Stand By Me Film Techniques

In the adventurous and comedic film, “Stand by Me” directed by Rob Reiner, follows the tale of four close friends, all around twelve years old, who live in the small fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, in 1959. Vern Tessio, known as the childish one, overhears his brother discussing a dead body of Ray Brower located just outside of town who was supposedly came in contact with a train. The four friends decide to leave Castle Rock with hopes of becoming heroes for finding Ray Brower’s body. On their journey, they encounter many obstacles that developed and advanced them into modern society. Numerous life lessons and themes were demonstrated in the film that every audience member can absorb and take in, no matter what age. The film did an outstanding
With the use of countless techniques, Rob Reiner successfully established the mood and visualization of the characters set in the film. Throughout the commencement where Castle Rock was introduced, the director makes use of high key lighting (the use of bright colourful lights) to produce a protected and gleeful environment. This type of mise-en-scène developed a sense of security in the audience before a big climax. As the boys leave the town of Castle Rock, the lighting transitions to a low key lighting effect which emits an appalling, inhospitable, and depressed environment symbolizing the dark journey of self-discovery the boys are going to experience. Lighting is frequently interchanged between High Key Lighting and Low Key Lighting to develop strain and tension within the audience to spark a larger response when the climax hits. They have gone off to uncharted territory where their sense of security that was enchanted within the town, is absent and non-existent. Another use of lighting that caught my attention was the scene with the overnight camping where the boys exchanged turns guarding the area. While analyzing the film, I noticed whenever the boys were on lookout, they had one side of their face lit up while