English Essay The Power Of One

Describe at least one important character in the text. Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text, supporting your points with visual and / or oral language features.

PK

• Brave, has fear but overcomes it
• Gone through a lot of hard stuff in his life
• Different experiences
• Tough and strong
• Life changer

SEXXXY PARAGRAPH

• Flashbacks
• Costume
• Camera techniques
• Music

The Power Of One, John .G. Avildsen

‘The Power of One’ is an inspirational, heart-capturing and exciting film. The director uses many excellent film techniques to portray each character, and help put us in their position. In particular, he uses flashbacks, costume, camera angles and music to engage us in what P.K’s life is really like, and what he goes through.

Firstly, Avildsen uses flashbacks to help us see and understand what motivates P.K and the important memories and occurrences in his life. An example of this is when P.K has been knocked down in a fight with Duma, and is struggling to get back up, there is a flashback of when he was younger. It shows him reaching out to touch an elephant, something he was once afraid of, and this was when he visited Dabula Manzi and overcame his fear. This shows the audience that this moment was significant in P.K’s life, and he remembers that he is strong and can overcome anything he puts his mind to. The director uses this flashback to help us see that P.K will not give up, and is motivated by his bravery he gained as a kid. Flashbacks, combined with the close up shot of P.K’s hand and the elephant's trunk, makes it work smoothly together. The close up camera angle gives us a clear understanding that they are now linked and P.K was no longer afraid. Flashbacks are used in many other films and T.V shows, such as ‘Pretty Little Liars’, where it frequently will include flashbacks, to the time when Alison was alive, so we can develop a deeper understanding for how that situation played an important role in their future.

Costume was another great technique used to help create a further connection between characters. This is used especially in prison scenes, where we notice the black people are often wearing dirty, ragged clothing, as opposed to P.Ks clean cut, neat clothing. This helps the audience understand differences in lifestyle, personalities, and their jobs. The director's purpose here, in the prison scenes particularly, is to help us understand the main difference between P.K's life, and the black people's lives. This, mixed with makeup, creates a further understanding. P.K, who is English, and white, has proper clothes, and a tidy appearance, which shows us he is cared for. The prisoners who are black, have dirty faces (most likely through use of makeup), worn out old clothing, which is ripped and filthy. The difference explains that the prisoners aren’t fully cared about, and don’t own better clothing or nice possessions. This nicely displays the clear difference between colour and races. Costume is used in all films. It helps the audience get a better picture of the character, and what they are like. Disney movies, like ‘Snow White’, are a perfect example just like ‘The Power of One’. The princess, will wear bright coloured dresses and pretty jewellry, where the ‘evil’ characters often wear black, dark clothing, which opens up their emotions into how they are visually presented.

Another fantastic technique to help us understand the character, and the situation, is camera techniques and angles. We see this particularly in the ‘Hang Him Up’ bullying scene, where high angles and low angles are used to show Botha’s authority and tougher stance, and to make P.K seem weaker, smaller, and scared. This helps the audience gather empathy for P.K, as we worry what will happen to him. Avildsen uses this technique so that we can see Botha thinks he is far more superior, and has the right to bully and torture P.K. The high angles display P.K as scared and smaller, and vulnerable, which he was feeling, as he was tied by his feet, and hung upside down. This effect, combined with diegetic sound, made it a more significant scene. With German Nationalistic music playing through a radio at the beginning of the scene, made it scarier and more real, because we could tell Botha believed what he was doing was entirely right and beneficial for his country, and that he had been brainwashed by Hitler's evil intentions. A wide range of  camera angles are used in every film, as each one will improve a scene, and add a subtle strength to the movie. High angles and low angles are especially used in fight scenes, to make the victim seem smaller and more vulnerable, and the bully seem bigger, tougher and scarier. This helps us produce fear and empathy for the character.

Music was a big part of this film. It was used in nearly every scene, particularing in P.K and Dumas fight scene. There was intense music throughout, as we all wondered who would win. The directors purpose here is to create tension, and enhancing the emotions and feelings of the particular scene and happening. After P.K won the fight, the music turned to light and happy, and we realised that P.K had done good things for the blacks, and all it took was bravery and determination. This combined with dialogue, made it a very intense scene. Just when we thought P.K was going to give up, the yells of encouragement from the crowd, and the elephant flashback kept him going. Music is a big part of the film, and at the end of the movie, it was used again significantly, when P.K and Duma walked off into the African landscape, knowing they had made a difference and changed things for the better.

All these things are used throughout every film to help us develop a deeper connection with the character and a better understanding of who they are. John .G. Avildsen used flashbacks, costume, camera angles and music to help us really grasp what happened along P.K’s journey, and we learnt who he was. ‘The Power Of One’ was a really moving and inspirational movie.

Jess Gallagher