Mean Creek Essay

In the film ‘Mean Creek’, the director Jacob Aaron Estes uses visual and verbal techniques to successfully convey the main idea of loss of innocence; this idea is relevant today to teenagers and shows their actions due to it. The main idea is presented to the viewer in three vignettes; banks of the river, burial site, and taking the police to the burial site.
In the vignette ‘Banks of the river’ the director successfully displayed the use of verbal and visual techniques to show the relevant idea of loss of innocence. For instance, the visual technique blue filter shows that the characters have become sorrowful because of the death of George; it also makes the setting dark grey-blue which reflects how the characters lost their innocence. Another visual technique was the pull focus from George’s face to other main characters; it creates the effect that George is the centre of attention and he will be engraved in their minds, as they grow up they will remember how they lost their innocence and are guilty for George’s death. Further on, the director also uses verbal techniques. For example, Millie frantically screaming “wake up” to George, previously she was a polite and cheerful girl. This vignette shows her inner anger and sadness resulting in her to lose innocence. Another two verbal techniques that were used were the Foley effect and Lament music. The ‘Foley effect’ was used on the flies making them louder; this emphasises death and that the swarm of flies are on George’s dead body. The Lament music was played by the cello instrument in the background which made the vignette more funereal like. It shows to the viewer that the death is the main focus and that loss of innocence is relevant today because it shows how teenagers can lose it easily as they grow up and the consequences they will face in the present and future mentally.
Another vignette that the director used to portray the idea of loss of innocence and successfully developed by visual and verbal