The Crucible 6 Essay, Research Paper

THE CRUCIBLE

Throughout the course of life, many things are needed to survive. The main three are food, shelter, and love. Along with these main things there are side items. One of which is entertainment. Entertainment comes in a variety of forms. Some include: sports, music, video games, shopping, and movies. From observation one can conclude that movies are a popular form of entertainment. What most people fail to see when they view a movie are the camera angles, visual aids, and audio aids used by the director of the film. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the director demonstrates the power of image, sound, and camera techniques very well.

In Act I Scene I, the opening scene, there are many audio and visual aids used. When all of the girls gather in the woods, mysterious music is playing. As the women get further and further into the forest, the scenery gets darker. When all of the ladies are gathered around the pot, whispering is used to catch the attention of the viewers. As the scene continues one of the persons starts singing a voodoo song. A girl takes a dead chicken and drinks the blood from it. By now everyone is running wild jumping and screaming. One girl feels the urge to get naked and dance around. By now the governor has entered the scene. The maidens see him and recognize him. They all frantically run away, except two. One is screaming because of what she has seen. She claims to not be able to move. The other one is holding her staring off into an endless gaze.

Aside from the audio and visual points, there are various camera angles used. When everyone is circled around the boiling pot the camera man uses a stedicam shot to circle around and show everyone s face. When the viewer is seeing a girl take off her clothes the camera technician uses a zoom shot. This holds true when the governor approaches the gathering.

In Act III Scene III some of the best techniques in the whole movie are used. This is the scene when John Proctor and the little group of girls are in the court room. When John s wife enters the room the girls start glaring at her. At the same time this is happening, mysterious music is playing. There is a dead silence in the room. Then the girls start screaming. Abigail turns pale, and her temperature drops considerably.

The camera angles in this scene are quite interesting. It starts off with a high angle tilt, just before the girls start screaming. A pan shot is used when they are screaming. It circles around the courtroom to show the expressions of the other people. An eye level shot is used when Abigail sees the spirit. Then a high angle zoom is used to simulate the bird like spirit coming down on her.

In Act IV Scene visual and audio techniques are used very well. There is also a good image in this scene. John Proctor and his wife are standing on a cliff. The image here is the cliff. John has the choice to jump to his death should he choose or stay and decide whether or not to confess and save his life or stay as he is. As the two are talking the wind is blowing in their faces. Usually when the wind blows in a movie the viewer only sees hair blowing. In this movie the wind was heard as well as seen. At the beginning of the movie the town was bright and filled with glee. By now everything is dark and gloomy. John and his wife are covered in filth. This also symbolizes the crumble of the town. It shows that there was some kind of struggle.

The camera angles in this particular part during the movie are also well done. Two stuck out the most. One was an eye-level shot. During the conversation the camera was at the eye level of the two characters. Second, was a zoom shot. The camera comes from a distance right up into John s face. This was a common shot that the director portrayed during the movie.

A strong canidate for the most powerful scene in the entire movie was the end. This part of the movie was not written in the play. The audio and visual aids were just a total improvisation by Miller. As the convicts were being escorted to the platform, not a word was spoken by neither the prisoners nor the crowd that was gathered around. The only thing that the viewer hears is sorrowful music. The viewer sees people speaking but does not hear anything. John proctor being hanged symbolizes the saying, “Be true to yourself.” This means that you can t lie to yourself. A person must believe in his/her self before anything else. At the end the only thing heard by the viewer is a rope swinging from side to side. This in it self says a lot.

There weren t a whole lot of camera shots in this part of the movie. One caught was a high angle tilt. The camera is focused down on the platform from way up above. Aside from that there were a few eye level shots and a low angle tilt. This was when the crowd was looking up at the platform.

In conclusion, people tend not to notice other things in a movie aside from the plot. If one was to pay a little closer attention, the movie might turn out better than ever. This is living proof that some things just go unnoticed. Yet movies are still a valuable part of the entertainment world. If entertainment did not exist, the lives of people would certainly be boring.