Practice exam question- City of God

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? (35 marks)

The beginning of City of God starts with an extreme close up on a knife being sharpened and this is a metaphor to describe how the people in the favelas are living on the edge of a knife because someone dies every 90 seconds in the favelas. Then there is a chicken which is tied up but it escapes and in this scene there is a sense of verisimilitude because a handheld camera is used with a tracking shot following the chicken running away. However, the people chase the chicken to stop it from getting away and this is a representation of how the people in the favelas are trapped there and that they could die at any moment, just like the chicken.

Another scene in the film shows Goose, Clipper and Shaggy go to a motel to rob it. They walk into the exit of the motel which could be a foreshadowing of their exit out of the film.  Inside the motel they tie up the staff and steal anything of value. The film is very fast paced at this moment too to get across that they are in a rush to get out so that they don't get caught, however there is a moment inside the motel where Clipper goes to steal jewellery but he sees a crucifix necklace and he hands it back to the man. This scene is clearer than all the others inside the motel and this is done to make clear to the audience that Clipper is religious and this is a sign that he can still be saved, he will not suffer the same fate as Goose and Shaggy. After they leave the motel they cannot find lil Z so they assume that he has been taken by the police and then there is a sweeping pan camera motion across each room in the motel, as if they are all one room, and everyone is dead. From this, the audience can assume that Lil Z set them up and went in to kill everyone after they left. He did this so that they would all be arrested, killed or would have to leave, and so that he could assume the position of leader of the rising gang in the favelas. In an earlier scene in the film, we were shown a foreshadowing, of Lil Z assuming this position, where he was sat at the top of the pile of bricks while the tender trio were stood around him or sat below him.

Practice exam question- La Haine

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? (35 marks)

In La Haine there is a Close up of Said's face at the end of the film when Hubert and the Policeman are pointing guns at each others head after the policeman shot Vinz. The close up shows Said's realisation that something bad is going to happen and he doesn't want to see it because he doesn't want to believe it so he closes his eyes and scrunches his face up, waiting for the gun shot sound because he knows its coming and there's nothing that can stop it. This gives the viewer the realisation that the film will not have a happy ending and this was the harsh reality of Paris in those times, that in most cases people struggled to ever get out of the projects and away from the violence that they were surrounded by there and that a lot of the deaths there were through violence. It shows that in reality the police aren't always good people and they are just as violent, if not more, as the supposedly violent youths that they are beating up and shooting. The close up on Said's face emphasises the fact that young people are scared of the police. Also in this scene there is a ticking sound in the background, counting down to the gunshot. This sound, as well as the gunshot, happens throughout the film when the digital times come up on the screen