I Am Sam Visual Techniques Essay Example
I Am Sam Visual Techniques Essay Example

I Am Sam Visual Techniques Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 2 (467 words)
  • Published: November 4, 2016
  • Type: Essay
View Entire Sample
Text preview

An important idea worth learning about in the film I am Sam directed by Jessie Nelson is the power of love. This theme is portrayed by the relationship between Sam and his seven year old daughter Lucy. Love is an important idea in the film because Sam has a mental handicap which causes society to misjudge him, but Lucy chooses to see past his disability and loves Sam for who he is. There are some key techniques used by the director to demonstrate ideas about the power of love.

These techniques include music, colour representation and camera shots. *- The theme of the power of love is conveyed through the visual technique of colour representation, whereby the use of this feature has helped highlight the relationship and how the power of love

...

influenced characters throughout the film. For example, in the scene when Sam is in court trying to regain custody of his daughter, the colour blue is used and everything is tinted blue. Throughout the film the colour blue is used to symbolize Lucy and her character.

Even though Lucy wasn’t physically present is the court room at the time, her colour, blue, is the main visual technique in the scene. This is because the scene is about Lucy and it also shows that Sam cares for and *loves his daughter, and he is fighting to keep her. Another way the power of love is shown in I am Sam, is through the music. Throughout the film, often there will be no diegetic sounds (in this case dialogue) and only non-diegetic sounds, which in I am Sam is music.

View entire sample

Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

justify">This allows the music to tell a part of the story that words may not be able to. For instance, in the scene when Lucy and Sam are running away on a bus after a supervised visit, the song ‘strawberry fields’ is played. The idea the song portrays is the power of love, focusing especially on the relationship between Sam and Lucy, and about the two of them trying to escape to their own little world. Implicitly the song is also about ignoring the bad things in life, which links to Sam in the way that he lets the bad things past him and focuses on the positive.

The idea of the power of love is also shown through the visual technique of camera shots whereby the use of this feature helped show the relationships between the characters mature throughout the film. For example in I am Sam in the bus ride scene involving Lucy and Sam, a two shot is used to frame the faces of the father and daughter. This shot is generally used to express a relationship between characters. It is also used in the scenes where Sam and Lucy are reading together.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New