example brown, grey and stained white. Most of the people in the ‘army’ are holding spears or have some kind of armour and/or weaponry. The main character is dirty and his hair looks unbrushed. Their make-up has been made to make them look unclean and grubby. Their make-up and clothing shows that times are hard.
Dialogue – The dialogue used in this scene is old fashioned. In the main characters voice the viewers can hear persuasion, encouragement and motivation in his voice. The dialogue is very important, especially in this scene because the scene is about the main character making a speech to motivate the ‘army’ to fight. In this scene the viewers can tell that the main character has a lot of hope and truly believes that they can win. He reminds the ‘army’ that they can freedom again and that there is hope. This is shown mostly by dialogue.

Atmosphere.
Lighting – It is filmed outdoors in a field and therefore the light is mostly sunlight. The time of day in this scene is hard to tell because of the overcast, i think it would be early morning, because (along with the dialogue) the viewers are encouraged to believe that it is a new day.
Use of Camera shots – There are a lot of different shots used in this scene. For example, mid shot, long shot, close up, panning shots and tracking shot. The tracking shot is quite important in this scene, it tracks the main character in the scene when he is still talking while he is walking with his horse. The close up and extreme close up shots are also used when he is talking, but also when he is looking around at the ‘army’ waiting for their reaction. Mid shots and close ups are also used when it films the ‘army’; this shows how the facial expressions of the ‘army’ change from the start of the main characters speech to the end of it. Panning shots are used to show how big the army is and what the people look like/what they are wearing and what weapons they have. Long shots are used to show the main character and the army. They are used to show the main character on his horse infront of the ‘army’, this can represent the power and leadership that he has.
Editing pace/Rhythm – The scene has a lot of cutting in it. It is cut quite quickly when filming the different people in the ‘army’ to add more effect to the scene. Cutting is also used when the camera shot goes from filming the main character in this scene and then goes to the ‘army’ to show their reaction (facial expressions), but at that time it is at an average speed.
What could be improved? Angles – This scene used a number of different types of camera shots but it didn’t use many different camera angles. Most things are at eye level (and the viewers can see the whole face of the character). The director/film makers could have shot the ‘army’ looking up at the main character in the scene to show that he is leadership he has, or the director/film makers could have done a birds eye view to show the full amount of people who were ready fight; that would have made the scene a little bit more intense.