Use Of Film Techniques Including The Narrative example essay topic

The film "Shakespeare in Love" through the use of various film techniques and the way in which it is produced, explores many themes and issues relating to the narrative, one of the most prominent being that of reality vs. fiction. The statement "This film, in the way it is crafted, suggests that fiction is more important than real life". is one that is not entirely correct as throughout the film, reality is demonstrated as inescapable and plays a much larger role in the lives of the characters than fiction. The film is teeming with "real life" situations that the director has deliberately included to contrast reality and fiction. These would include bawdiness, sex, love, conflict and loss just to name a few. The play begins with a scene depicting the harsh reality of Elizabethan London, and this is achieved through the use of different camera shots, angles, lighting and movement.

The camera shots are generally taken from eye-level focusing on the frantic hustle and bustle of the crowded and dirty streets. Extreme close-ups often focus on images of filth such as animal manure and sewage being thrown out of a window, depicting the environment in which the towns' people exist. The combination of these film techniques are used frequently throughout the film when depicting the peasantry and demonstrate that the scene, or the people in it, are ordinary and work together to build the reality of the period for the audience. The director has worked very deliberately to portray the character of Shakespeare as an ordinary man, subjected to the same difficulties and emotions as any other character in the film. This is achieved largely through attention to costuming, the narrative and camera angles. Whenever we see Shakespeare, he is dressed in loose and often dirty clothing, supporting the director's attempts to portray him as an ordinary individual.

Scenes depicting him alone primarily use natural light, and extreme close-ups of his ink-stained fingers and facial expressions, in combination with the narrative, work to establish that he is subjected to all the emotions and frustrations of any other person. Even though his character is dreamy and creates pieces of fiction to captivate others and to express his own creativity, he exists in a somewhat austere reality. The character of Viola exists in a reality that is certainly very different from Shakespeare's and the majority of the other characters of the play. The audience is shown the nature of her reality through a combination of film techniques relating to the narrative, costuming, camera angles, movement and lighting. Viola generally appears in extremely elaborate costumes, demonstrating her social status and wealth. Camera angles employed include panning shots and under-shots following her movement and occasionally an extreme close up of her facial expressions, particularly when she is expressing emotion.

These techniques serve the purpose of impressing upon the audience that although she is wealthy and comes from a different class to many of the other characters, she too is capable of extreme sentiments and reactions to other characters. We learn through the narrative of her love for theatre and poetry, or fiction, which leads her to assume pseudo identity of 'Thomas Kent' who is a fictitious character. As this allows her to break free of her 'prison-like' environment, it could be suggested that here fiction is more important than reality, but the director uses costuming (when her hair [that symbolizes her] is loose but she is clothed as a boy), lighting (often in natural light, which picks up face details clearly) and the narrative to make it obvious that even though she does not look like herself, that it is Viola having those experiences and falling in love. Although there are many parts of the play where reality is the main theme, there are also scenes where fiction almost entirely takes over. These scenes would of obviously concern the most obvious piece of fiction in the film, the plays shown in the playhouses. The plays themselves are fictitious and the fabricated world of the theatre takes over, as is demonstrated through the use of specific lighting, the narrative and camera angles.

Near the beginning of the film a comedy is being performed for the Queen, and this scene demonstrates many techniques used to describe fiction in the film. The elaborate and bright costumes of the players (in this case a jester), the artificial lighting and the camera panning from the audience to the stage demonstrate that the fiction of the play in this situation takes the characters away from their reality and provides relief from their everyday lives. In such situations it would seem that fiction becomes more important than reality, but even these works of fiction rely on and are inspired by real events, just as Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" is inspired by Will and Viola's relationship. The scenes where reality and fiction tend to collide generally take place in the playhouse. Here, the lines separating reality and fiction are often blurred through the use of film techniques including the narrative, editing, camera angles, movement and costuming.

