Nash In The Pentagon Breaking The Codes

3.9 Film Assessment write up

S1: Nash in the pentagon breaking the codes
S2: Nash at home with Alicia bathing baby

The film “A Beautiful Mind” by Ron Howard is about a mathematician who suffers from Schizophrenia. The film follows John Nash and his story from start of College to end. Howard uses a range of aspects to help show the audience how Nash is feeling. In this essay I will be looking at two different sequences showing these aspects. Sequence one will be when Nash first went to the Pentagon to break the codes for the government and Sequence two will be when he is at home with Alicia and he is going to bath the baby. The aspects I will use are Camera Work to show how we can see what goes on in his head, Costume which symbolises the
change he has gone through over the years, Dialogue shows how his brain works, and lighting which symbolises how much has changed and the mood of the film at the point.

Nash has been called into the Pentagon to crack some codes for the government. You see him standing in a big room in front of a big board with people around him watching him work. On this board there are lots of numbers that the sergeant said was codes and Nash has the job of cracking them. Camera work is used in both sequence one and two. In sequence 1 Nash is looking and working on the code on the board in the pentagon and the camera is rotating around him. This is called a Panoramic pivot point. The effect of this aspect is to show that there is a lot going thru his mind at this point as he is trying to crack the codes from the board in front of him. With this he is also mumbling numbers and the camera will look at the board and numbers will pop out and stand out more than others. While spinning you can see the people in the background watching and expecting and you can also see other people working in the background on maybe another type of code machine and filing cabinets. People are coming and going throughout the sequence behind him which indicates that he may have been there for quite some time breaking these codes. This effect also makes the atmosphere seem thick or dense with anticipation. But in sequence two it is very opposite as this time Nash is in his kitchen and has just fought with Alicia. Before they got to the lounge Alicia had gone out to get the washing off the line and Nash said he was going to wash the baby. But then Alicia hears and nose and follows the sound to a shed where she finds out that Nash is still doing the codes and then realises he has stopped his medication. She runs back to the house to find Nash in the bedroom and the baby in the bathtub with water almost covering his face. She then goes on to call Dr Rosen. Nash comes down stairs to try and stops her and he pushes her into a wall. Alicia runs out of the house with the baby which leads to where Nash starts to realise the difference between imaginative and real life. The camera is again using a Panoramic Pivot Point around him like before but this time it is for a bad reason. Lots of thing are running thru Nash's head and he is thinking about everything that has happened both in the real life and the imagined. You can see Patcher, and Charles, and Marcee around him while the camera is spinning around him. It also starts playing clips of stuff that has happened over the years with Marcee and realising that she doesn't age. This helped us understand Nash better as we can see that he is a bit confused but is now starting to realise that he is very sick and this makes the viewers feel sad for Nash as he couldn't help what was happening to him. I think Howard's purpose in using it was to help show that Nash really had no idea how bad or how sick he really was. It shows he is very confused but is now realising what is happening to him. The director used the aspect here to show how serious this is and it helps show how Nash thinks in his mind and how muddled up he really is in his mind. So in the first sequence this is not a bad thing that this is happening but in the second sequence it is a negative or a bad thing. I also think this is another turning point for Nash as this is when he realises that Marcee isn't real and nor is anyone else ese and he decides to try and get better with himself and fight the illness on his own. I think the director's purpose for using this effect in both scenes is to help show and tell the audience what is and does go on in Nash’s mind and how he is feeling and the point of the film. Another aspect used by Howard is Dialogue which i think this fits well with this aspect.

