Beneath Clouds Analysis
Assessment Preparations:
A journey is more than just the dictionary meaning of travelling or moving from one place to another. It’s about creating an adventure from points A to B understanding the physical emotions along with intellectual understandings of a journey. This can be clearly seen in the three films Beneath Clouds, Finding Nemo and (related text) where the journey is undertaken in many ways.
The opening scene of Beneath Clouds begins with sombre, uplifting music mirrored with a panning shot of the ethereal clouds. We are then introduced to Lena’s story as the camera zooms down to mundane earth, which juxtaposes with the previous shot of the clouds, highlighting the unwelcoming and harsh landscape. A truck passes through introducing the journey motif and representing the towns’ isolation, nobody bothers to stop at this trash of a town. The visual metaphor of the crushed butterfly being eaten by ants symbolizes Lena’s disempowerment and foreshadows her future if she does not get out of Moree. The photos of her past represent what her family life could have been and are the internal catalyst for her journey to see her father.
Camera shots of scenery and nature along with digetic sound representing a harsh, sterile and miserable environment change the scene and introduce us to Vaughn. An extreme close up shot of bars over Vaughn’s face clearly gives a visual representation of entrapment. His two years of imprisonment without one visit from family has turned Vaughn into a caged animal. When he hears of his mothers illness he replies “serves the bitch right” and when asked why he doesn’t talk about his family by a fellow inmate “I don’t have one.” This in turn is ironic as his internal catalyst is that his mother is dying, and he breaks out of the prison to see her one last time. The photograph of Vaughn’s’ family is a linking motif with Lena’s, to their past and to their hopes for the future.
Similarly, the notion of a journey’s importance is dealt
A journey is more than just the dictionary meaning of travelling or moving from one place to another. It’s about creating an adventure from points A to B understanding the physical emotions along with intellectual understandings of a journey. This can be clearly seen in the three films Beneath Clouds, Finding Nemo and (related text) where the journey is undertaken in many ways.
The opening scene of Beneath Clouds begins with sombre, uplifting music mirrored with a panning shot of the ethereal clouds. We are then introduced to Lena’s story as the camera zooms down to mundane earth, which juxtaposes with the previous shot of the clouds, highlighting the unwelcoming and harsh landscape. A truck passes through introducing the journey motif and representing the towns’ isolation, nobody bothers to stop at this trash of a town. The visual metaphor of the crushed butterfly being eaten by ants symbolizes Lena’s disempowerment and foreshadows her future if she does not get out of Moree. The photos of her past represent what her family life could have been and are the internal catalyst for her journey to see her father.
Camera shots of scenery and nature along with digetic sound representing a harsh, sterile and miserable environment change the scene and introduce us to Vaughn. An extreme close up shot of bars over Vaughn’s face clearly gives a visual representation of entrapment. His two years of imprisonment without one visit from family has turned Vaughn into a caged animal. When he hears of his mothers illness he replies “serves the bitch right” and when asked why he doesn’t talk about his family by a fellow inmate “I don’t have one.” This in turn is ironic as his internal catalyst is that his mother is dying, and he breaks out of the prison to see her one last time. The photograph of Vaughn’s’ family is a linking motif with Lena’s, to their past and to their hopes for the future.
Similarly, the notion of a journey’s importance is dealt