An example of this occurs when Shakespeare and his players are rehearsing the fight scene from "Romeo and Juliet" and are approached by Burbage and his companions. The shots outside of the theatre depicting the approaching group are shot at eye level, their movements are deliberate, it is outside so shot in natural light and they are dressed in normal clothing. Each of these techniques would suggest that what is happening is in fact real. The point at which the audience would begin to question where reality stops and fiction begins is at the point where a voice-over from the text ie: "Here come the Capulets... ". corresponds with the movement of Burbage and his companions. The camera then cuts quickly several times from the scene outside to the rehearsal scene inside, almost foreshadowing what is to come. Once the group enters the theatre, it is not long before they are drawn up onto the stage and begin to fight.

These actions are followed by eye-level shots up onto the stage (suggesting that reality has become or is blurred with fiction) and correspond almost exactly with the text from the play. For a time, whilst the fight ensues, fiction and reality are blurred but as with all of the situations of the film, the reality of the situation becomes apparent and the fight is ended. Another way in which reality and fiction are shown to collide is in the relationship between Will and Viola. The director has very carefully and deliberately contrasted the lifestyles of these two characters, but has also gone to lengths to establish their characters as real people with real emotions, so it would follow logically that any relationship between the two would be real also. When they first meet, Viola is disguised as 'Thomas Kent', a character that allows Viola to assume another identity and live in a different reality. It is not this fictitious character, however, that Will falls in love with, but the real person inside of the costume.

This is shown through the use of costuming and narrative in the scene when Will realises that 'Thomas Kent' is Viola and sees her in her room. The camera takes a shot of Viola at eye-level, but captures her entire image, showing her hair out even though she is still in the clothes of 'Thomas Kent'. This is the point at which they confess their lust for each other, when the true nature of the situation emerges and Will is sure it is Viola. One other scene that suggests that reality is more important than fiction, is in the love scene when Will is unwrapping Viola from her binding. The camera follows them through into their own space, and pans around the two characters almost equally. The movements of the actors and the narrative are also important at this point, as by unwrapping her binding, it is as if Will is exposing the real Viola.

This impression is given as the director has employed the film technique of symbolism in relation to the binding, as it represents Viola's pseudo identity 'Thomas Kent'. Therefore, by tracking and focusing on the action of Will removing it, the film is suggesting that not only has Will discovered the 'reality' of Viola, but that their love is real as there is nothing hiding one from the other. The two do indeed meet through the play, or through fiction, and one may be tempted to suggest that their relationship too is fictitious like the play. Any relationship between them under normal circumstances would be extremely unlikely and we see through the narrative that even Viola realises this ie: "This is not life Will, but a stolen season". , but the film techniques employed by the director would suggest that their love and emotion for one another is a reality, regardless of the circumstances in which it came about. Scenes where they are shown together focus almost entirely on the two characters and the growth of their relationship, suggesting that is the most important part of that setting.

The last scene of the play, where Viola and Will part, is instrumental in demonstrating reality and fiction. Will and Viola are forced to realise their fate or reality and have to end their relationship. At this point, the main film technique used by the director to show that reality is ultimately inescapable is through the narrative. No matter how sweet their love was or how passionate a relationship they had, it now has to end. The director does not forget the reality of their relationship, however, and the film uses the narrative and editing to demonstrate the way that it has affected Will. The camera shoots an extreme close-up of his fingers and facial expression in parallel with the opening scenes of the film.

These show him to be writing furiously. A voice-over lets the audience inside the mind of Will, and we learn that he is writing his next play, "The Twelfth Night". The camera shots dissolve from Will writing into what the voice-over suggests is his imagination. Here, in the midst of a fictitious work, we find reality prominent again, as it is Viola that has inspired this story. She can no longer physically exist for him but the real emotions and passion that they had for each other means that she has "become his muse for all time". In conclusion, by the end of the film practically every character is forced to realise their fate or reality, and this is particularly evident in parting of Will and Viola.

The fiction in the play performs the important role throughout the film of providing an escape for the characters from their everyday lives, and as a creative outlet. Even so, we see particularly through scenes where the director has used film techniques to blur the boundaries between the two themes, and show that reality is inextricable from fiction and ultimately inescapable. Hence, the film in the way it is crafted and through the treatment of its compositional devices, would suggest that reality is in fact more important than fiction.