Director: Stanley Kubrick
Year: 1971
Genre: Science Fiction Drama
BBFC Age Rating: 18
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates
The establishing shot of A Clockwork Orange is an extreme close-up of the main character, Alex's face. The camera lingers on his face for several seconds, allowing the audience to establish that all narration will be done by him. The camera then slowly zooms out, showing his three friends. The camera then zooms out more, showing that their location is a milk bar called the Korova. All the tables in the bar are statues of naked women. This suggests that the main characters may have a hedonistic streak in them, which is the case. The shot shows Alex as being in the centre of his friends. This establishes that he is the leader of the group, as well as the main character.
All the other people in the first scene are looking or bowing away from Alex and his friends, suggesting that they are feared or respected. This further builds on the theme of Alex as a leader. This idea of leadership helps establish the Drama genre, as it sets the audience up for his fall from the top of the chain.
The clothes people are wearing are of a fashion not seen in real life, suggesting that the film is set in a future era, helping to establish science fiction themes in the story. The Korova also uses a lot of clean colours, a convention of futuristic dramas.
The opening scene uses non-diagetic music. The music seems to be a classical piece that is being played on a synthesizer. This fusion of Classical music, usually used in Dramas, and synthesizers which sound futuristic allows the audience to establish that the film will be a Science-fiction Drama. The opening scene also has a non-diagetic narration by Alex. His voice sounds quite threatening and off-kilter, making the audience feel uneasy. This helps establish a dramatic convention- the evil character. However, this convention is subverted slightly as the "evil" character is also the narrator of the story.
Alex uses a made up slang (called Nadsat) in his opening speech 'trying to make up our rassoodocks...' , to make the audience feel out of place in the story, further adding to the unease felt. By using a version of reality that the audience has no understanding of, and then narrating it from the perspective of a rather unpleasant character, they begin to feel uncomfortable and isolated, further adding to the dramatic elements of the film.
The next scene is set in a clean white underpass, and begins with a close-up of a drunken tramp. The use of the tramp set against a stale underpass in this scene possibly signifies social decay, and begins to paint a picture of a dystopian society. The idea of a dystopian society establishes to the audience that there may be some kind of revolution at some point in the plot. This build-up to change at the beginning of a story is a dramatic convention which is strongly established in this scene.
The final few seconds of the initial two minutes end ominously, with the shadows of Alex and his 'droogs' appearing in the underpass armed with weapons. This begins to immerse the audience in the ultra-violent world of Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
The initial two minutes of A Clockwork Orange used many of the established conventions of the drama genre. Many of these conventions are then subverted slightly to entice the audience into the film from the off.
All the other people in the first scene are looking or bowing away from Alex and his friends, suggesting that they are feared or respected. This further builds on the theme of Alex as a leader. This idea of leadership helps establish the Drama genre, as it sets the audience up for his fall from the top of the chain.
The clothes people are wearing are of a fashion not seen in real life, suggesting that the film is set in a future era, helping to establish science fiction themes in the story. The Korova also uses a lot of clean colours, a convention of futuristic dramas.
The opening scene uses non-diagetic music. The music seems to be a classical piece that is being played on a synthesizer. This fusion of Classical music, usually used in Dramas, and synthesizers which sound futuristic allows the audience to establish that the film will be a Science-fiction Drama. The opening scene also has a non-diagetic narration by Alex. His voice sounds quite threatening and off-kilter, making the audience feel uneasy. This helps establish a dramatic convention- the evil character. However, this convention is subverted slightly as the "evil" character is also the narrator of the story.
Alex uses a made up slang (called Nadsat) in his opening speech 'trying to make up our rassoodocks...' , to make the audience feel out of place in the story, further adding to the unease felt. By using a version of reality that the audience has no understanding of, and then narrating it from the perspective of a rather unpleasant character, they begin to feel uncomfortable and isolated, further adding to the dramatic elements of the film.
The next scene is set in a clean white underpass, and begins with a close-up of a drunken tramp. The use of the tramp set against a stale underpass in this scene possibly signifies social decay, and begins to paint a picture of a dystopian society. The idea of a dystopian society establishes to the audience that there may be some kind of revolution at some point in the plot. This build-up to change at the beginning of a story is a dramatic convention which is strongly established in this scene.
The final few seconds of the initial two minutes end ominously, with the shadows of Alex and his 'droogs' appearing in the underpass armed with weapons. This begins to immerse the audience in the ultra-violent world of Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
The initial two minutes of A Clockwork Orange used many of the established conventions of the drama genre. Many of these conventions are then subverted slightly to entice the audience into the film from the off.
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