In his thrilling science-fiction blockbuster film
‘War of the Worlds’, the director, Steven Spielberg used a variety of
techniques, including characterisation, special effects, use of camera and
plotting to tell the compelling story of a family who flee from an alien
invasion.
Spielberg used clever characterisation so that
his film made maximum impact. The opening shot is a tracking shot, which shows the New York
skyline and then zooms into the cab where Ray Ferrier works as a crane operator
at the docks. Ray wears a baseball cap, hoodie, leather jacket, jeans and work
boots. He also has two children from his failed marriage. Ferrier was portrayed as a very
ordinary man, with a very ordinary job. Spielberg has chosen this character – rather than a soldier or a
policeman – to emphasise how this sort of horrendous event would affect the
life of an average person and his family.
Another technique which Spielberg uses to
tremendous effect at the beginning of the movie is Computer Generated Imagery
(CGI). These
‘special effects’ are used very early in the film to show the emergence of the
alien tripod from under the earth. The director uses a variety of camera shots and
effects to give a very vivid impression of the huge machine as it is watched by
an astonished crowd. It is clear that the machines do
not exist in reality, but Spielberg and his technicians have succeeded in bringing a
terrifying vision to life.
Also, Spielberg uses the camera to particular
effect in a later section of the film when Ray and Rachel are hiding in the
basement of a house with Harlan Ogilvy. The basement is dark and damp. During
one sequence, the tentacle of one of the tripods enters the basement to search
it. The survivors spend tense minutes evading the camera on the end of the
tentacle, as it zooms through the darkness. At first we see Ray’s point of view
as he looks to the point where the tentacle is coming down through the floor.
Then the camera zooms in to show the large, ‘Big Brother’ style lens of the
alien ‘eye’. In this scene, Spielberg used the camera very
skilfully to make the atmosphere in the basement as scary and claustrophobic as
possible. There was almost unbearable tension as the survivors scrabbled about
in the shadows, pursued by the sinister mechanical snake.
Towards the end of the film, Spielberg cleverly
uses plot to capture the attention of the audience. Earlier in the film, Ray has been
criticised by his son for being cowardly and not trying to fight the tripods.
His son runs off to join the army. However later, Ray and Rachel are swept up
by a tripod and deposited in the cage dangling beneath it, where it stores
people for food. Then, Ray allows himself to be lifted up and inserted into the
alien’s ‘mouth’. Before he has been pulled back out again, by the desperate
efforts of the other people in the cage, he manages to leave hand grenades,
which explode inside the alien and kill it. This act showed that, far from being cowardly, Ray was a true hero
and would stop at nothing to protect his cherished daughter from the tripods. It
was a clever turning point in the film, when Spielberg used the character of
Ray to suggest that even the most ordinary human being can be quite heroic when
placed in a dreadful situation.
There
is no doubt that Steven Spielberg is one of the world’s most skilled directors.
His version of ‘War of the Worlds’ was hugely exciting and his use of characterisation,
computer generated imagery, camera and plotting provided the audience with a
real spectacle of a film, which also explored some interesting themes.
