Revision: LO3 production techniques

Micro (production techniques) makes Macro meaning.

Production techniques:
- Mise en scene
- Camera work
- Editing
- Sound


Macro

- Genre
- Narrative & story
- Representation and characters


Lighting is used within Life of Pi to create visceral pleasure (Rick Altman, 1999) in order to make the audience feel a vast range of emotions, in particular sadness and fear. This is created by using low key lighting which connotes danger and sadness which therefore provokes these different gut reactions, in contrast to this the high key lighting is used to reflect the narrative of the film being based mainly around religion - when this lighting is present it has connotations of religion (heaven) and new beginnings, which are themes common in the bulk of the story. Costumes help the characters in the film  establish themselves and make their backgrounds known to the audience, Piscine wears traditional Indian clothing which not only tells us the location of the film, but also shows us how racial minorities can be seen as to be pitied as said by Alvorado 1987 - this is made obvious when the character finds himself in multiple different scenarios which the audience are allowed to find humourous or dangerous (therefore easily pitied). In Life of Pi in various different sections of the film different camera angles are used to establish dominance between the binary opposites within the narrative. Piscine (man) is shot from a low angle to show his authority over Richard Parker (nature) whom is shot from a high angles. This is related to the theory of binary opposites and is reflected quite well in this series of shots.


Editing techniques such as eye-line-match are used within the film to create enigma codes as suggested by theorist Barthes (1977), we see Pi looking at objects which he requires yet struggles to retrieve due to Richard Parker being too close - this leads the audience into wondering what he needs the object for and how he is going to get to it. Similar to this Insert shots are used to the same enigma codes, we frequently see piscine writing in a note book which causes reaction from the audience as they wonder why exactly he is doing that when the narrative leads us to believe he thinks he wouldnt survive.

The majority of sound that is used within Life of Pi is Non digetic however the digetic sounds that are present is primarily dialogue, because the film is based in an indian location it is necessary for the actors present to havc Indian accents in order for it to work alongside the narrative. This digetic sound helps disprove the theory of Alvorado 1897 where foriegn people are to be pitied, however in this narrative it is infact the minority which is demonstrating dominance which helps piece together different opinions which the audience begin to gather throughout the duration of the screen play. In addtion to this, whenever we see computer generated imagery in the background there is Non digetic sound which relates not only to the genre of the film but also the location in which the film is shot- chimes are significant as they connote fantasy and fairytale which is a prominant theme throughout.