Stand by Me Essay

The film stand by me (1986) directed by Rob Reiner is a famous and popular film and one which I have based my close scene study upon. The scene that I will be analysing during the course of the essay is the climax of the film which is evidently the scene where the dead body of Ray Brower is discovered. The film portrays many themes, some of which include mateship, trust, bravery, maturity, overcoming sorrow and friendship. To portray these themes noticeably, the film maker uses an assortment of different cinematographic techniques such as sound, camera angles, editing and so forth. Stand by me has been adapted and is primarily based on the novella “the body” by Stephan King.
The climax of the scene is when the camera is indicating the first glance of what seems to be ray Brower’s dead and lifeless body. The camera shot used to first show what had seemed to be Ray Brower’s body is a high angle shot that looks down on the body whilst at the same time shows the surroundings. This shot makes the body seem lifeless, tiny and isolated as you can barely see the body amongst the surroundings. This camera shot worked well and effectively as it gave the audience confirmation that the body had been found and a certain mood of gloom and sadness was presented as the reality of the boy actually being dead has sunk in. when the high angle shot shows the body, there is no direct speech as everyone was traumatized, however there was a voice over of the narrator saying that none of the boys could breath as they were all overwhelmed. The camera shot used to display the face of the dead body is an overhead close-up shot to try and emphasis the face of Ray Brower and all the lacerations, blood and injuries he had suffered and endured. The camera illustrates the face to be very pail with slightly closed un-focussed eyes to make the audience feel shocked and empathise with the boys as to how scary it would be to see a real human dead body at such a young and tender age. The sound