Whale_Rider

“Whale Rider” is an emotional semblance film. Niki Caro, director of “Whale Rider,” used many different camera shots, lighting, composition, and strong dialogue to convey messages of female empowerment and the importance of communication. One of the strongest messages Mr. Caro tries to tell the viewers is, humans can be an individual with their own thoughts and not an individual with other's views. The lighting of a film is a key component in making a film. If your film is too dark, the audience can't see what is happening, and it creates confusion. If the film is too bright, it hurts the audience's vision and affects their ability to see what is happening. The lighting in “Whale Rider” had extremes, but it was still beautifully done so the audience could easily transition from one scene to the next. Mr. Caro's wonderful use of lighting can be perceived in the shot where Koro is walking out of his house to go to his granddaughter's performance. Koro sees the whales far off on the shore struggling to survive, which is another great establishing shot. The lack of light in this shot is used to show the beauty and darkness of the night. Not only is Mr. Caro indicating the time of day, but he is also foreshadowing the dark times that were ahead for Koro and his family. Koro was the person that everyone looked up to in the tribe, so he felt he could not disappoint his tribe or his fellow ancestors. The symbolism of darkness revealed the time of day, the darkness of the event, and that Koro was missing his granddaughter's performance all in one shot. Mr. Coro used many outstanding low angle camera shots and one exceptional high angle camera shot. An example of a low angle shot in “Whale Rider” is when Koro is chanting to the ancestors, and Pai is sitting in the boat next to him. In this shot, the viewers are shown how comfortable and commanding Pai is over the ocean. Another incredible low angle shot is when Pai is given her speech to her grandfather on stage. The best part of this shot was the combination of the low angle shot, the close up, and the silence of music and only Pai talking. Everything was slowed down in this shot to show the importance of what Pai was saying. Most scenes with Koro used low angle shots to show his superior force and male empowerment over Pai and other people in the tribe. Such as this exceptional, outstanding example of a low angle shot, is in the scene front of the temple. All the young boys are learning how to use their Mau rakaus, and Pai wants to learn, too. Koro thinks that a women cannot be the chieftain and that this is too sacred even for Pai to see. Because of this, Koro refuses to teach her. The dialogue was done in perfect reverse angle shots to demonstrate Koro's superiority, but also to show the dialect between them. The high angle shot takes place when Pai comes into Koro's room to give him an invitation to her performance. This is shot was a perfect high angle shot. The room is very dark and Koro is seen laying sprawled out on his bed. This is Koro's weakest moment showing the viewers he has given up on life. The camera is shown looking down at Koro from Pai's point of view and illustrates the transition of her becoming stronger and Koro beginning to rethink his whole perspective about the tribe. Also in this shot the viewers can once again see a perfect reverse angle shot back and forth. Two scenes in this film illustrated remarkable composition, including the shots in which Nanny Flowers is crying about Paikea leaving the beach and Pai is on Paikea and the shot where Koro is looking at the other whales and in the background, Pai is climbing on Paikea. Nanny Flowers is crying because of how everything is turning out for the tribe, but she starts screaming and bailing when she realizes Pai is missing. Nanny knows where Pai must be. There was another extraordinary great reverse shot here when the camera turns from Nanny's face back to the ocean and you can catch a glimpse of Pai on Paikea in the distance. Another example of great composition, was when Koro sees everything falling down around him on the beach, and he feels like nothing could go right any more. During this scene, Pai is seen in the background past Koro, using rack focus, trying to climb on Paikea to bring him back out into the sea. Slow motion can also be seen in this film. Pai(riding Paikea) is shown looking up to the sky not afraid to die. Mr. Caro uses slow motion here to put some dramatic effect on Pai and to show the viewers the gravity of the situation. This slow motion done by Mr. Caro is done beautifully. Some really different shots were shown in this film. The one that made a particular impression was when Pai was saving Paikea and rode him back into the ocean. As the whale went up and down with Pai, the camera traveled with the movements of Paikea. This includes the camera going into the water to show the underside of the whale and the difficulty of what Pai was doing. A tremendous tracking shot is shown here to also show the pressure and difficulty Pai is undergoing not only to prove herself but also to save her tribe. The symmetry for all the whales underneath the ocean was spread out into a random grouping instead of being placed perfectly. Mr. Caro did this to demonstrate nature aspects of a group of whales traveling together. Mr. Caro used some very unique and intriguing film techniques. The voice-overs were brilliant. There are two prodigious examples of a voice-over that helped clarify what the film was about. The first starting in the beginning of the movie when the past is getting up to speed to the present. The second voice-over the viewers hear occurred when Pai is saving the whales. She is calling the elders to help her and guide her to save the whales. Through all of these techniques(lighting, composition, and strong dialogue) the viewers can see the subtle messages more strongly because of the way Mr. Caro conveyed them. He points out that females can do lots of things males can do through strong dialogue and action. In this film, Pai is the true chieftain, and she is the one who brought Paikea back out into the sea. The communication between the people of the tribe changed a lot near the end of the film. Women start to speak their minds, and men start to show their feelings more to their wives. Pai achieved greatness that day regardless of the obstacles in her way. She wouldn't give up who she wanted to be, even when her grandfather wanted her to be someone she was not. Pai found who she was and would not let anyone else take that from her.