Close Viewing Assessment Reflection

Within our last topic in English, we did Film Study. Our final assessment was to write an essay viewing a scene picked out by our teacher from the film 'Power of One.' After the essay, we later had to answer the questions our teacher gave us after also recieving our results and feedback, these are at all combined into one paragraph at the end of the essay.

Essay

In the movie Power of One, directed by John Avildsen, we learn the heartbreaking tale of P.K, including how he attempts to change the lives of the Black South Africans. To make this story, we see evidence of John Avildsen using many amazing techniques to create impactful scenes. These different angles and perspectives tell us the story of P.K and the many others whose lives would not be the same without him. Helping the story along, we see a scene where P.K and Gideon Duma run through the streets together, discussing how the people are mistreated, such as how they are permitted one toilet per two hundred people, or how only a certain amount of them may attend school. The seen further along leads to an argument between the pair, as Gideon attempts to convince P.K to create a school for the people to read and write English. In this scene, we see a variety of different camera angles, hear expressive lines of dialogue, and see within the scene the lighting’s uses.

To begin with, Avildsen presents us with many different camera shots. We see him use a variety of shots that emphasise the effect of the scene. To be specific, we see a tracking shot used within the scene. This shot begins focussing on the Black South African miners and then turns to follow Gideon Duma and P.K as they enter the scene. The shot follows them as they run together through the street and speak in regards to various topics. Avildsen has chosen this angle to present the pair as they run through a world of injustice. This is because, throughout the shot, we watch as the mine slaves continue working away at the road, and see other Black South Africans doing tasks such as loading cars. Minorly in the shot though, we see men and women walk through, presumably, Afrikaners. As the shot moves away from the miners, a man enters and watches the miners work. We observe a pair of women as well, as they walk past the bus loading the children to take to school. These minor characters who merely walk past the people hard at work are set there to remind the audience of the people who are hard at work. For a good tomorrow in South Africa, as said by Gideon Duma. The shot correlates to a particular scene shown earlier in the film. We see Doc sent to jail and the Kommandant Van Zyl demand Doc’s piano be brought into his cell. To explain how he was allowed a piano in a prison I quote P.K. While the English saw Doc as the enemy, the Afrikaner prison authorities saw him as the perfect example of German culture, something they admired. Due to Doc's German origins, we see the Kommandant demand that while Doc was a prisoner, he was not like other prisoners kept there. To continue on with the correlation, we see the Kommandant demand for the other prisoners to treat this person as if he were a saint and bring him a pleasure they would never have. Once again, showing how the Afrikaners treated the South African people horribly.

In addition to the already impactful techniques seen and heard, we have the dialogue. A single line is known to be able to turn a scene onto its head and provide an entirely new meaning to what is seen. Gideon Duma has many of these powerful lines. Notably, his line when attempting to convince P.K to create a school to teach the Black South African people English. You know, we hope for a good tomorrow in South Africa, but if we don't learn to do for ourselves as equals, that hope will disappear. Disappear. And my people will grow tired. The tired will grow angry, and the angry will grow violent, and there will be no good tomorrow in this country for anybody, black or white. With this, he presents the director's purpose. He wants the audience to know the people hope to no end. But when there is no hope, there is no belief, no belief for a better tomorrow in South Africa. Avildsen shows their belief is what kept these people from war. Subtlely, it shows the audience the people of South Africa are growing more resentful with each action taken by the Afrikaners. Gideon’s words are telling us rebellion will only come from the resent of the Black South African people. While it may seem like what is best, rebellion leads to war. War leads to death. Death leads to resentment and grief. Resentment and grief lead to rebellion once again. We see no end for it. This piece of dialogue is so intricate nothing I can find can compare to what Gideon Duma has said but his own words again, I believe in Africa. I believe in my people. I want to believe in the future. And what do you believe in P.K? Tell me, what?

The final technique shown is the lighting. Within the scene, we see a bright day and can clearly see what happens around the pair throughout the scene. It is an odd choice, considering how serious the scene is with the dialogue exchanged between the two. The topic of their conversation is first how Gideon Duma’s people are mistreated. Such as how the government only provides one toilet for every two hundred people, or how they are unable to even understand the Apartheid signs that state the law, as well as how only 2% of them attend school, even then only to train how to be maids, street sweepers or mine slaves. To make this story, we see evidence of John Avildsen using amazing techniques to create impactful scenes. An example we see within the film itself is how on a dark night P.K approaches the Marais family home to visit Maria. We watch as the night provides a cheerful aura as P.K climbs the trellis to get to Maria’s room. The lighting here is minimal and dim, as the moon and the light from Maria’s own room light up the scene. When it comes to such things as lighting, Avildsen is wanting to show us even the brightest day can have a darker hour. Consequently, Avildsen is presenting us with a form of differences between the film Power of One and other films. We watch the film and see how the dark and stormy nights can be happy and cheerful. Identical in terms of how the days with bright lights and what you would expect to be a time full of joy, instead have a darker turn to them. This technique shows only one thing to the audience, everything is not as it seems. It shows the viewers how Avildsen has gone against the norms of film making. All to create something unique for people to see. We see another scene much later on within the film that shows how Avildsen wants to make the film different. This is Maria’s funeral, where the director has chosen to film a normal day. This differs from other films due to how when a character dies, often enough we see it raining at their funeral, with dim lighting to reflect the feelings of the attendants. This once again is changed for a normal day’s lighting in which they say their final goodbye’s to Maria.

In conclusion, I have been able to witness the many contributions that Avildsen has made throughout the making of this film. Within his choice of lighting, dialogue, and choice of camera shots he has truly been able to reflect what story this film is meant to tell. Within such a short scene we are able to see so many impactful techniques that contribute to the story of P.K, and he is able to grow and with him grow his ability to help others through the terrible times of Apartheid.

Essay End

Within this essay, one thing I am especially proud of is how I was able to stay on topic. Within previous writings in other subjects, I have been critiqued on my ability to get off of the topic of it. This has gotten me marked down once, so to know that this has been done to the best of my ability without doing this is rewarding for me. This has been one thing I have improved on overtime, another thing I noticed I need to improve my ability to make larger connections from films and books to the real world. This as well has gotten me critiqued many times, and I believe I finally understand what this is meant to mean. When I first received this critique from a marked persuasion essay I wrote last year, I didn't fully understand what it was meaning to help me achieve. Thankfully, I have been able to learn for myself the purpose of the evaluation. These judgements and advice are one of the many things I have enjoyed about film study, it has helped me learn how to write essays using certain formats given to us from our teacher within the topic. It does not relate to the actual topic though, yet it was one of the most helpful learning curves for me. On the opposite topic, however, one of the things I found challenging was finding the ideas to continue with. One of the things I can be very concerned about with my writings is the length of the writing, and not having the ideas to continue made it difficult to stretch it out to the desired length. Teachers may tell us that more often than not quantity does not matter as much as quality does, however having the quantity to make up for a lack of quality that may be present. As I said before, the formats given to us by my teacher was especially helpful to assist me in planning my essay, as well as keeping myself to a standard with each paragraph I write. I believe that this is something that will definitely help me, not only English but with other subjects as well. One thing I am wondering, however, is if we are going to study Shakespeare. We have read through Macbeth earlier in the year, though unlike the other classes, we never fully studied the reading. So, will we do a study on Shakespeare?