Techniques Used to Convey Meaning in The Fast and The Furious

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Techniques Used to Convey Meaning in The Fast and The Furious

"The Fast and The Furious" is a film based on stereotyping. The main

theme of the film is about a group of three cars that attack trucks in

America and a policeman is sent to race his car in street races to try

and find out who is stealing from the trucks. I am going to discuss

the techniques that the director, Rob Cohen, uses to convey his ideas

and meanings to his target audience during the first race scene.

During the race scene we see a lot of shots that cause anticipation to

be built up. An example of this is the first shot we view where we see

a long straight road that would be perfect for a road race and then we

see a highly modified car pull up with a revving engine. The camera

shows a close up of the engine. This type of camera work builds up

tension and anticipation because the viewer expects something exciting

to happen and is more likely to want to watch the film. This technique

allows the director to set the scene for most of the film because from

the moment of seeing the modified car the viewer knows that the main

basis of the scene will be around cars because we see a close up of a

car and this makes the car appear important.

The director implies that if you have a big fast car then you can get

a beautiful girl. The director shows this when a woman steps out of

the car in a short mini skirt and reveals a lot of her leg. The

director does this because he knows that his target audience will be

in the 13-30, male age group and seeing sexy women will appeal to

them. These types of shots will help sell the film and several of the

shots may cause the viewer t...

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...hat the racer is daring and that he does not fear

death or pain. Again this is attractive towards the viewer because the

viewer wants to see action and death defying deeds. This point also

applies towards the second point concerning the on board computer

showing a warning.

To conclude I believe that Rob Cohen has put his meanings across using

film language admirably. He has used subjects and objects that will

appeal to the target audience including cars, women and crime. These

three themes are the main basis of the film and Rob Cohen has

exploited these three themes so that his film will appeal to a larger

target audience. At the end of the day the film has to sell and this

film would have done very well at the box office because of the

relationship that is built between the viewer and what is going on

on-screen.

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