In this analysis I will be analyzing how the director uses film techniques to strengthen his message and/ or create an effect on the audience. The film I will be analysing is “Hotel Rwanda” directed by Terry George and is based on the civil war in Rwanda.The Rwandan Genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of the Tutsis by the Hutus that took place in 1994 in the East African state of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days (from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 6 through mid-July) over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate. Estimates of the death toll have ranged from 500,000–1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country’s total population. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of 1959–62.
The director of “Hotel Rwanda”, Terry George uses different camera shots to create tension, this is a very powerful effect as it can be used to conceal powerful information and also Make a viewer aware of specific detail in the film. In Hotel Rwanda Paul is instructed to take the river route, both Paul and the audience are unaware that the river route is blocked with bodies, the film is very effective in the way it builds tension as information is often concealed, the camera switches from the van Paul is traveling in, to inside the van drastically wading around, Paul becomes frightened as he becomes aware that the car could enter the river, the car comes to a stop from a head on mid-shot. Paul exits the car and very unprofessionally falls out of the shot, this is very unexpected and would have not worked if it was a long-shot as he would not have unexpectedly fell out of the shot.
The Director also uses audio to enhance a scene (I believe audio is only used to enhance a film as the visuals can be used to explain the film without sound) using digetic and non-digetic sounds, he uses a range of digetic sounds for example the crickets and the ominous music for non-digetic sound. The audio is placed in very specific places for example when they show a close up the dead girl a sound of what is presumably a machete is played, this depicts the girl was killed with a machete.
the director also uses effects like the fog which was a very strong addition to the film as it concealed powerful information which in this case was the dead bodies. As Paul Rusesabagina and kregwa are diving the path becomes obstructed with fog as it conceals their path, this is shown as the camera is shown from inside the car and the path isn’t visible. The fog was quite clearly used for effect and wasn’t just there co-incidentally as the fog conveniently clears as the information was revealed as they show an over shoulder shot on the dead bodies in the road.
React!