Induction Test:

‘City of God’ Deconstruction

In the opening sequence of ‘City of God’ camera angles such as close ups are used. At the start of the clip there is a close up of a knife being sharpened. In this we see fast cuts to black at the end of each pleonastic sound (knife sharpening). The scene is being presented in a positive ‘carnival’ like way; due to the introduction of the diegetic sound of music. Overall this scene informs the audience that what’s about to occur is positive and joyful. We then discover that this scene involves food being prepared. This links back to the joyful time, as everyone has come together to eat good food and listen to good music. This tells us that food is very important to their community. The diegetic up beat music is put with fast clips of food being prepared; indicating to us that it is a special time for the community.

During this cooking scene there is a group of chickens. As each chicken gets picked up we see a low angled shot of the humans. Indicating the power the humans have over them. This is shown again through the high angled shots on the chickens; presenting them in a weak vulnerable state. As the scene continues we see a high angled shot of a chicken, tied up by the legs wanting to break free. This has been presented like this to us so we see the overall control the humans have over them and due to the fast paced shots we can assume by this the humans have no care in killing them. This can be seen also as a metaphor. This is because the chickens that are trying to escape are in fact the people attempting to escape the gang lifestyle, which is very common in the streets of Brazil. However they are unable to due to the string that is tied around their legs, this in other words means the people attempting to escape this lifestyle are restricted by other factors such as peer pressure. As much as people try to avoid the gangs in Rio de Janeiro, they are eventually taken, plucked and boiled by the human’s that are part of the gang, as they overall have the most power in the community. This causes the chickens to die, but for the people trying to escape this lifestyle their hopes and aspirations for the future are killed. Therefore causing them to stay in the gang lifestyle and work for and help the gang. Just as the chicken does through giving them food to eat.

 After seeing a chicken being put into water at a low angle, indicating the human’s power. We then see the loan chicken. There is a close up used to show it slowly get out of the string it is tied up by. The chicken eventually escapes and falls to the ground, once it lands we see a close up of a man, who screams with laughter to ‘Chase the Chicken’. This close up is effective as it shows the extent of the man’s emotions.  He seems angered at first but this anger turns to a sudden laughter; this comes across to the audience as if it is funny the chicken thinks it can escape. This links back to the deeper meaning of the chicken representing those who want to escape the gang life.  The man finds it funny anyone can escape the gang lifestyle and live a real life. 

This then begins the chase as all the people jump off the building to get the chicken. The next shot we see is an aerial shot of the group of the people chasing the chicken. The shot doesn’t just show the people chase the chicken. It is also effective in showing the environment these people live in; it is a poorer ‘run down’ area.  The costume code of worn and torn clothes furthers this idea of poverty and a lack of wealth in the area. We also see in the tracking shot of the chicken during the chase the feet of the people. They are predominantly wearing sandals and are bare foot. This makes the audience see these people in a different way and understand why in fact the chase for the chicken in fact is so important.  The audience understand that due to their poverty they need this food to survive, and due to the fast paced scene we know it is a very hectic moment for everyone involved.

During the chase we see match-on-action of the people and the chicken running. This informs the audience of the high intensity pf the chase as we see from the humans view and chickens view in quick succession. As the chicken runs as well the camera follows the chicken through a tracking shot. This informs the audience of the constant movement of the chicken. In this longer scene the music is very much parallel to the scene. It is fast paced and light hearted; therefore parallel to the chase.

As the chicken ends up getting further away the main antagonist we saw at the beginning brings out a gun on a bystander who couldn’t stop the chicken. There is then a close up of the gun itself being pulled from the man’s waste line. This is then pulled on the man who was unable to stop the chicken.  This strengthens the audiences understanding that the chicken’s importance, for a food source, is much greater than first thought.  This is strengthened due to the symbolic code of the gun as it has connotations of death.

After the rather hectic scene ends we are greeted with the main character Rocket. A character that seems to have departed from the general gang lifestyle everyone his age generally follows. In this scene a simple mid-shot is used at eye level. This tells the audience Rocket is on our level, he is a normal teenage boy trying to follow his aspirations in photography. Also as he has a camera around his neck we see him in a different way to the other characters we have seen already. The camera sets him aside from the others as it is seen as a much more expensive item that stereotypically the poorest would not obtain. But he is still in similar costume code to the previous gang; informing us he is still a normal child in the poorer area but is trying to get out of it. Also he is having a normal conversation as you would expect, this contrasts massively to the hectic high intensity chase of the other people we see previously.

In the penultimate scene the chicken and Rocket are in the middle of the road. This has been done to identify the two binary opposites, in other word the Levi-Strauss theory. The good being the police and the bad being the gang. This therefore indicates a decision having to be made. There is a sense of the boy not knowing what to decide due to the scene not following the 180 degree rule. This scene uses an eye line match shot 360 degrees around the boy.  The fact Rocket is in the middle of the ‘Good and Bad’ shows the difficulty of choosing the right path when all he’s ever known is the bad life.

We as an audience do not know of the decision made as the 360 degree shot follows onto a scene from the past. As the shot turns 360 degrees we hear non-diegetic sound. This sound is distorted indicating to the audience time may also do hat to. Informing to the audience they should expect what occurs next. Due to the fact it is a common theme in films. We are aware we are now in the past because of the editing used. The editing added is of the text informing the audience we are now in the ‘sixties’. We see a confrontation between a boy and a younger Rocket. This confrontation is presented in a negative way as one is trying to intrude on their football match. We as the audience can assume this boy intruding on their match is in fact the main antagonist. This is because when Rocket saw him from the distance the editing technique ‘Time Stretch’ was used.  By slowing down the image we see it as more significant. Therefore going back into the sixties was in fact a memory of the first time they encountered each other. This use of backstory benefits the audience to understand the difficulty in the boy’s decision; as we are aware now there is a bit of tension.

Finally, we are aware that the boy in the goal is Rocket as there is a use of non-diegetic sound of the camera shot being taken. As this noise occurs there is a slight zoom in on the boy. Telling us that the boy has something to do with a camera and we know that is Rocket.

By Joseph Perry 12C-C2