Within minority reports spider scene, Steven Spielberg uses a combination of shot types and sound techniques to present how advanced technology and government systems put its citizens and the main protagonist John Anderton in a place of inferiority creating a sense of the anxious and uncomfortable atmosphere that exists within the distopian world of the film. The initial two shots of the film are focusing on the ‘pre-cops’ who have come to try to capture John, they are low angle. This from the get go gives the viewer a sense of the police having an overriding authority throughout this scene. As the scene progresses every shot that contains the police is low angle, continuing this feeling of their superiority. The pre cops after entering the building complex where john is hiding then release small robotic spiders to complete identity scans on all of the people within the hotel. Spielberg then uses close up pov, follow shots down amongst the spiders as they begin to make their way around the complex, this gives the spiders the illusion of being much larger than they are, which visually represents the presence of power and fear they create over whoever they are targeting. By using close up pov to exaggerate the scale of the robotic spiders it also makes the audience fear them and the fate of john anderton, if Spielberg had of used a wide angle locked down shot instead it would have portrayed the spiders as small and insignificant creating far less intensity and feelings of anxiousness that they create in this scene. As the spiders are released non diegetic sound begins to come into play. Orchestral music becomes of heavy presence and its sound could be related to that of what you may hear in a horror or thriller film with long whining sounds that insist further the feeling of being on edge for the audience. As the spiders begin to make their way around the complex a birds eye view shot type is used to show this. Spielberg’s use of placing the camera at an extremely high angle presents to the audience how inferior the people within this scene are when under the control and surveillance of the pre-cops advanced technology. The choice of citizens within the complex also helps to solidify the communication of their inferiority, Spielberg carefully chose to present each room as a small significant microcosm that presented insecure or private home situations that occur everyday (people having sex, people arguing, kids getting ready for bed, a drunk man on the toilet) in order to present further the lack of privacy and freedom within these peoples lives when under the constant surveillance of the polices technology. This shot is by far the most important as it presents a vivid underlying idea of how the rise of technology allows superior people to have further control of peoples lives and indicates the comings of a distopian society where freedom no longer exists, a matter that is very relevant to 2017 in the way technology allows people of higher power such as police to access anything we have ever written or done within an online world. This uncomfortable prospect of being watched and monitored that exists within our modern day world creates anxiety and worry within us the same as it does within the citizens of minority report. To even further communicate this anxiousness and worry, Spielberg continues to use the non diegetic music within the scene. music can sometimes be considered far more effective in bringing deeper emotions within people out in film more so than images and the soundtrack throughout this scene is very effective at bringing forth anxious on edge emotions. The sound track in this case begins to become far more high pitched and screechy constantly building and creating a feeling of disorient and confusion through the loud high pitched noises. Spielberg a little later in the scene then stops the music at complete silence once John Anderton submerges himself underneath the icy bath water to escape the spiders heat seeking ability’s. This moment allows the audience to recuperate alongside john, holding onto the small belief of escaping the surveillance of this technology and so also a rest from their worry and concern. The next shots show john letting a small bubble of air to the surface of the water, as the bubble rises to the surface our concern also rises, preconceiving the return of the control of the robotic spider. the next shot shows a close up of the bubble bursting and with it returns the sharp intense music, panic for john is insisted into the audience by creating relief and then sudden mayhem. Finally the spiders crawl onto john shocking him with probes on their feet and pulling up the bandage on his unhealed eye to scan his identity. In a very Spielberg fashion the spiders read johns identity to be not him just before the police burst inside with complete resolution in the last final seconds.

Join the conversation! 2 Comments

  1. A great start, Noah. Punctation and capitalisation need addressing

    Reply
  2. FEEDBACK:
    Hi Noah,

    You raised some good points in here. I want you to now consider:
    – a societal response – how does the text reflect society? You touched on this, but go further in how this text speaks volumes about our world.
    – towards the end it felt ‘rushed’ and ‘listed’ due to language choices – keep it articulate the whole way throughout.
    – Be more pointed in the use of the TWO TECHNIQUES TOGETHER to demonstrate the director’s purpose. You tended to do one, then the other.

    Keep this in mind when you actually attack your 3.9.

    🙂

    Reply

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