Another aspect Howard has used in these sequences is dialogue. Dialogue said by the character and can also tell you how they are feeling with the tone of their voice and how they deliver the speech. In sequence 1 the dialogue used is “6-7-3-7-0-3-6” which is said while he is in the pentagon figuring out the codes and he is mumbling the numbers he is seeing on the board. While this is happening the camera is spinning around Nash. I think the director used this effect of dialogue to is also to show what is going on thru Nash’s head and how he is thinking a lot at one point and time. And this also gives us an inside view point of how his brain works. But in sequence two the dialogue is much different and means and gives the impact of something completely different. The Dialogue “Alicia and Charles never coexist in the same interactive field” “Parcher and Charles” “Charles and Marcee cannot coexist with Alicia” “I understand” shows how much is running thru his mind at this one point in time. The talking is said in mumble or faint like it is all overlapping each other to also this effect of him thinking lots at one time. I also think that this is a turning point for Nash as he has realised what is really happening to him and his mind. He now knows what is wrong with him and he has realised what is real and what isn't. I think the director's purpose is to show this and how far he has come and how far he had gone to to finally realise that he is sick and he needs to get help. This film technique is also linked with camera work as while this is happening the camera is spinning (Panoramic pivot point camera movement) around Nash in both scenes and they both have the same effect which is why they work together so well. I think the effect of the viewer was good as the director Howards message got across well and the audience could understand the film and what was happening at the point and time of both sequences.

Howard also used costume to portray how Nash has corroded and been breaking over the last months.
In the first sequence he is looking tidy wearing a suit and has trdy hair and looks well presented. He is walking with confidence and has his head held high showing he is better than everyone. The director has the use of the suit to show that he is still thinking right and functioning right this also helps the audience understand that he is still in the right state of mind to work and function like a normal person as he hasn't been affected much by schizophrenia yet. But in the second sequence Nash is in more untidy clothes and messy hair and it's obvious he hasn't been out in a while. Nash is wearing and old top with pencils in his pocket with a tank underneath which is tucked into pants help with a belt. Nash's actions are panicked and rushed. He seems to be talking to two people but only one person there which also leads to Alicia more eager to get on the phone to Dr Rosen. I think Howard has used this technique how corroding of the brain it really is as his clothes show and demonstrate how his mind might look like as first it was well organised and new what was going on but the second he is more messed and jumbled up and so he looks more untidy because the sickness has almost taken over his whole mind and he can't think straight anymore especially with the medication so he stopped taking them which made things worse for him and Alicia. His costume contrasts with his mind as
he is well dressed his head works fine, he is dressed untidy his mind isn't working as well as it should or used to be. I think this helps the viewer understand how Nash is feeling within himself. It helps to show that he isnt fully capibul to care for his family or himself which makes the audience feel sad for Nash as they can see how this really not only just affects him.

And lastly Howard has used lighting in these two sequences.
Lighting can help set the mood in a film and can be a symbol of how people are feeling. In the first sequence it is bright outside and as he came inside it got darker. But inside the room he was working in in the pentagon it was dimly lit. This can indicate that Nash is happy and he has accomplished an achievement with himself as he was called to work at the pentagon. This is a happy time in Nash’s life as he finally got what he has been working for. But also in this scene you can also see that as he is walking into the dark and when he sees Pacher for the first time he is in the dark. Which can indicate that he is bad or there is something bad about him. I think Howard used this technique to show the contrast of good and bad or happy and sad. But the bright light outside can show he is still in a happy and good place where he is still thinking straight but I think this is a turning point for a he is walking into the dark which is the pentagon which is where the bad starts. In the second sequence it is pouring down outside and it is very stormy and gloomy, Alicia is outside getting the washing and Nash was going to give their baby a bath. The scene is darkly lit but it is a bit lighter outside than in. This could indicate that Nash is inside which is bad so it's dark and outside is Alicia and it's a bit lighter. But Alicia goes into the wood it gets darker which may also be indicating that something bad is
happening which does. In this scene Alicia finds out that Nash is still very sick and he has stopped taking his medication. I think Howard used it here to influence the audience to think and feel bad and like something is going to happen. The audience should feel on edge or uneasy and eager to find out what's going to happen next. Howard has the uses of lighting to set the mood and to show how the characters in the film feel like you should feel the same way and it puts you on the same level as the characters.

In conclusion I think that both of these sequences are turning point for Nash in this film first sequence being bad and the second being good. The director, Ron Howard, uses different film techniques and aspects to deliver the film in an effective way. He helps show the audience the way Schizophrenia affects not only people who have it but the people close to them and people around them too. I think Howard has done a very good job and portraying Nash's emotions and how his situation is throughout the film and in these two sequences. It shows how he is misunderstood and how his mind was corroded over the film.

Cassandra Ward