The King's Speech Essay

The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper, Is a British block produced In 2010. The film Illustrates the story of Bertie, later crowned King George VI, and his stammer affliction. It follows Berth’s wife’s pursuit to help her husband, employing Lionel Loge, an Australian speech pathologist, to assist, and potentially cure Bertie of his speech condition. The King’s Speech unravels the tale of how two entirely adverse characters end up the greatest of friends. Leading cinematographer, Danny Cohen, has used a variety of camera shots, angles, movement and lighting to greatly enhance he transformation of the characters and the growth of their friendship.

Cohen opens the hero’s Introductory scene with a wide shot and grim lighting to develop an uncomfortable sensation for the viewers, allowing them to realism the absence of trust and contentment Bertie has felt throughout his life. The cinematographer has positioned the characters using an off-centre technique to establish the Minimal distance and discomfort felt between Lionel and Bertie.

Positioning the pair on either sides of the frame allows Bertie to be depicted as powerless and isolated. Cohen has ensured that Lionel is similarly presented slightly if-centre during the straight cut conversation piece, but the camera is positioned at a lower angle granting a sense of superiority to Lionel. This shot and angle diversification allows the audience to experience the inequality felt between the heroes.

The Kings Speeech

The use of the off-centre technique in the lead room approach further enhances Berth’s emotional constraint and adds to the distance between the characters during conversation.

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To enhance the sense of discomfort and disconnection, Cohen has utilized an adverse lighting technique in the background of each of the characters frames. Bertie Is predictably presented against a bleak wall, with neither artificial nor natural light In his favor, communicating his negatively and distress. However, the cinematographer presents Lionel against a cluttered, and yet out of focus backdrop, with two artificial lights behind, and an evening skylight above, contributing to his disorderly and yet ingenious form of introduction. Additionally, this lighting variation further exposes a sense of unease amidst the pair.

As the scene progresses, Lionel requests Bertie to read a segment of script with headphones on, to replace the echo of his voice. Cohen has filmed this fragment using a medium two shot, presenting both the characters within the frame. The audience is then exposed to a soft zoom upon the characters, hinting at the forming connection and possible foundation of their forthcoming solidarity and the blurring of social boundaries. Hooper ensures that the transformation of the characters and development of their friendship Is clear by directing Cone’s diverse use of cinematography. When the introductory scene, the characters are shot from the front and side, presenting a sense of maturity in their relationship.

This movement of focus upon the characters softens the use of lead room, allowing the audience to identify a growing intimacy between the two. As he does earlier in the film, Cohen positions Lionel and Bertie on either sides of the frame, however only a meter apart further allowing the audience to experience a growth in trust and comfort felt by the heroes. The backdrop of the characters has barely been altered, with Lionel presented against a window, predictably portraying a midday light, outlining the sense of freedom and connection he has with the outside world, while Bertie is presented against a plain and unlit cockade. The flourishing sense of familiarity and confidence between the characters is clear in Cone’s use of close up shots throughout the conversation. The characters are similarly portrayed, with the camera positioned front on allowing the audience to see them as equals and furthermore at ease with each other.

As the scene unravels, Lioness’s wife returns home early to find Queen Elizabeth I seated at her dining table, Myrtle totally unaware of her husband’s connection with the Royals. Hooper uses this point of action to reverse the roles of Lionel and Bertie. Lionel acts with complete awarding, unwilling to face his wife after she’s discovered his bizarre secret. Cohen has presented Lionel pushed against the edge of the frame, with Bertie seated confidently in the centre, portraying the characters in a slightly humorous manner, certainly expressing the new sense of companionship and collusion. The climax scene opens with a point of view shot from Berth’s perspective.

It presents the daunting hall ahead that ends at the Palace room where he is to present his first wartime speech, announcing that England has officially Joined the war. Cohen then uses a blend of a frontal and following tracking shots as Bertie alls. This is filmed from a slightly lower angle with a continual minor sway, presenting the Kings true nerves for his forthcoming responsibility. The camera is then steadied after Lionel is included in the frame, allowing the audience to feel the ease Bertie feels with his speech pathologist’s, and now friend’s, presence. This further allows the audience to experience the growing trust and companionship between the heroes.

Cohen has filmed the pair directly through the out-of-focus microphone. Lionel is leveled with the camera and in contrast, Bertie is filmed from above, again depicting his tension and distress. Unlike the introductory and apology scene, both Lionel and Bertie are presented in the path of a single windows light, expressing the now pure equality and thriving friendship between the pair. Cohen abandons the microphone by further blurring and then removing it from within the frame, thereby allowing the audience to feel Just as Bertie does, that the speech is presented only to Lionel, not the British Empire. Additionally, Bertie is now equally leveled with the camera, demonstrating that once his focus shifted from the rest of England to solely Lionel, his confidence could soar.

Cohen then uses an arc shot, a arching of the characters, that reveals a true flow of ease, faith and harmony that Lionel and Bertie hold together. Danny Cohen, under the direction of Tom Hooper, has combined a diverse array of opposite social classes, grow together and form an unbreakable friendship. The Kings Speech has clearly demonstrated how the nature of friendship can spark between anybody as long as trust, contentment and intimacy are equally nurtured. Specifically, Cohen has used a variety of camera shots, angles, movement and lighting to develop the solidarity between Bertie and Lionel to allow this magnificently exclusive and everlasting bond to form.