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SELMA - OPENING SCENE - Coggle Diagram
SELMA - OPENING SCENE
MISE EN SCENE
Sepia, low key lighting, almost chiaroscuro
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4 little girls
Not in the original script, was added to show the dangers black people faced in the 60s
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Those with or without a cultural capital of these events will still be shocked by it because of our attachment to the girls pre-explosion
Sudden explosion
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Random body parts seemingly float across the screen
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Cross on the side of the rubble
God taking pity, asking for their forgiveness
Cut to the name "Annie Lee Cooper"
Our cultural capital is alerted, but not as much as King
Overhead light
Gives the officer no eyes, or no soul - evil
ALC brings her best clothes
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CINEMATOGRAPHY
4th wall break for the first shot
Stitched into this moment, Increasing our spatio temporal attachment with King
Uncomfortably close long take, with just us in the room with him
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Like staring into a mirror, but King's our reflection
"He was a man who did great things, and we can see in ourselves we can do great things too" - ADV
Moves to mid shots when Coretta arrives
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Consistent eye level shots with King / Coretta
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Long takes
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High angle from the POV of the audience
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King and Coretta are framed around a white crowd
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Stitched and sutured into the audience - we began with the man, we're now with the myth
Low angle on the girls
Powerless, pitiful
"I accept this award in honour of our lost ones, whose deaths pave our path" - MLK, at the same time
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Low angle on the rubble
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We can't find the girls, making us depressed, an emotional reaction
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High angle on the CU of Oprah and low angle on the wide of ALC
Clearly established power dynamics
Slight high angle on ALC
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Side profile
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PERFORMANCE
Film opens with an intimate moment with King and Coretta
Seeing King, the man, instead of King, the myth
We're likely already morally aligned with the myth, so opening with this helps us see King as a person instead of a force of nature
A deconstruction of the great man figure, seeing him as a flawed human instead of the myth
Presents their black characters as independent and human, instead of props or forces
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King talking about his dream future
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An "I want" moment for King, the man
Speaker emphasises the word "peace"
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Oprah
Seeing a person as kind as her being stripped of her human rights makes us pity her even more with our pre-established attachment to her
ALC sighs before going in
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ALC thinks of going into her bag but chooses not to
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