Analyse the openings of the two film versions of Lord of the Flies Essay Example For Students

Analyse the openings of the two film versions of Lord of the Flies Essay William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies. The first publication was made in 1954, nine years after the end of the Second World War. Golding raises the issues of power, civilisation and leadership. Peter Brook and Harry Hook filmed the two film versions of Lord of the Flies I am comparing in 1963 and 1994 respectively. Peter Brookquot;s version was filmed in black and white and Harry Hookquot;s version was filmed in colour. The openings used in both versions were very dramatic. They both gave us the gist of what had happened straight away. In my opinion, the opening to Brookquot;s version was the most effective because of the still scenes of back home where the boys came from. It led up to the plane crash and told a brief story in pictures to involve the audience into the film. The opening leaves the audience wanting to find out just how the boys are going to cope, stranded on a desert island, with no adult life or other civilisation to be found. Brook did extremely well in creating the filmed version of Lord of the Flies, as there wasnquot;t a wide range of special effects available at the time. However, these were available at the time of Hookquot;s version of the bestseller creating a tenser atmosphere for the audience. Due to these differences, both directors establish the opening sequence of Lord of the Flies differently. The two film versions, as well as the book, have very effective openings. Golding wanted to show people how a group of boys would act when deserted on an uninhabited island. The opening sequence of Peter Brookquot;s version is very effective. This is due to the stills of the boysquot; home. It starts with a still of the school building and the camera closing in on it. We canquot;t tell it is a school until the bell tolls signalling the beginning of the school day and the banter of the classroom are heard. This is blended in as the tolling of the bell fades. The next still is of a group of children in a classroom after the still of the school has dissolved. This creates a good effect as one picture dissolves yet the sequence doesnquot;t stop, as another picture is backing it up. The sound effects also dissolve, as when one fades, another starts creating the same effect as the stills. It is also effective because the sound effect corresponds with the picture even though it is a still and the camera isnquot;t rolling film. The sound effect in this still is of a teacher teaching his class Latin. This still then dissolves along with the sound effect to reveal the whole school in the dining hall. The sound effect is of cutlery clashing together and upbeat chat with a few of the children laughing. The next still is of the choir stall and the sound effect is of them singing. The camera pans down the stall. The audience get an inclination that the choir members are featured in the film. When the camera reaches the end of the stall, the credits appear on screen. This is when the film title appears on the screen and as it appears, the song by the choir finishes at a climax. The title is arranged in capital and small letters, for example, LORD of the FLIES. This emphasises the main words in the title and it stands out more. When the screen fades to black, more stills are involved in the opening sequence with a man sat in a deck chair watching a cricket match. The sound effects in this set of stills donquot;t correspond to the pictures. In this still, the sound effects involved carry on all the way until the end of this sequence. There is a gentle drumbeat that keeps the audience in suspense as they feel that something is about to happen. The camera then switches to missiles; this shows the contrast between civilisation and evil. In this case the evil is representing war as the novel is set in the era of the Second World War. The drumbeat constantly increases along with the tension in the audience. The next still is of warplanes flying past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Instead of the stills dissolving, the director uses simple cuts to change from one still to the next. The next still is of the boys from the school arranged in a group with an evacuation schedule behind them. This still adds to the story made in the audiencequot;s heads and gives them more information as to what is happening so far. At the same time, the camera closes in on a young boy who is holding a picture of an aeroplane; this shows that the evacuates are being moved to presumably a different country. The following still is of the plane in the sky showing that the group of boys are on their way to safety, or so the audience thinks. The next still is of the sky. This is significant because at the moment all is calm, then terror strikes. This happens later in the film, as at the beginning all is calm, and then all of a sudden a group of boys break free from the group causing great terror. A map of the world is then shown with the drumbeat constantly getting tenser and more rapid. The map shows the destination in which the boys are heading. As the drumbeat reaches a climax, the stills are exchanging between the plane wing and a fighter plane quickly. All of a sudden, to the audiencequot;s probable assumptions, there is an explosion leaving a still of the plane in the sea with a desert island behind it. The screen then fades to black, leading to the first dialogue of the film between Ralph and Piggy. However, the coloured version starts with a blue background, and to the audiencequot;s surprise, a man sinks down the screen. This shows them that the accident must have already occurred. The camera in this scene is rolling. The camera then moves to below the boy creating a low angle shot; this could be from the point of view of a shark or a fish. The camera is panning around the boysquot; legs and going round in circles to add effect, as the boys are trying to stay afloat. As the start is set underwater, it entices the viewer to ask questions about the start, for example, what has happened? Because of this, the viewer wants to keep watching to find out what has happened. The boy drags the pilot above the water and the camera follows him. The audience now has a view of the water from the boyquot;s point of view and we can see that an accident has happened. There is a lot of hubbub and chaos above the water coming from a group of boys scattered in the ocean, with one of them saying, quot;I canquot;t swim. quot; This confirms that an incident