In this scene of Cape Fear Thompson creates the subject of threat the main feature of the scene which is created by the character Max Cady. Thompson has used many techniques to show this with his use of cinematography and mise-en-scene. The shot types that he uses are clever and make you feel sympathetic towards the character of Nancy. He uses a tracking shot to follow her when she gets out of the car and starts running. This gives the audience the sense that she is being followed and that someone is getting closer to her. This shows the character of Cady to be very threatening because he has made her feel uncomfortable and scared without really doing much. This could suggest that he is also quite a dominant character as he shows quite a threatening posture and facile expressions.
The composition in this scene is very interesting because at the start of the scene all of the actors are going in different directions across streets and around the town. However the intensity starts to build up is when Cady starts to walk towards Nancy in the car and everyone starts to walk away from her. This makes the audience feel uneasy because you feel like he is bearing down on you and this makes him more threatening towards not only the audience but towards the character of Nancy. Because he is walking towards the car in quite a calm fashion the threat begins to grow because he is walking with a purpose but you are unsure of what that purpose is exactly. This is a kind of contrast from what Nancy is like towards him as he comes closer because she starts to panic and run and is quite a fast paced where as Cady stays at the same pace.
The shot types that are used in this scene differ a lot to create a threatening atmosphere in the scene. The main shot that causes a lot of effect is close ups because you can see the characters expressions and see their emotion which makes them more relatable to the audience and you feel more attached to them. The shot where you find Nancy looking quite vulnerable is when you first realise that Cady is walking towards her and the camera is on a high angle on a tilt. This makes her look very vulnerable and makes the audience feel sympathetic towards her because you know how young and how oblivious she is to the world at that point. There is a very clever shot that Thompson has used and it is an over the shoulder shot. This shot in particular makes the audience feel catharsis towards the character of Nancy because you are aware of the threat that Cady lingers on her however she is not aware that he is coming towards her. It makes the audience panic because they almost feel helpless to her and you feel the urge to help her and warn her of the opposing danger.
The use of shadows in this scene is very important. There is one specific scene where Nancy is in the car and her face has a lot of shadow on it. This foreshadows the fact that she will be over powered by Cady and the shadows could represent his looming figure that is hovering over her. This again makes her look more vulnerable and more child like because it shows her innocence.
The sounds that you hear in the scene differ from diegetic to non- diegetic. The most dominant diegetic sound that you hear is the footsteps of the characters. Cady's footsteps are very calm and at the same pace all the way through this scene. This creates quite an eerie sound because his calmness in a way makes you feel uncomfortable. However Nancy’s footsteps are very childlike and clumsy when she runs because she is afraid and you can hear that in the heaviness of her footsteps and how uneven the beat is. Another sound that you hear is the hissing of the fountain. We generally associate hissing with snakes and in Christianity the snake is a symbol of the devil. This sound is only present when Cady walks passed the fountain. This could suggest to the audience that he is the devil and is pure evil. The non- diegetic sounds that you hear are in a minor key which gives it a very uneasy feel about it. The tempo is a staccato and this makes it very fast paced and because it is like this it helps to create a threatening atmosphere because it is almost like a very fast heart beat. The dischord notes and the staccato help to create a dramatic tension between the characters and the audience. The reason that this makes it threatening is because they are quite dangerous sounds.
The costumes that the character wear are really important to the idea of threat in this scene. The character of Cady wears all white. This would stereotypically be on someone who is pure and innocent; however we know that this is not the case. It is ironic for this scene because you would expect Nancy to be wearing white as she is the most innocent person there. Nancy’s costume is again really important because she looks like a 15 year old child who goes to school. This brings out her innocence even more because she looks like your stereotypical 15 year old back in the 60’s. This makes Cady’s presence even more threatening because she is a young girl.
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