Skilfully used production features are an important way for directors to reveal their theme(s).

To what extent do you agree with this view?

Respond to this question with close reference to one or more films you have studied.

In this film V for Vendetta, the director, James McTeigue skilfully uses various production
techniques to help viewers understand the idea of control, as the main theme of the play.
Techniques used by McTeigue to reveal the theme of control are costume & lighting, camera angles,
and came movement.

Lighting is used throughout the whole film to reveal the directors main idea of control. Control is
first shown to the viewers at the beginning of the film when the protagonist, Evey, leaves her home
at night to get somewhere else she needs to be. In V for Vendetta there is a curfew where no one is
allowed to be out at night after a certain time. Evey is walking in the darkness, there is hardly any
lighting, and the fact that she is not meant to be out at this time shows control. Costume and
lighting are also used together to show control over Evey. After V has kidnapped Evey, he keeps her
in a cell and makes her wear an orange jumpsuit. Evey does not know that it is V who has got her,
however it is the use of the arrange jumpsuit in the dark cell which she is in that makes her, and us,
the viewers, believe that it is the fingermen which have got her and are taking control. The use of
these techniques are meant to construct fear in Evey, however, it does the opposite and makes her
become less afraid. No lighting (darkness) is used to reveal the idea of control in the film, and
conversely, lighting is used to show the lack of, or no control at the end of the film. Near the end of
the film, on the night of the 5th of November, V and Evey blow up Parliament. Whilst Parliament is
being blown up, fireworks are let off and the sky is filled with light and colour. The use of lighting and
fireworks reveals to viewers that they are no longer being controlled and that power had been lost.

McTeigue uses different camera angles to reveal to viewers the idea of control and power. We are
first introduced to High Chancellor Adam Sutler with his face projected onto a large screen, and a
close up of just his face, The close up of his face and the very large screen he is projected on
suggests to viewers that he is the one with all the power and the one in control of everything that is
happening. With the use of this camera shot, we are shown control. A high angle camera angle is
used when Evey is in the cell. It is a shot taken from above showing the small, dark cell, and in the
centre of the cell is Evey in her orange jumpsuit curled up into a ball. This shows is that Evey is
isolated, has nowhere to go, and no one to be with. It also suggests control and power as there is
nothing she can do about being in the cell.

Another important production feature McTeigue uses to show control is the use of different camera
shots. Different camera shots involve the type of movement the camera is experiencing and the
distance away it is from the object being filmed. An example of a shot used to show control is the
tracking shot. A tracking shot is when different settings are shown in relation to each other in the
same space of time. Near the beginning of the film, High Chancellor Adam Sutler is doing a report on
the television. A tracking shot is used to show different settings, all tuned into the television
watching the broadcast. The effect the tracking shot has on viewers is that it tells us that all the
members of the community are under the manipulation of the High Chancellor and it shows that he
has all the control over the,. Conversely, near the end of the film, the High Chancellor does another
broadcast over the television. Another tracking shot is used, however, this tracking shot reveals
empty rooms, showing Adam Sutler talking to himself. This helps reveal to viewers the loss of
control. The loss of control is also shown through the long shot at the end of the play. A long shot is
a shot taken from afar of a very wide area. The long shot is shown of everyone walking through
iconic parts of London, wearing the V costume (mask, cape etc). There is a large amount of people
and this shows the dominance of the work of the people coming together as one and taking control
of their own actions rather than the High Chancellor (who is now dead). The use of these shots by
McTeigue helps reveal the main idea of control.

McTeigue uses a great amount of production techniques in the film V for Vendetta. The production
techniques used help reveal the main idea of control and power. The techniques used are costume
and lighting, camera angles and camera shots, which all suggest different forms of control.