The Crucible Essay Research Paper Film and

The Crucible Essay, Research Paper

Film and theatre are different media; each has unique effects, in film the location can be just about anywhere in the world and have different atmospheres, the infinite amount of camera angles possible could be used for different emphasis, and the sound could be played in any part of the film and could be any length and of course producing different effects. But this is not the case for theatrical plays. Theatre only has limited resources and visual effects. Theatre plays are not as sophisticated as film plays. They cannot use the latest technology to boost the performance. If you watch the crucible, you can see that most of the film advantages (features) are used in the crucible to make it as emotional, passionate, and dramatic as it can get.

A theatre production however would not have the advantages of music, high tech equipment and retakes. Instead it would have to rely on rehearsals and hope that everything goes well at the live performance.

The film version of the crucible is a lot different to the stage play version. Hytner, the director uses various techniques to highlight a characters emotion like a close up camera shot, but in a stage play Hytner would have to rely on the actors ability to show this.

The film uses different locations such as the ocean, in the houses, the village etc… for its desired effect. The story is so huge and vast it seems to stretch on and go on forever, it represented the fact that beyond Salem there was an entire world waiting to be explored.

Some parts of the film included extra scenes that were not on the original stage play. For example, there was a part where Abigail Williams goes to visit John Proctor to ask him if he wanted to get on a boat for Barbados, but Proctor reluctantly said, “the next time we shall meet, is in hell. This extra scene could be there because Hytner wanted to show the caring side of Abigail Williams or maybe because he wanted to show that Abigail was truly sorry for what she caused and really loved John, and she wanted to run off with him.

At the beginning, the film starts off calm music and gradually gets faster and more panicky then goes to eerie music. This music is gradually playing while the first shot is of Abigail thrusting her head up from bed as if she has woken up from a bad dream. Her head is in contrast with a black background; this makes the whole scene even creepier. This also establishes her as a main character. The camera then goes underneath the bed and has a low shot where you can only picture Abigail putting on her shoes (that seem uncomfortable) against the wooden bed and wooden floorboards. The wall seems like stone and has a few cracks in it. Hytner emphasises the coldness in those days by setting up these props. Abigail puts on a dress and makes the bed by patting it. Abigail makes her way down the stairs along with Betty; the camera is now showing this in between the wooden banisters from the stairs. We can see Abigail´s feet make way down the stairs and the camera angle is straight but slowly moving away. We then see both of their faces.

The way the camera angles are shown, we could clearly see that the village the houses were very small and dark. This gives us a sense of the houses being claustrophobic and dark. This in someway could be called the visual metaphor for the repressive nature of the Salem society.

As Abigail and Betty slowly make their way out to the forest, the camera goes onto the other girls getting out of their “wooden” houses and rushing to the forest. This activity of the girls running into the forest seems very organised and sophisticated. Also all of the girls seem to bring an object each with them. Could this be because they wish to conjure up a spell.

The tempo of the music is now starting to rise in time with the girls running and sounds very menacing like the girls.

Now the camera is sky high and has a shot of the whole village. The village is very small and behind it is a massive lake. There could also be connection with the timing of the conjuring with the full moon in the sky. This suggests that they could believe in witchery. This particular shot is very panoramic.

All of the girls seem very excited when they eventually reach the forest and start to giggle. The camera is in a mid shot position moving at the same pace as the girls running. This effective technique is called tracking, which makes the audience more involved with the action by giving an impression of movement. It has some aspects of a view through the trees and branches as if they are being secretly monitored.

They all gather up in the middle of a pre made fire possibly by Tituba because she was there first. The camera is now in an over head shoot and pictures them running towards the fire with Betty getting there first to give Tituba a hug to greet her. Tituba raises her arms in the air and slowly lowers them to signify that she is in control and the girls follow her instructions by getting down on a crouching position. Tituba then has an evil laughter which some of the girls replicate. An over shoulder shot behind Tituba is now facing Abigail which shows unlike all the other girls, her being nervous and tense. They all answer to Tituba when she says, “What do you bring me.” by placing their arms out and holding the item that they brought with them earlier