“Analyse the effect the
camera angles, editing techniques, and sound effects have on the audience”
At the start of the scene we
see a knife getting sharpened with fast flash cuts in-between each sharpening.
There is also pleonastic sound added to the scene. This intensifies the sound
of the knife getting sharpened and intimidates the audience as the sound of a
knife getting sharpened is a key signifier that something is about to be cut or
someone is about to be killed. The audience then hears an exotic song and sees
that the knife being sharpened was being used to cut chicken and prepare for a
meal in the local community. The score and match on action shots such as the
men cutting food and preparing it makes the audience feel excited and due to
the music we can infer that the setting is in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Due to
the fact that they are cooking chicken in the secluded streets and that they
are wearing old clothes, we can infer that they live in the favelas of Brazil,
as these things are key signifiers of poverty.
We then see a chicken escape
from the people, which leads to the audience seeing a low close up of the
antagonist of the movie. The fact that it’s a low close up shows that he has
authority and power and he later reinforces this by commanding many children of
the favela to chase the chicken that is escaping. This intimidates the audience
as he has the power to control many people just by shouting at them. The fast
paced shots of the children chasing the chicken and the fast song show the chaos
that the chicken has caused. This connotes how poor the people in the favelas
are as children are going to extreme lengths to make sure that it doesn’t
escape such as shooting it. This makes the audience sympathise with the people
of the favelas.
While all the commotion is
happening, the Protagonist – Rocket – is walking with his friend in a long shot
while there is no music and there is also slow cuts so its juxtaposes the
previous scene which connotes that Rocket is the protagonist as he is calm is not
causing trouble. He then runs into the antagonist in the street and the
antagonist is shown in a slow motion tracking shot. This along with a close up
of Rocket with a scared facial gesture strikes fear into the audience’s heart
as Rocket seemed confident in the scene before as he was walking fine and
talking about his photography ambition but in this scene he is just staring at
the antagonist which shows how distraught he is.
We then see the police show up behind Rocket,
which shows him in-between the favela gang and the police which connotes him
being stuck in-between good and bad which makes the audience sympathize with
him as its clear that he has good intentions but due to the place where he
lives, he’s unable to follow his dream. There is then a graphic match of him
going back to his childhood where he’s trying to save a penalty, which connotes
that he’s used to being in sticky situations. He is then shown in a freeze
frame with a non-diegetic sound of a camera flashing to show that he has been
chasing his dream of being a photographer since he was young
