Media studies- Drama- film essay

Harry Swaine

There Will Be Blood- February 15 2008 - Paul Thomas Anderson

The plot of this film follows a miner called Daniel Plainview who, after a dangerous fall down
a mineshaft, embarks on a new career path; the oil business. In order to achieve his goal, he
must convince some landowners that beneath their feet lies a profitable business, and that
he is the only way of accessing that. As his empire grows, Daniel get addicted to power, and
the only one who stops this is a Eli Sunday, a teenage preacher who opposes Daniels wish to
extract the oil from the local area of Little Boston
The first 5 minutes of the film consists mostly of Daniel, struggling to mine in a
claustrophobic shaft, in order to obtain some black gold.

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The opening title consists of a simple black background which connotes power and mystery.
The theme of power is used to develop the protagonist, and the more he craves power, the
darker the mood of the film gets. The Font of the white text mirrors traditional holy writing
that has connotations surrounding the church as this is an important aspect of the film, as
the only thing preventing Daniel from achieving total power, is the christian community.

(above)

camera-The opening shot is a long shot that aims to establish the mine's location and to
highlight the lonely atmosphere, as the landscape is vast and empty. The shot has no
movement, which links to the idea that the locations is being presented to the audience as
lifeless. The same shot is later accompanied by an injured Daniel after he has broken his leg
down the mineshaft. The camera technique is different as the shot isn't static like the
establishing shot because the camera tilts away from the injured protagonist to reveal the
environment, in order to show a common theme of jeopardy due to his isolation.
Sound- the non-diegetic music is loud and high pitched which has connotations of being
tense as this is often used in the horror genre. This could be used to foreshadow the
upcoming dangerous events that occur in the mineshaft.
Editing- The shot is edited to have a slow transition from black to signify the start of the film.
Furthermore, the music has been synced with the transition to raise in volume to make the
establishing shot more dramatic.

Camera-the following scene consists of a gloomy and dark mineshaft. The camera stays still
as the point of focus is on the protagonist. This allows the audience to appreciate the hard
work that he is doing as well as the conditions he is working in.
Mise en scene- Perhaps the main prop in this scene is the pickaxe as it represents the
struggle that was work in the late 1800's. Additionally, the rock face doesn't corrode away as
much as the audience and the protagonist would like it to. This shows the hardship that the
miner is undertaking, as a lot of effort isn't producing much reward, which also links to the
desperate mood of the scene. The pickaxe is also producing sparks which add to the gritty
realism of the scene, but also acts as the only source of light besides the opening of the
mineshaft. This connotations of this could be linked to how light is used to brighten scenes
both from the cinematographers point of view, and emotionally. In this case, the sparks

represent the link between hard Manual labour and economic stability as the protagonist
eventually finds some black gold. Additionally, a catastrophe occurs at an oil well during
Daniel's rise to power which leaves his son deafened. This event was caused by a sparked gas
leak therefore the sparks occur before danger both at Daniels mining stage and his oil stage.
Sound- The tense music fades off at this point, leaving only the sound of the pickaxe hitting
the rock face and the characters heavy breathing. This is again used to highlight the labour
intensive job and to make the audience pity the character.

Editing- This shot follows the hard mine work to represent the development of time and for
the audience to , not only see the character, but to embrace his struggle, because even his
rest time is a hard task. This shows the development of time as the establishing shot showed
a hot and sunny day, whilst this is dark and cloudy. This is important as it shows the long
hours that the miner has to put in in order to make a living from his job. The colour scheme
of this shot is a cold blue which has been used to portray the cold weather and the
dampened emotions of Daniel.
Mise en scene- The fire is important in this scene because Daniel is relying on its warmth as
we see his hunched close to the fire due to the cold weather. This links to how fire and
sparks becomes a recurring theme throughout the film as the sparks in the previous scene
are linked to his reliance on mining, whereas during the oil extraction fire represent
destruction and subtly the devil; conveyed by the preacher who is against the destruction of
the town. The change in the meaning of the fire mirrors the change in character as he goes
from using hard, honest work to obtain all living, to a more destructive oil empire.

Three things I would use

The concept of a recurring theme is a good way of staying true to the structure of a story as
it allows audiences to engage with my vision, due to the repetition of such techniques. They

also allow for deeper meaning which act as a talking point on your film as people perceive
the themes differently.
By having an opening sequence with the protagonist on his own, the audience begins to
empathise or relate to the character as they aren't being distracted by other stories or
emotions. This ultimately makes the film more engaging as the audience then cares what
happens to the character as they progress through the film.
Finally, the use of silence is good to use as I found the silent shots were just as interesting as
the loud ones as the audience can focus more on the drama, and it can allow for a bigger
contrast for when loud music is played for distinctive change on mood.