Crash Film Write-Up

Justin Noddle

Period 6

Crash Film Write-up

The movie Crash was released in 2005 as an American drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Paul Haggis. This film focuses on racism and social tensions in Los Angeles. Paul was inspired to make this movie by a real life incident. This movie won three Oscars. This movie is 128 minutes long and was filmed in the United States. There are many different stories going on during this film that collide together near the end of the film. Each story involves a part of either racism or sexism.

1.     How does the music and sound of the movie contribute to the mood of the scene?

There are many sounds from this film that hint at being certain things. For example, the sound of a siren signifies cops, which usually brings fear to people. Screaming and yelling in this movie showed frustration and fear. Crying showed sadness, but fear as well. Fear was a major contributor to this film. Much of the music played for this film was in a foreign language and viewer could not understand what it meant. This meant that the viewer was completely focused on what was occurring on the screen. At the end of the movie, a song played in English and the lyrics were very relevant to the scene occurring at the moment. A common trend to this movie was when people were angry and shouting, the music would speed up and get louder just as the characters in the movie did. In one of the most dramatic scenes of the film, all voices were completely taken out and only music was playing. This was an open form as to what the characters were saying but it also gave the scene a more drastic effect.

2.     How were the lighting and colors of Crash able to act as symbols for other objects?

Lighting and bright color were used to point out the dominants. Flashing lights, light sirens, immediately drew the attention of the viewer.  Many of the important and frightening scenes occurred at night. This is because the lighting is much lower, like a high key, and this added an eerie feel to the area. Bright lights from the sun created a blur effect, which then faded away and focused in to exactly what the director wanted it to. Black lighting was used often in this film. A man wearing a white shirt was standing in from of a black background. This shows the outline and shadow of the man but does not allow the viewer to make out, who the character is. The color red symbolizes many things in this movie. Red is the color of blood. Men are murdered and shed blood as a main part of the plot. At a stoplight, the red light means stop. Also, the woman is trapped in her car and a giant fire erupts. The fire is red, ride fire trucks arrive, and the woman’s dress is red. A major climax to the film is the red bullets that were bought that turned out to be blanks. Red was very symbolic.