has occurred, as it is highly unusual for a boy to be in the middle of the ocean when he canquot;t swim. The sound effect used in this scene consists of eerie music and the chaos and screams coming from the group of boys in the water. The conventions of alien invasion films EssayIn Peter Brookquot;s version, Piggy is being his polite, usual self and asking people for their names as they arrive onto the beach. This doesnquot;t just benefit Ralph and Piggy, but it also benefits the audience as we learn who the boys are and what they look like. To the viewerquot;s surprise, they can hear the same song they heard at the beginning of the film in the opening sequence by the choir. There is a long shot of a group of boys dressed in black walking down the beach. They stand out due to the contrast between the sand and their clothes. The sand is light and their clothes are all black. All the boys stop talking and watch the choir join into the assembly. Jack tells the choir to halt. We can tell that he is going to be a commanding figure in the story because of his stern voice and his sense of discipline. This is confirmed by a low angle shot of Jack; showing he is powerful and he is looked up to. Simon is a boy who fainted when the boys came to the group. Jack makes accusations that he is faking and is not really bothered about the welfare of Simon. Piggy asks them what their names are. The camera pans along the line of boys, each one telling the audience their name. The fact that they are arranged in a line emphasises their sense of organisation. Ralph tells the whole group Piggyquot;s name when he told him not to. The camera closes in on the reactions of the boys to show the embarrassment of his nickname. Piggy stands next to a tree and the branch is the barrier between him and the boys, which offers him some protection from them when they are mocking him. The boys see him as an outsider because of his weight. No one feels sorry for Piggy, which makes it harder for him because there is no one to comfort him. The camera then cuts to Jack and Ralph side-by-side in the debate for chief of the group. Ralph is seen as the underdog because he is portrayed as being smaller by the camera, and Jack is stood slightly in front of him so it looks as if he is edging Ralph out. However, at the same time, Piggy is still behind the tree showing he is isolated and that his opinion isnquot;t valued. When Ralph is up for chief, he is stood on a branch, which shows that he is higher up making him a more popular choice by the boys for leader because they are looking up at him. There is a close up of Piggy voting for Ralph because he is in two minds of putting his hand up, as he is afraid the group wonquot;t value his opinion. Jack has a disgusted look on his face when not all of the boys in the group vote for him to be leader. Piggy comes out from behind the tree because he wants to be involved. Jack has a look on his face as if he is taking a mental note of who votes for Ralph so that he can get even with them later on in the story. Ralph steps down from the tree when he is voted as leader, which shows that he is really as powerful as Jack, and is now at an equal height to him. There is a high angle shot of the boys when they mock him and his choir for their uniforms. This cuts to a low angle shot of Jack who sticks his dagger into the tree. This is seen by the boys as a threat and so ceases their mocking. This shows the audience that Jack still has power over the boys even thought he hasnquot;t been chosen as leader by the rest of the group. Ralph chooses two others to go with him to explore the island. Piggy is upset when he isnquot;t chosen. The camera pans around the group of boys who wish to be chosen showing how many people have respect for Ralph and want to be his friend. Jack and Simon are the two he chooses. Piggy has words with Ralph after he had told the group he was called Piggy. Ralph replies, quot;Better Piggy than Fatty. quot; At the same time Ralph is stern but considerate and in a way Piggy admires him for it. When Piggy makes his confrontation, it forces Ralph to back-pedal, which shows Piggy in control. The next cut is of Ralph running to catch Jack and Simon up leaving a long shot of the coastline on the island. The race for chief in Hookquot;s version, however, is fairly different to that of Peter Brookquot;s. When the boys assemble, there is only Jack that isnquot;t dressed properly. The uniform worn by the cadets symbolises civilisation, as when we get further into the story, it is Jack that breaks the civilisation on the island by rebelling against Ralph, the chief. He is the only one in the group who isnquot;t dressed properly, which means he could be rebelling against civilisation. The boys are hunting in the forest when the conch is heard. The pig gets away which leaves Jack startled and shocked. We get a good view of his reaction due to the close up by the camera. The boys run to Ralph and the sound of the conch, which makes them look eager to find out what the sound could be, for example, the horn from a ship. The group of boys look to be well disciplined and orderly because they are used to hearing a noise and then reacting straight away due to them being from a military school. There is then a close up of Ralph with the conch showing their connection with each other. Still, only Jack is the one without a shirt on. Ralph tells the boys that they need rules and Piggy backs this point up. A younger member of the group suggests a leader. The group votes for Ralph as he is the higher ranked of him and Jack and the group believe he is an inspired leader. All of the group come together to build a camp and there are close-ups to show the hard graft and determination of the boys. There is also a long shot of Jack being held up which shows he is seen as a cut above the rest. Piggy isnquot;t helping the boys, which makes him look like an outsider. The camera confirms this as it uses a high angle shot, making Piggy look small and helpless. In my opinion, I think that the black and white version of Lord of the Flies has a more effective opening, even thought it was set in an era where technology wasnquot;t that advanced. I think it showed a clear interpretation of what had happened in the opening sequence with just the stills. It told the audience exactly what had happened in a series of pictures. Harry Hookquot;s version is also impressive, however, Brooksquot; stands out more. I think the key points are shown more clearly, for example, the contrast between the sizes of Jack and Ralph when theyquot;re put forward to the vote for chief.