This is my term 2 assessment about The Power of One and below this essay is my own reflection on it.
In the film The Power of One, directed by John Avildson, from the year 1930s is a movie filled with racism, revenge, class, religions, dreams, hopes and plans. The scene when P.K and Gideon go for a run around their buildings you actually see the way the black South Africans live and it is way different to the way P.K and his nationality lives like, Advildson uses a lot of techniques but the ones that stand out the most are; camera angles, diegetic sounds and facial expressions. All these film techniques created the scene the way Advildson experienced and gave the effect to all his ideas.
In the scene when P.K and Gideon goes for their run, Advilson uses the film technique of camera angles, he used the angle of tracking as they ran you are able to see everything that is happening around them and the way the black African are living compared to the British, P.K got to see there is only one toilet per two hundred people and they all still have hope and are grateful even though they are living in poverty. With the tracking shot used you get to see the relationship between them while kids run behind them for a little bit before they get tired and give up, by using the tracking shot you get to see more into Gideon's life.
Another film aspect is used is facial expressions, as P.K and Gideon run and P.K gets to see they way he lives when he was running before he saw the line for the toilets he was happy and then he saw the Que for the toilet and it expression changed to concern as Gideon started talking about how only 2% of them get to go to school and learn just enough to become a maid or street worker, you could see on P.K face he had sympathy for them for how low their living is yet all the black south Africans always look happy because they have hope even when they are on the streets working they all sing together and get through it together and trying to make it fun, no matter if they are waiting or working or just in general they always have some sort of smile on their face because they have hope.
Lastly sound is an important film aspect used in the film, it is diegetic sound as you got to hear P.K and Gideon conversation as they go for a run around the town, the sound of distance conversations, engines of trucks and cars. You can also hear the workers singing while they work. The use of sound in this scene is to show the audience the conversation between P.K and Gideon while they are on their run so we can experience it as if we were one of the guys in the film going for a run, as Gideon talks you get to understand his perspective on life, he always sees the good even when nobody else sees it.
In conclusion, Advilson uses camera angles, sounds and facial expressions to show that there is more going on a scene that you realise, you get to see the Africans and British live very different lives, the director showed us the impact the British have on the Africans lives.
One thing I am proud of is completing it yet not to standard I wanted it to be, I think next time to improve, I could
use Grammarly and Read Write for Google to proofread my essay, I can work more on this essay at home and focus more on it in class, use more full stops and capital letters, I should also describe my examples using more details and make links to my own experience and/or the wider world. One thing I enjoyed about learning about film was understanding how the way everyone got treated whether they were treated good or bad yet you got shown it in a more modern way. One thing I found challenging about learning about film was not watching the first like hour of the movie due to not being here. One thing I learned that I will use the next time I write an essay was the golden technique. ?
