Extract Essay

Luca Guerra Montes

April, 24 2020 

                 “24”

The main theme of the extract of the movie “24” is equality among men and women and this is shown by a female and a male actor competing against each other. While the girl keeps a calm and serious attitude, the man gets angrier and ends up outbursting. Thanks to some film techniques the female character is shown to be just as vicious and determined as the male, which supports the overarching theme of the movie.

Since the very first scene, it is possible to see that the female remains calm even though the situation keeps getting more and more intense. The director wants to build tension and to achieve his goal he uses diegetic sound for the scene in which the male character walks in the room. For the scene of the interrogation, the technique of zooming in is used. This helps create suspension and emphasizes the importance of this moment. Indeed, while we would expect the suspect to break down and not be able to sustain the interrogation, it is the interrogator who is not able to hold it in and keep calm. 

Moving on, the voices play a very important role. They not only show the true personality of the characters, but they also help convey the central theme. Men and women should be treated equally because, just like the female character shows us in this extract, females are just as capable as men and therefore, deserve equal treatments. In this scene, the female actually shows superiority by remaining calm and not letting the angry man get to her. Furthermore, the viewer is also able to see the reaction and expression of the two characters during their dialogue in real time thanks to the shot-reverse shots technique that the director uses.

Moreover, in the scene where the man is getting closer to the woman’s face, the director uses a cutaway and the scene changes to the people viewing the interrogation. It is possible to see terror, fear, and panik in their faces which means that the way the man is acting is wrong and things should be going differently. However, even if those watching the interrogation show fear, the woman who is being interrogated still remains calm and the close-up technique shows that perfectly, by focusing on her impassive facial expression. Once again, this choice helped the director convey the message that there isn’t a real difference between males and females when it comes to skills.

Finally, acting has a huge impact on the theme of the extract because if the woman being interrogated was a man, the theme would be nonexisting. Another huge factor is the way the director uses the lighting in this extract, it helps send the message to the audience and it also helps the viewers understand how intense this scene is, making the viewers feel the tension in the conference room. Despite the tension in the room, the woman remains very calm, while the man loses his temper showing how it relates to the original theme.

Overall, the extract 24 conveys the important message of equality between males and females through multiple filming techniques and also through the dialogue between the two characters. The girl shows multiple times that she is more than capable to compete against a man. The director uses tone, camera movements, and sounds to support the main theme and help the audience understand it.