Essay- War of the Worlds

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How does the director Steven Spielberg, use film techniques to convey one or more themes in his film, War of the Worlds?
Steven Spielberg utilizes many techniques, in his film, War of the Worlds, including camera work, actors and sound effects to convey various themes such as family relationships. An initial scene, ‘Eve of the War’, establishes the relationships amongst the family especially around the central character Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) which are built upon in ‘Coming of the Invaders’. ‘Worst of Man’ is a turning point in the story where Ray’s character is developed to reveal the love for his children. In ‘The Fight Begins’, Spielberg uses sound-effects to convey the development in Robbie’s relationship with Ray. ‘Underfoot’ and …show more content…
Thus, with the help of dialogue and sound-effects, the theme of family relationships is developed.
‘Underfoot’ and ‘Earth under Them’ show the audience the extent of Ray’s relationship with his daughter Rachel using camera angles. ‘Underfoot’ begins with Rachel waking up to a tripod eye staring at her. Ray then wakes up because of her screams and quickly uses a spade to try and cut it off showing that he is far more of a responsible father than initially. When Ray confronts the tripod outside in the Martian landscape, Spielberg uses a low camera shot to amplify the tripod’s enormity compared to Ray. This effect is then made even stronger when Rachel is taken up by the tripod as this also is done using a low angle shot. Despite the danger and enormity of the tripod, Ray sacrifices himself and lets the tripod carry him away. This shows that despite the danger confronting him, Ray will do anything to save his daughter. Once in the cage, Ray finds Rachel and calmly approaches her when she is in deep shock showing that he now knows how to deal with her. This is a stark contrast to earlier in the film when they first escape and Robbie is forced to take care of Rachel. When Rachel is about to be taken up by the aliens inside the tripod, Ray jumps and covers her surrendering himself to the aliens, showing once again the extent of their relationship. Through some of the closing scenes,
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