Media Studies

The Killing

Sian Ruffell

The Killing 1956 Johnny Clay, a man who has been locked away in prison for five years has been released and is now planning to commit another crime. Johnny plans to steal $2,000,000 from a local racetrack. His fianc Faye worries that Johnny will go back to prison for this but he tells her that the risks are worth taking. The film includes the betrayal of women, the film also presents women as non trustworthy and greedy. This is not the typical behaviour of a women in the time where it was a patriarchal society towards men. However in this clip Fay is portrayed as a typical woman of the time, this is detected by the dialogue and camera angles. The lighting through the clip remains the same, the light from the outside comes through the curtains and is reflected on the ceilings of each room Johnny passes. The speed of the edits are long in this clip. This is very basic editing as the camera cuts between each edit with a simple cut. At the beginning of the clip there is a man narrative voice over. The voice over being a males voice and not a females does suggest and confirm the patriarchal society at the time. The scene is of Johnny and his fianc Fay- who has waited five years for Johnny to get out of prison. Johnny is the character who has the most script in this clip, which can suggest Johnny has more power than Fay. The dialogue also suggests that Fay is over powered by her fianc is when she says "you know I'll go along with everything you say." From this the viewer can clearly identify that Johnny is the powerful character in this scene, which will not of been a surprise as the film was created in 1956 when society was patriachal. As Fay is talking the camera remains a close up shot on Fays face. Johnny is still visible in this sot as the camera is place over his shoulder. As Johnny is in very shot Fay is in this can present that women at the time always depended on a man.

The clip starts off with the camera behind some utensils in the kitchen. Johnny here is presented with a medium shot- but his head is not visible in the shot until her begins to walk away. As Johnny is filmed walking through the house towards the bedroom where his fianc is the camera remains at the same distance Johnny remaining in a medium shot. As the camera follows Johnny common household objects block the vision of his head and body. This makes the camera work look very casual and 'behind the scenes'. Johnny's face appears through some objects and then it is hidden

Media Studies

The Killing

Sian Ruffell

when he walks through an open door way. This camera work could reflect Johnny's personality or the way that the director wanted the viewer the see Johnny's character. The way the camera doesn't capture every single facial expression or movement Johnny makes could be because Johnny is a very secretive character or the fact that he has a lot to hide from his fianc Fay- by telling her that the risk will be worth it maybe suggest that Fay doesn't fully understand the risk of the crime. Which can present women to be naive and foolish to be in love with a man they haven't seen for five years and let him commit another crime. Fay also doesn't have the power to stop Johnny committing this crime and she doesn't try to either he just tells Fay to sort out the plane tickets. Fay seems fine with this again showing that is naive and foolish.