Essay Writing

02.07.18
INTRODUCTION.
 During a hard time of Apartheid, there was a lot of injustices were served to the black people of South Africa. In the film The Power of One, directed by John Avildsen, the scene where Jaapie Botha hangs P.K up in a rope ready to be killed in order revenge for the Afrikaner people who died. The following techniques are used in this scene: mid-shot, long shot, and low angle. This film techniques helped convey this important idea and it also caused the scene to have a strong impact on the audience.
 BODY.
 In the scene where Jaapie Botha tries to finish his tattoo off the director uses a mid shot. For example, in this scene, they used a mid shot to show the audience a fair idea of what’s going to happen next to P.K as Jaapie Botha hang P.K up ready to be killed. The director did this to show the audience of what’s going to happen next to P.K and outline the main problem of the scene Which Jaapie Botha hang P.K up on a rope ready to be killed. This made the audience feel so afraid and it made them want to get involved in the situation, it also causes us to be afraid of P.K and feel what he’s feeling. This aspect can be compared to when the director used a mid shot in the scene where the director used a used a close-up shot or a low angle shot when war broke up in South Africa it made P.K felt more scared and nervous of what might happen afterward. In the scene where Jaapie Botha killed P.K’s chicken and yelled Heil Hitler, the director uses a low angle shot. For instance, the director uses a low angle shot after Jaapie Botha killed P.K’s chicken and yelling Heil Hitler, showing that Jaapie is more powerful and stronger than P.K. The director’s purpose of using this shot is to help express the mood. Therefore showing the audience that P.K was petrified to be there as he did not belong. This helps us understand how P.K feel and how vulnerable he is. This also shows us that Jaapie Botha can do anything because he has authority. This aspect can be contrasted to when the director shows a close up shot of Jaapie Botha spitting on P.K’s face, it made P.K felt so nervous because he was the youngest student attending the school, not only he was small but he was an English boy which made it worst for him cause the Afrikaners hated the English people. In the scene, the director uses a long shot to show how everyone froze, as to look at the headmaster who stood at the entrance of the room. This was used to show how all of the students seemed as if they are in trouble. This is demonstrated as Jaapie Botha walks up to the headmaster, while everyone stood still and frozen, while P.K is left hanging from the roof. The director used this technique to give us a full view of what was happening between the Headmaster and Jaapie Botha. It also gave us a view of how the student stood, some with heads hung low while others seemed as if they didn’t want to look at the Headmaster in the eye so instead they look around. This reminds me of when P.K got caught in a church by the Afrikaner's officer teaching English to black Africans. Except P.K was the one who stood froze instead of the Afrikaner student. P.K try to explain the situation, but that only got him in serious trouble. The consequences the Black Africans suffered was ten times worst then what the Headmaster did to Jaapie Botha.