How I might plan an essayfor The Constant Gardener

3 questions

‘To what extent do you agree that the production features of a particular scene contribute to a film’s central idea(s)?’

• Key things– Production features – how it is made... Film

techniques (cinematography, editing etc..)– Scene – need a good one– Central ideas – themes of the film

The scene• The funeral – from beginning of Pellegrin’s

speech to cut back to Justin at Lake Turkana– The resolution to the political thriller part of the

film. Justin and Tessa get ‘justice’. – Many film techniques

• montage• Aural bridge/voice-over• Contrast light/colour• Costume• Cross cutting/flash forwards and back

– brings together ideas of the film powerfully.

My thesis statement – main argument

• That a single, well crafted scene can express many important ideas, particularly if it connects and resolves so many other parts of the film – and this scene is particularly powerful at expressing Meirelle’s message.