The Truman Show Essay



The Truman Show Essay

Describe a scene with a strong sense of mood or suspense or atmosphere and analyse production methods used to create this mood or suspense or atmosphere.

In the film The Truman Show directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol, a scene that had a strong sense of suspense and atmosphere was ‘Truman out at sea’ – his escape from Seahaven. Peter Weir used clever production techniques, including camera angles, cross-cutting and special effects, that enabled us as viewers to be caught up in the mood of the scene.

Truman Burbank is the unwilling and supposedly unwitting star of ‘The Truman Show’, a reality television show whereby 5000 cameras observe his everyday life. On discovering that his world is indeed a farce and everything down to his wife and mother are fake, Truman makes an escape. The director of ‘The Truman Show’, Christof, discovers that Truman has escaped “Where is he?... cut transmission. Cut it!” and invokes a Nazi-like search for him by the cast and crew on the set. Through the use of cross-cutting between the set and the lunar room and zoom we see the tension building on Christof’s face. Also, the use of blue-lighting, the sound effects of military marching and low angle shots of the searchers builds the urgent and somewhat sinister atmosphere that ‘The Truman Show’ has suddenly taken on in their attempt to secure Truman and ensure that he doesn’t escape, showing the lengths they will go to keep him entrapped and their sheer dependence on him to keep the show on air. The nervous atmosphere is added to by the audience of ‘The Truman Show’ who watch their blank television screens in anxious anticipation of the return of their “beloved” Truman.

The camera suddenly cross-cuts and zooms in on Christof as we see him stroking a small monitor and whispering “Truman … where are you going?” transmission resumes and the tense atmosphere is somewhat eased as the audience relax at the return of Truman. The Truman Show Bar erupts in cheers and Christof quickly sets about adjusting camera angles on Truman’s boat to their “hero shot” of Truman. Christof soon realizes the danger in letting Truman go too far out to “sea” as he will eventually hit the outside of the dome and be able to escape. Using the advanced special effects on “The Truman Show” Christof causes a storm at sea, complete with sound effects (thunder) and lighting (lightning), in an attempt to force Truman to turn back. Truman however is resilient and determined and continues upon his journey. Christof is angered by this and close-ups of his face alert us to his determination to keep Truman entrapped. The storm intensifies and through cross-cutting we are able to see Truman’s reactions to the storm as well as that of Christof and his production team (some of whom are becoming increasingly worried). When Truman yells “Is that the best you can do?” Christof reacts in desperation by intensifying the storm even further. By this point the mood has exceeded anxiety and there is a general fear for Truman’s life. When told that Truman could die, Christof responds with “He was born on TV”, illustrating Truman is thought of as merely a pawn rather than a person.

The end of the scene opens with a high angle shot of Truman forlorn atop his boat, clearly showing his sense of isolation and vulnerability on the show. The mood has now relaxed and become more triumphant as we urge Truman to beat Christof in the game of entrapment. Cross-cutting again enables us to see Christof’s reaction and we take note that he has effectively created Truman and thus the reason that he is so dependent and fundamentally determined to retain Truman on the show. When Truman hits the wall and discovers the exit sign, as the audience we feel a sense of Truman’s accomplishment. As Christof makes a last-ditch effort to keep Truman from leaving by speaking to him from the Lunar Room, as if he is god (this effect is created by use of high angle shots of Truman), we also consider Christof’s sense of sadness at losing his creation. We also take note of the changing camera angles (high angles to eye level) and lighting (dark to light), reinforcing the idea that Truman has over-come something and has won the battle against the somewhat villainous Christof.

Truman’s escape scene caused the mood of “The Truman Show” to be altered regularly, first from somewhat sinister intent, to anxious waiting and finally triumph. The production techniques particularly camera angles, cross-cutting, lighting and special effects contributed greatly to the moods that were able to be created in the film and were generally very successful in building and then maintaining that sense of atmosphere for us as viewers.

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Plan:

Scene Truman out at sea – escape created suspense/ atmosphere

How [pic] Production methods [pic] cross-cutting

close-ups

special effects

1st – beginning of scene

2nd – at sea

3rd – when Truman leaves

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