Titanic (Focus Film) - Second Key Scene

Rose is rescued: 02:46:10-02:52:13
Micro Techniques and Relevance?:

- Exaggerated blue makes it really obvious sot the audience that is cold and takes away from the fact it is not a real location, trying to hide the 'home made' part of the film.

- Location looks real, the water used is tinted like the sea and the vastness of bodies makes the set look really big and is hard to take in.

- Cameron may have exaggerated the body count by putting so many bodies in the shot, here he might have a little artistic license over the shot it is most likely exact to real events.

- The camera pans over the large number of bodies creating a horrific effect as they are all dead and therefore James Cameron is just trying to show the absolute dictator Titanic was.

- Soundtrack is barley audible whilst the crew are looking round the bodies for survivors this has been done to show the dead though another sense.

- Long shots one again show the vastness and it also helps for the images to sink in, this scene is used very well as a reality shock for the film.

- The acting in the scenes takes away from the fat of the film as it all about the fictional love story created by James Cameron, therefore this scene shows that the film has a blend of fact and fiction all the way throughout.

- The soundtrack doesn't mirror fact in this scene it only mirror the fiction creates as we hear sad music when we find out that Jack is dead, the made up character. This tells me that throughout the film the only focus wasn't just on telling the fact.

- Slow motion is used to show that the boat is leaving her behind and this shows that the film is trying to create empathy for her and not for the other people who may or may not have been real characters.

- Close up on old Rose so that the rescue scenes concluded with a fictional character. This may be done to exaggerate how little people where saved by the life boats.

Characterization and Relevance?:

- The whole scene should be about all the people needing rescuing however with the fact that James Cameron has created a character who survives, he uses her to show that others don't survive.

- Having the old Rose be shown as soon as her young self is rescued shows that the film was always about her and the that she is important in tell in the audience the truth. We need her to survive to know the truth.

- Rose is a final girl and creating a good role model for children as she is fighter and doesn't give up. She shows the American dream in her resilience and survival.

- The crew who come back are the minor characters of the whole crew in general and this shows that the rescuing of people was a 'minor' job, no one wanted to do it.

- Having Jack die in this scene is key because it helps the create empathy for the character of Rose. However, this could be considered bad as the audience will momentarily forget about the rest of people who have died and aren't fictional.

Messages and Values:

- The values in this particular scene is that the fight for survival during the event was the only thing that could keep you alive. This shown through Rose, who uses the Jacks power to keep her alive as well as her fight to "never let go" of her promise to him.

- The message of the scene is also that fear can make people bad people. By only having one of the life boats come back it tells the audience that the fear of people will change them and not even help humanity when they are capable.

- The main message of the scene is that the whole event was tragic, having a mother holding her child dead in the sea is just a subtle way for Cameron to show the audience that no one was safe: Rich, poor, young, old. 

Narrative Devises/Features and Relevance:

- The fact that the scene is meant to seem like the old Rose is telling the story, means that James Cameron had to focus on her struggle, he couldn't include another persons fight, win or defeat.

- There is no restricted narration in this scene, everything that is shown to the audience is clear to identify and nothing is made subtle or cryptic

- The narrative to this scene is completely driven by the fictional love story created by James Cameron and therefore the story is forced to focus in fact rather than fiction.