Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Truman Show paper

“In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.”   Imagine living in a bubble your whole life. Everything seems so real, yet it’s all just a set.  The Truman Show depicts several interesting areas of the video production through camera shots, music, and opinions on the end of the movie.
            The Truman Show depicts several interesting areas of the video production through many different camera shots.  In the movie, the use of extremely unique camera shots helped to keep the viewers interested.  There were around 5,000 cameras on set, but Truman knew of none.  Although the use of basic camera shots occurred in the movie, there was also a selection different shots.  The greatest one, in my opinion, was the hidden cameras.  In order to capture Truman’s every move; Christof used cameras hidden in people’s shirts, the radio, in the mirror, and plenty of other places.  The framing around the camera helped to identify that the camera itself was hidden.  Also, the angle from which the scene was shot made it clear that it was a hidden camera.  These shots impacted the audience and me.  The hidden cameras made the shot more believable.  It made it seem like it had not been scripted and that the show was real. The cameras played a very important role in plenty of scenes.  Truman had been driving to work when his radio started switching channels and was broadcasting his every move.  Little did Truman know that there was a camera hidden in the radio.  Truman began to question what was going on.  He started to panic and started to wonder if Sylvia, or Lauren as she had been called on the set, was telling the truth about his life being a lie.  The camera caught this mood that Truman was in and had the audience feeling the same.  The Truman Show had a variety of camera shots that all helped make the movie more interesting.
            The Truman Show depicts several interesting areas of the video production through the music.  Within each scene, there had been different music for that particular moment.  For example, before Truman had any idea of his life being a nationwide television show, the music seemed to be calm.  Truman would come out in the morning, ready to leave for work, and the music was calm and happy.  Truman then starts to figure out what is going on after the radio incident in his car.  The music becomes more upbeat and loud.  Throughout the movie Truman goes crazy with trying to figure out what is happening.  The music is intense and dark, unlike the calm and happy music from the beginning.  At the very end of the movie, Truman makes it all the way across the water, even through a storm.  During the storm the music sounds horrifying, just like the other sound effects of thunder and lightning.   It helped to perceive the scene as a life threatening moment for Truman.  After struggling to stay on the boat after the storm, the mood lightens up due to the music.  The sun begins to shine and the music becomes the same way it was in the beginning, happy and calm.  Truman is excited to finally be free.  Suddenly, his boat hits the wall that he thought was just sky.  The music instantly stops.  This made the scene intense for the audience.  Truman was so shocked that he stood in silence and felt the wall.  It was a cliff hanger that left everyone contemplating what would happen next.  What was Truman’s next move?  What would Truman say?  After all the hard work of sneaking out and convincing himself that he would make it out of this set he lived on, he met a dead end.  The scene needed no music to keep everyone on their feet.  Each moment that music had been playing was carefully selected to accommodate the scene in a better way. 
            The Truman Show depicts several interesting areas of the video production through the end of the movie.  The ending of the movie was very entertaining.  It ended with the same words that it began with.  Truman says, “In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.”   When he began the movie with this line, it didn’t seem to mean much.  In the end, after Christof tries to convince Truman to stay in his world, his response is the quote.  This time it has more of a meaning.  It is Truman’s way of saying that he is leaving and done with this fake world he believed to be real.  If the movie continued, there would have been a classic happy ending.  Truman and Sylvia would find each other and finally be together.  Christof would have become upset and embarrassed.  His embarrassment would show on television where the whole world was watching.  He would have found another victim to his sick way of life.  He would not realize that keeping a person in a bubble and living a fake life just to produce a television show is wrong.  In a sequel, Truman would become psycho.  He would think he never really made it out of his fake life.  It would ruin his relationship with Sylvia because he would think she was still just an actor on the set.  To him, his life would still be a television show.  The end of the movie brought it around a full circle.  The beginning was connected to the end after all the confusion. 
            The Truman Show depicts several interesting areas of the video production through camera shots, music, and the ending.  It seems impossible to seclude a person inside a set for their whole life.  With 5,000 cameras and thousands of actors, The Truman Show made something that seems so unrealistic and impossible very possible.  The movie leaves us all wondering….are WE living our life in a set with actors as the people filling the community around us?