How have cinematography techniques been used to present the directors intention.

In the film V For Vendetta the director James McTeigue presents his intention through the use of cinematography techniques. McTeigue’s intention for the film is to showcase the power of an idea. Two scenes that highlight the directors intention are the “fight scene” and the “dominoe scene.” In both scenes McTeigue has employed cinematography techniques such as camera shots and soundtrack to bring out emotion in his audience. By doing this McTeigue has made his intention for the film resonate stronger with the viewers.

The film follows Evey Hammond, a young woman and V a masked freedom fighter, as V executes his plan to blow up parliament and bring down the totalitarian government. V’s idea in the film is that there is no limit to the change you can cause when there are people willing to stand behind you.

The domino scene symbolises V’s plan, and the actions everyone involved must knowingly or unknowingly take for it to succeed. In this scene McTeigue portrays his intention for the film, by showing the viewers how V and his idea influence different characters in the movie. The scene starts with V placing his first domino on the floor. As V places the domino dramatic music softly starts playing. By playing soft dramatic music, McTeigue is giving the viewers the impression that the scene is building up to something. Later in the scene the camera shots start to cut between Detective Finch, V placing dominoes and real footage from the Birmingham riots. He uses the real footage to make the chaos feel more realistic. The footage from the riots is a real-life example of his intention, a fake scene would be cheesy so this has much more impact. As Detective Finch talks to his colleague about V, he starts to unknowingly narrate the scene. Throughout the scene dramatic music continues to build tension and make viewers feel on edge. Around the middle of the scene we see a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, the same mask as V wears, robbing a store. The camera cuts back to Detective Finch who says “this is exactly what he wants,” “chaos.” Chaos is the building blocks of new beginnings and we’ve seen that before in the film when the High Chancellor rose to power. Things don’t change if they stay the same, it takes new energy for things to change and chaos can do that for the better or worse.  

McTeigue cuts these shots close together with dramatic music slowly heightening the tension to show how everything in the movie is connected. As Detective Finch says later in the scene “The problem is he knows us better than we know ourselves.” V has been planning for 20 years to destroy the Government. Although he appears to be creating mindless chaos, V has carefully planned and predicted what will happen. 

The dominoes in this scene also represent the impact one man or domino falling can have. We see this symbolised at the end of the film, when the inhabitants of London march on Parliament wearing Guy Fawkes masks and capes. The march is shown from a birds eye view, to emphasise to the viewers the huge number of people marching in support of V. This cinematography technique shows viewers that so many people were willing to put faith in V and risk their lives to ensure that their corrupt totalitarian government would fall. This scene symbolises that an idea has no limit to the change it can cause, when there are people willing to stand behind it.

V knows what actions people will take and for the last 20 years he has been setting the stage for his plan to work. We see an example of McTeigue using cinematography techniques to emphasise this when the Chancellor says “Mr Creedy, I am holding you personally responsible for the situation,” this shot is filmed from a low angle and the Chancellor is projected around ten times his real size, to make him seem more powerful and imposing. Mr Creedy is also shown in this shot and he appears tiny in comparison to the All-Powerful High Chancellor. The camera then cuts to Creedy looking defiant and angry. This is shown from a high angle to make Creedy appear smaller, emphasising that the Chancellor is in a position of power over him. V knew that the Chancellor would never accept responsibility for anything going wrong so he would blame it on Mr Creedy, his second in command. V also knows that greed and anger motivate Creedy. He therefore believed Creedy would accept his deal to kidnap and kill the Chancellor so he himself could take power. V knows what motivates people and he is able to predict their next move. For the Chancellor it’s like playing chess against someone who knows what you are going to do. You can’t win.

The fight scene in V for Vendetta is dramatic and suspenseful. McTeigue has achieved this by using camera shots and soundtrack together, to hammer home his intention for the film. The scene starts out with Eviey kissing V’s mask. McTeigue uses cinematography techniques to make these shots dramatic to emphasise how important the scene is. We know that although V loves Evey, he now feels that he only has one purpose. This purpose is to over throw the government and to be a symbol for London to unite behind. V knows he will die before his plan is complete, although he loves Evey, he can not turn back now.

Later in the scene McTeigue uses certain camera shots to show the Chancellor’s prerecorded speech playing on TV. McTeigue uses camera angles that show TV’s playing the Chancellors speech to empty rooms. Throughout the film these rooms had always been filled with people watching the Chancellors speeches. The reason no one is watching the Chancellors speech this time is that they are all out in masks and capes, marching on Parliament. Through showing his viewers the empty rooms, McTeigue is subtlety hinting at how much of an impact V has had on the inhabitants of London. McTeigue has therefore presented his intention, to showcase the power of an idea through four simple camera shots. During this same scene McTeigue uses a series of camera shots with overlapping dialogue to show us how V strips High Chancellor Sutler of his power. McTeigue switches camera shots between the Chancellors prerecorded speech playing on TV, and Mr Creedy’s men sweeping the underground railway station. The Chancellors speech rises in intensity and McTeigue overlaps this dialogue with a shot of a man being dragged down the railway steps. The Chancellors speech comes to a finish and he says “Justice will be swift, it will be righteous and it will be without mercy.” The film instantly cuts to a shot of the bag being pulled off the mans head, who the viewers now know to be Chancellor Sutler. His bleeding and pitiful face, in stark contrast to his intimidating demeanour while he was giving his speech. Through cutting camera shots and overlapping dialogue, McTeigue turned Chancellors Sutlers speech from something that would have been intimidating, into a speech that is incredibly ironic to the viewers. This is because the viewers see Chancellor Sutler as the villain, so they take the final line of his speech the opposite way. They know justice is about to be served on him. This scene perfectly showcases McTeigue’s intention, the power of an idea, because it shows how far High Chancellor Sutler, the most powerful and influential man in London, fell because of V, because of his idea.

Near the end of the scene, we see that V is no longer a man he is now a symbol of an idea. This point is hinted towards throughout the film but is brought to light after Creedy runs out of bullets and yells “why wont you die.” V replies with “Beneath this mask there is more than flesh Mr Creedy there is an idea and ideas are bulletproof.” This point in emphasised in the film when even after V dies the people of London march to Parliament, putting their lives on the line to show support for V and what he stood for.

Throughout the film McTeigue has used soundtrack and camera shots to emphasise how powerful an idea can become. Through using these cinematography techniques he made me personally connect with the characters in the film. This allowed me to view their world through their eyes and get a better sense of why they made the decisions they did. Overall McTeigue was extremely successful at presenting his intention in many different ways through the film.