Witness - Murder Scene Evaluation

Information:

Film title: Witness
Release date: 24/05/85
Genres: Thriller, Romance, Drama
Director: Peter Weir

About:


The movie Witness (1985) is about a young Amish boy called Samuel who is the sole witness to a murder. Police officer John Book goes into hiding in Amish country to protect him until the murder trial.

There are many aspects which affect the way in which the movie is projected to the audience - these include lighting, camera angles, narrative and genre. The film is of all Drama, Romance and Thriller genres and the lighting and camera angles are portrayed in such as way that the boy is small - and at times frightened - in comparison to the surrounding.

 The very first shot of the scene leading up to the murder is of a statue. The camera is inline with the boy at this stage and is looking up at the statue from a low angle camera shot. This shot shows power and that fact that the boy is not used to the modern surroundings - the low angle camera shot looking up at the statue represents intimidation. The soundtrack also represents the large surroundings and the boy looks at the statue in amazement which is also a sign of fright.

The next shot is of a high angle shot from the top of the statue looking down at the boy. This shot shows how small he is in comparison with the surroundings and it also gives the statue a very menacing status.

The camera then moves to a shot of him and his mother sitting on their own in a large, open space. This shot shows that they are isolated from everything - the medium camera distance not only captures the mother and boy but also the monumental surroundings which they have never seen before. On this particular shot, the sound is diegetic and the only audio is of the mother and boy speaking.

In all of the past shots, the lighting is ambient which creates authenticity and realism - it is not until the next shots when the boy enters the toilet that the lighting is non-ambient.

Further, the boy then enters the toilet - the camera cuts to a medium close up shot of a 25 year old white male who is in the toilet. The place is isolated and claustrophobic and the lighting is dim and murky which is used the create suspense. The medium close up shot of the figure washing his face tells the audience that the character is important in the storyline. 

The boy enters and cubical and closes the door as another two men enter the toilet. The boy leaves a gap in the cubical door and watches as the two men hang around. All three mens faces are not visible so as to show the tension. 

When the murder takes place, the tense soundtrack is purposely conveyed to create an enigma and show suspense as the boy looks in horror through the gap in the door of the toilet cubical. He witnesses the murder and the extreme close up camera shot of the boys eyes shows he is frightened.

The murderer suspects something is up and so pulls out a gun and slowly looks in all of the cubicles in turn to make sure nobody is hiding in there - the boy is in fact in the far cubical and he panics and wonders what to do as the murderer gets closer and closer to him - he locks the door and stands at the back of the cubical. This shot immediately shows a male signifier which is the gun - the gun is the main prop in the view of the camera which makes the audience tense.

The camera shot at this stage is of the murderers lower legs and feet as he pushes open each cubical door - the camera is positioned in such a way that the bottom-inside of the cubical is visible and as he gets to the end you can see the boy standing in there. This camera shot is marvelous as it really shows the build up of suspense as the murderer gets closer to the boy. Having just the feet really shows anxiety as the boy is uncertain as to what is going to happen!