How far does the impact of film you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques?

How far does the impact of film you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? - CLIP 11

http://www.slideshare.net/mattheworegan/la-haine-rev



For me, one of the most distinctive film techniques in "La Haine" (1995, directed by Matthew Kassovitz) is the idea of time constraint and how the audience is constantly reminded of the time. The restriction of a tightly confined time period is unusual for an entire film narrative, but is maybe a generic trait of films with young rebellious people as they are likely to be "up all night" whilst stranded due to their lack of resources, e.g public transport.

The time constraints reinforced the fact that the film is set in just a 24 hour period, so we only see one day into the three main characters (Siad, Hubert and Vinz) lives. The 24 hour film without sleep portrays a theme of adventure and uncommon experiences, but most of all concentrates on the limited time span which increases suspension and the hint that something is going to happen, keeping the audience drawn to the film. The suspense works by having a constant thing throughout the duration of the film to keep the audience wondering, for example, Vinzs gun left constant questions in my head as circumstances arrised where i wondered if the gun would be used. Another example is the constant reminder of the condition of Abdel in hospital, as if he died vinz would kill a police officer. These two constant suspense themes kept me watching as they tied in well together, as i assumed vinz would kill the police officer with the gun he acquired. The suspension is highlighted well in the very ending scene where the police officer accidentally kills vinz.    


 In this scene it's the only time where the clock is shown to be actually moving. Throughout the whole film the time flashes up with a non-diegetic sound of a clock ticking, but the transition does not show the clock actually changing time until now. There is a two shot wide angle of  hubert and the police officer staring down at Vinzs body after he was just shot, then after the time transition there is a wide shot from the other side, showing vinz's body on the ground, hubert and the police officer staring down at it still and siad looking at the police officer. They are all in disbelief of what have just happened. Personally I think the clock is shown to be changing at this point in order to highlight the fact that situations in this enviornment can escalate quickly with disasterous consequences, due to the access of weapons and de sensitisation of violence in the estate as they have been exposed the riots in paris in the 90's. It could also represent how Vinz is like a timebomb, and each tick click of the clock is like vinz getting closer and closer to snapping. This is shown in the scene where they terrorise the skinhead and go to shoot him. (Skinheads are white extremists who engage in racist behaviour, particularly towards immigrants.) In this scene Vinz is seen to be higher up than the skinhead with a gun pointed down at him which shows he is clearly in power in this situation. There's a close up of the skinheads face with a gun pointed to it from a high angle which reinstates who has the power here. You can see him pressing the gun further and further down onto his head, which shows he was getting nearer to snapping and just shooting him without any more thought. He pulls away last minute due to Huber's reverse psychology but it shows he was close, like a ticking bomb. It's also linked in with the metaphor of "so far so good" as it shows vinz being pushed to the edge but hasn't quite gone quite far enough yet to shoot him.
So, overall for me I think the time narrative in La Haine creates a sense of unease, the clock ticking brings tension and an aspect of suspense to the film which is magnified by the frustration shown by the three youths. By contrast, the opening montage of news footage of the riot emphasises the rush of adrenaline created by all of the riots, they are new and almost bring some kind of purpose to the lives of the boys as everything else is quite pointless on the estate. That could also be a use of the time constraints to show that at points nothing much is really happening to the boys and they have little purpose in life. For example in one scene they are seen to be sitting down not doing anything, then the time changes and they are still doing the same.