Another Earth Scene Deconstruction #3

Us, Up Close 

Camera Angles 

• Establishing shot of the road Rhoda is walking down. It is shows Rhoda walking across the screen with the moon, Earth 2, the horizon, the ocean and the blue sky in the background. It shows the grand spectacle of the natural world.

• Another shot similar to the one above shows a larger view of Earth 2 as the focus and a boardwalk going out to the ocean as Rhoda walks down it. This could represent the pull and attraction she has towards Earth 2 that she will go as far as she can to reach it. This is a specific inspirational example as it’s a beautiful but not conventional shot.

• There is also a long shot of Rhoda walking around on the rock perhaps implying she doesn’t know what to do once she’s there, she just wants to be there.

• All of these shots don’t tend to show her face but are rather from the back, her side or far away. This links to the narration and treats her as any another human on Earth 1 who may be having these thoughts. It also gives a mysterious tone, appropriate for the genre. 

Sound

• A car horn beeps when Rhoda is crossing the road. The audience cannot see the car so it just as surprising to them as to Rhoda breaking both concentrations of the character and the audience.

• After this shot, space –age style music begins(appropriate for the mystery genre) which works well which the slow editing pace of the establishing shot of Rhoda walking along the pathway. It fits with the sci-fi theme of the film especially as Rhoda has just discovered she has the opportunity to travel into space.

• The deep, soothing male voiceover is part of a non-diegetic soundtrack. The dialogue is philosophical and talks about looking at ourselves. This could be Rhoda’s thoughts as she’s quite a closed book throughout the film and any deep thoughts like this are only expressed through voiceover as if/in the style of discussions on radio and television.

• ‘within our lifetimes, we have marvelled…’ – this reflects what Rhoda is doing in this scene as well as throughout the film.

• Dialogue in narration, possibly Rhoda’s thoughts:
• ‘But maybe the most mysterious of all is neither the small nor the large. It’s us, up close.’
• ‘Would we recognise ourselves and if we did, would we know ourselves?’
• ‘What would we say to ourselves? What would we learn from ourselves?’
• ‘What would we really like to see if we could stand outside ourselves and look at us?’

Mise en Scene

• As she is crossing the road, Rhoda is playing with a toy and she is about to walk in front of a car. This shows how she’s a dreamer and not necessarily attune to reality. This links back to the accident she caused on the road and how this was caused by her not being attentive.

• In this shot, the colours are neutral and slightly dull compared to the next shot which is bluer as it focuses on the ocean and Earth 2.

• Later in the scene she walks around in the same spot and looks around. This enforces the idea that she marvels nature and she is a dreamer. She doesn’t necessarily want to do something; she just wants to be where she’s comfortable.

• The toy she is playing with is an astronomy puzzle. This materializes her interests and personality. It’s a child’s toy also, which could represent how she hasn’t grown up much because she was in prison for 4 years and how she still has her childhood dreams.

Editing 

• The first shot tracks Rhoda as she crosses the road. This represents how the film focuses on her but also how she doesn’t have much of a stable life so she carries on moving rather than settling down.

• Most of the shots again are not static which also shows her unstable life and situation at the moment.

• 2 of the shots are of Rhoda walking in slow motion. This is representative of space-travel because of the lack of gravity and moon-walking etc.