The Power of One feedback blog post.

ESSAY:
 Copy and paste your essay into a blog post and then write a reflection paragraph by answering each of the 6 questions in bold below

Its been 71 years since the era of the apartheid, and during those times you could see how differently or poorly the black population of South Africa was being treated. In the film, The Power of One, directed by John Avildsen there is a scene where it shows Peekay and Gideon Duma running through the village and as they are coming past a big cue, Peekay asked what's it for, Gideon then explained that “The government only allows one toilet per 200 people.” This scene is juxtaposed to when it shows the English being able to use their own toilet in their own homes. The important techniques that were used in these scenes are tracking shot, non-diegetic sounds, dialogue and also a shallow focus shot. These film techniques helped the director to create an impact on the audience on what they were feeling.

One of the first techniques that are being introduced at the beginning of the scene, is a tracking shot. A tracking shot is also known as a dolly shot and transpires when the camera follows the subject in any direction. For example, the film aspect, tracking/dolly shot is being demonstrated throughout most of the scene and stops when Gideon and PK are at the water fountain. The director's purpose of this film technique was so it can allow us, as an audience, to be able to understand their lives as they are telling it, and also so it can take us down the same roads our characters face every day. This aspect can make the audience feel dejection towards the black community because of how they have to deal with being inferior towards the other languages. Anger is also another word that can have an effect on the audience after watching this scene. This is due because of the lack of respect and the injustices that was served to them. While Gideon and Peekay are running, they come past a lot of things such as people getting onto a bus, or men singing as they are working on the side of the road. When we watch this scene and we hear these men singing we know that this is a film technique known as diegetic sounds, and the opposite to this aspect is non-diegetic sounds.

Throughout the movie, various sounds are going on in every scene. Each of these noises can be broken down into either voice, music or sounds. Depending on how these sounds are used, they are either split into diegetic or non-diegetic sounds. A diegetic sound is the things that are happening in the scene and can be heard by the character while acting. A non-diegetic is the opposite of diegetic and is something that is edited into the film and can be heard by the audience, but not the characters. The film technique, non-diegetic sounds, plays an important part in this scene, as it was used to match the mood of the character or the audience. When Gideon and Peekay start running, mellow music starts to play in the background, and as the run, the music stops and changes. The reason for this is because the music will need to fit the characters aura. The reason the director would use this aspect is to make the audience have different feelings rushing through them; also because the different types of music to reflect what is happening and what it wants the audience to feel. The mellow music that is being used at the start of this scene will have the audience feeling normal but also kinda happy. When the music stops and changes after we hear, “The government only allows one toilet per 200 people,” It makes us - as an audience - realize its an important message, and once it changes to a faster upbeat sound we start to have the frightening experience. Non-diegetic sounds are used in all movies, but not many people take notice of it. This is mainly because it is being used throughout the whole movie and we just considered as a sound effect or background music. While all the different sounds are going on in the background, Gideon and Duma are just carrying on the conversation between them. When there is a conversation going on this is known as the film aspect, dialogue.

Furthermore, A dialogue is a film technique where it is a conversation that is happening between two or more people and is used throughout the whole movie. This aspect is being used in every part of the scene, and it includes all the important things that are being said. A good example is when Gideon says to Peekay, “The law says only 2% of us can go to school. You know what you learn there? Enough bloody Afrikaans to be maids, street sweepers, or... or mine slaves. We can't even read the bloody apartheid signs to tell us where we aren't allowed to go.”  The use of dialogue isn’t just a conversation, instead, it functions in a very purposeful manner. One way A dialogue can be used is, it can reveal a character. The way the characters use or say any words can reveal their emotional/physical state and it can also give us a bit more background on them. Another way the director would use this is to send important messages to the audience. What the characters are saying in this scene will make the audience want or have the need to do something for the black community. This conversation will also give us an idea of the ill-treatment that is being used towards the black population. The film technique - dialogue - seems easy to use it, but because it has to create impact, it has to be used carefully. Many different film techniques are also being used while the characters are talking.

When the scene is coming to an end; Gideon and Peekay stop to get a drink of water, a shallow focus shot was being used. A shallow focus shot is when there is one place that is being focused whilst the background or the area around it is being blurred. In this shallow focus shot, we see Gideon walking up to Peekay and exclaims “What was different? The tribes sang together because of the myth. They came last night because of the myth. They'll come again because of the myth. A myth we don't even believe. Damn belief! Damn belief! I believe in Africa. I believe in my people. I want to believe in the future. Then what do you believe in?” Gideon then gets interrupted by a sergeant, who was at first blurred out but once he said “Mind your mouth Kaffir” he starts to become clear. The reason any director would want to use this aspect is for it to make the characters or subject stand out or to isolate it from the background. When this aspect stopped and the sergeant became clear it made the audience take notice of his surroundings. While Gideon was saying these words, we would be able to know that he was saying it with huge dignity towards his people and the myth. Me, being able to understand this makes me realize what kind of effect this aspect had on the audience. It made us understand that this very part of the scene was important for this character and understand what they’re feeling. As Gideon starts speaking the aspect gets closer towards them and this makes us get deeper into what he was feeling. 

Overall the film, The Power of One, had great film techniques running in every bit of the movie and they all had a different impact on the audience. In each aspect that was being used reveals the reason why the director would want to use this and the message behind it. Just from this scene, it can give us a bigger picture of the struggles the black population had to face in their everyday lives. It additionally showed the brutal things the English or Afrikaaners would use against the black community, whether it was physical or verbal. _________________________________________________________________________________________

- What am I proud of?

- What can I do (specifically) to improve for next time?

- What is one thing I enjoyed about learning about the film?

- What is one thing I found challenging about learning about the film?

- What is one thing I found useful/I will use next time I write an essay?

- What is one thing I am wondering about to do with writing about Visual Texts? _________________________________________________________

When I finished writing my essay and I got my results back, I was really proud to know that I am working towards my level(5) for writing. I find that really good for me because I know myself as someone who struggles to write a good piece of work. When I received my feedback from my teacher she gave me some tips that I could work on next time, which was to be more specific in the movie or the scene. I took this advice and is going to use it for my next essay, or edit it if I forget to be specific. One thing I enjoyed about the film, The Power of One, was that it was related to the real world and its problems. Next time when I get the chance to write an essay, I would also use GOLDEN, TAKO, and also SEXXY paragraphs because they helped me to write a really good essay that im very proud of. One thing im wondering about is if im ever able to use these paragraphs once more this year or term.