The Truman Show Essence

This weeks film the Truman show, was very interesting. I did not know anything about the film before watching it. I was a bit confused in the beginning but overall I really enjoyed this film. The Truman Show was unlike any other movie I have seen because I was a show within a movie. Truman was an everyday guy whose life has been filmed from birth to the present. He was the only one who did not know that his reality had been setup. We also see the point of view of the people watching the Truman show as well as the producer and cast creating Truman’s life. Making the film have a very diverse use of cinematography.

Camera placement is very important in this film. We are viewing Truman through hidden cameras throughout the set. This makes the audience feel like we are spying on him. The audience sees Truman through the car radio camera repeatedly. How they shot Truman throughout the day was one motion. It made it seem like we were there with Truman and our eyes are watching him. This made Truman’s reality seem like we were apart of it. For example, when we were watching him through the car mirror. It made it seem like they were adjusting the mirrors to constantly watch him. An interesting visual effect I noticed was toward the end of the film when Truman was going up the stair in the sky and the director was talking to him. It made it seem like the director was God because Truman was looking up to the sky and talking. The director was also looking down at Truman’s life the whole time and was the one in control.

One scene that I found very interesting was when Truman and Meryl are in the kitchen. He asked, “why do you want a baby with me. You can’t stand me?” and she replies, “That’s not true,” then she breaks into commercial. He had been questioning his life but up at this point he realizes their relationship is not real. The camera in zoomed in on her like an infomercial. When his friend comes in with beer and Meryl runs into his arms saying, “ how do they expect me to go on in these conditions.” After that statement is when Truman tricks the show and starts to explore and overcome is fear of the water. Which will lead to his freedom in the “real world.”

Cite this page