Nineteen
Eighty-Four (Movie, 1984) 9 frame analysis.
Kieran Owens
Nineteen
Eighty-Four is a film adaptation of a book of the same name that was
written in 1954 by George Orwell, much like my main task, the movie
is a political fiction and dystopia future movie with a very similar
premise, that a totalitarian government has gotten into power and has
complete control over everybody's life.
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| 1 |
The
first image is the logo of the movies production company. The
trademark lions roar and the very familiar logo. shows us the
production company, which is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) – Back in
1984 when this movie was released, MGM was considered one of the best
film companies in all of the US, though it's influence is not nearly
as considerable on today’s cinema as it was back then, it is still
a widely recognized icon.
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| 2 |
The
second frame is simply white text on a black background, the font
used for the text looks almost like it's come from a typewriter but
it's the very contrasting colors that draw my eyes straight to the
text. “ Who controls the past controls the future. “ is what it
says, which is referring to the act of changing historical text to
suit a political agenda (in this movies case at least, due to the
totalitarian government that is ruling.)
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| 3 |
The
third frame is the second half of the quote, “ He who controls the
present, controls the past “ - this text lets me know that the
Government is able to change historical texts like the previous quote
suggested, as they do in-fact control the present due to their
totalitarian leadership.
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| 4 |
The
fourth frame is a giant TV screen, on either side of the screen is
the symbol for the government that is ruling over them, it is large,
imposing and due to the lack of color in the shot, quickly catches
the eye due to it's harsh red and the lights that leave it
illuminated. There is also a huge crowd of people looking on at the
large screen before them and not much else.
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| 5 |
The
fifth frame is a continuation of the fourth, as the shot is held for
a short while, it gives us more time to take in the scenery, to see
that they appear to be in a rather run down factory, suggesting that
they're being forced to watch this at work, and the crowd are all in
overalls, further enforcing the point.
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| 6 |
The
sixth frame is more focused on the television, as there is actually
something on it, the shot is in sepia tone to give a gritty, old feel
to the movie. Over the clip is a calm voice speaking to the crowd, I
feel that this is meant to be obvious propaganda to keep the crowd
with the government, to keep them in check.
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| 7 |
The
seventh frame focuses much more on the crowd, letting us see what
people look like in this dystopia, it's shown that they're all
wearing pretty much the exact same outfit, suggesting that it's meant
to be a uniform and hinting that they're watching this at their work
place, they also all have plain, simple hair, all cut short and plain
colors. It also shows a variety of different types of people, women
and men, old and young.
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| 8 |
The
eighth frame is back to the TV screen, the voice has returned and is
growing more and more intense as it goes on, the clip shown in the
background growing more violent, showing a burning house, a crashing
plane, soldiers fighting, it lets me know that this dystopia country
seems to be at war with somebody though it is not made clear, from
what is gathered by the clip it could possibly be Nazism.
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| 9 |
The
ninth and final frame returns to the crowd, who seem to be growing
more and more restless as the clip goes on, they begin throwing their
arms up into an O-shape (possibly referencing the name of the
superstate they are part of, Oceania). Which shows that many people
are very loyal to the state, or simply fear the punishment of not
being loyal.
Inspirations
for my main task
The
premise of my main task itself is heavily influenced by this movie,
as our own movie is about a 'big brother' figure watching the lead
character as he goes about his daily life, and the opening that we
are filming is meant to put across that he desires freedom from his
totalitarian rulers. (we actually take this premise a step further
than this movie does. In our main task the government is completely
controlling the citizens, telling them what to do at every waking
minute, whilst Nineteen Eighty-four does give them some freedoms.)
The
TV screen that can be seen in frame two is also a large inspiration
for our movie, as we intend on using a TV ourselves as a means of
the Big Brother figure giving orders to our lead, though it is a
simply one on one thing, rather than a huge crowd like in Nineteen
Eighty-four's opening.
