A.S 90379 Exemplar 6 Achieved with Merit
Analyse how TWO or THREE production techniques helped develop your opinion of main character/individual.
About a Boy
The Weitz brothers
In the Weitz brothers film, About a Boy, many production techniques were used to portray the main character of Will. The oral technique of voiceover helped to develop my opinion of Will, along with clever camera shots. The visual technique of repeated key scenes showed Will’s change and allowed me to develop a different perception of Will.
In the opening scene of About a Boy clever camera shots are used to identify Will’s characteristics. Birds- eye-view shots showed Will walking around his apartment. His apartment is filled with trendy, inanimate objects. This already shows Will to be superficial. As Will walks around his apartment the camera follows him, but is cleverly placed behind beams and other objects. This stops the viewer form being able to see Will’s face. This is important because it identifies how Will puts objects in the way to sop people getting close to him. A clever shot is when Will’s face is blurred behind a fish tank. Not only does this develop the idea of him putting objects in the way, but it shows his lack of emotion. Will’s pet is a fish – something very hard to get emotionally attached to. This is clever camera shots helped me to develop a perception of Will – that he is shallow and superficial.
The oral technique of voiceover is also used in the opening scene. Will talks about the phrase “no man is an island,” and how he strongly disagrees with it. Will believes that all men are islands and that he is “bloody Ibiza.” This shows how Will depends largely on himself, due to the fact he has chosen to block everyone else out. This technique also helped me to see Will as a man afraid of commitment and scared to let people into his life. However, it is also through voiceover that my perception of Will further developed. I originally though Will was, as his ex-girlfriend described him, a “useless, superficial loser”, but as Will talked more in voiceover I became aware that he was just sad and lonely.
Throughout About a Boy, Will changes due to meeting Marcus. Through repeated key scenes I clearly saw how Will had changed to become more honest and caring, which allowed me to develop my perception of Will. In voiceover Will talks about his average Christmas. “I always thought what you did with Christmas was sort of a statement of how you stood with life. I was going to spend Christmas the way I usually did; watching videos and getting drunk and stoned.” This idea is visually supported as we see Will sitting on his couch watching Frankenstein and drinking beer. Will appears to be sad and lonely. Half way through the video Will decides to take up Marcus’s offer to have Christmas at his place. This showed me that Will was beginning to change. Effective mid shots revealed Will at Marcus’s surrounded by Marcus’s family. This not only showed how Will was beginning to let people into his life, but how he had also lost some of his superficial ways. Marcus’s family is not well off and they have nut loaf for dinner. Will eats it and even admits to having fun.
Repeated key shots of Christmas the following year distinguish Will as a caring and changed man. Will is still sitting on his couch watching Frankenstein, but a clever zoom out reveals Marcus and Ally to be sitting on either side of him. As the camera zooms out further, we see Will surrounded by people including his new girlfriend, Rachel. This clearly shows how Will has changed and allowed people into his life. Will is truly happy in this scene, surrounded by the people he cares for.
Will is identified to be shallow and superficial in the opening scene of About a Boy, but my opinion of Will changed throughout the film. Although Will appears to be “cool” on the outside, voiceover later reveals that he is actually sad and lonely. Repeated key scenes then show Will’s change into an honest and caring man, as he lets people into his life.
Many production techniques in About a Boy were used to develop the main character –Will. The use of clever camera shots identified him to be shallow and superficial, but through voiceover and repeated key scenes my perception of Will changed. These techniques allowed me to see a gradual change in Will and I was able to develop my own opinion of him.
(746 words)
To Do:
- Highlight/Underline the use of ‘key words’ from the question, in the essay.
Introduction:
· Which character has been introduced?
· What production techniques are mentioned?
2. Write a thorough plan for the essay, noting the points and examples in each paragraph.
3. Highlight ‘analysis’ sentences in each paragraph.