Level Three - English - Close viewing

Mad Max: Fury Road

Music and dialogue (Jordan, Kenzie and I)

In the scene where Furiosa and Max are driving through the lovely, scorching desert, the director uses sombre depressing music while Furiosa's trauma dumps on poor Max. Music is v sad because it sounds sad probably because it's supposed to be sad. After all, the girl got kidnapped when she was young. We know she was kidnapped because she says so with her words, which is dialogue. These two film aspects correlate well because the fact that she was kidnapped is also kinda sad I guess. The director used these two aspects together to put us in a bad state of mind because we all relate to our mommy and daddy issues. 

To translate this to proper English. (My own writing)

The soft instrumental music playing in the background effectively creates a sad atmosphere as Furisoa explains her past. George Miller uses the sound of soft violins in the background of this conversation to help the audience understand that the bought up of Furiosa is a sad and difficult thing for her to discuss as she had to suffer for many years alone, along with a breathing reminder of the dark times, surround and control her life since. As the scene continues, the music instantly cuts out as Furiosa says she is looking for redemption, thus making the word sound powerful and outlining that this is something truly important to Furiosa. Moments later, the music comes back in as a low angle camera shot that is now focussed on Nuxx cuddling up to Capable, one of the wives, lost in thought. His focus switches when he notices a beetle crawling up the arm of Capable, which he allows to crawl along his finger before eating it. The use of this shot is a good representation that Nuxx, too, is looking for redemption as after he eats the bug, his expressions change, appearing sorry for what he did. This leads us to consider that his perspective on the world that he has grown to believe was all engines and vehicles is slowly changing to a world of hope. He is now learning to make his own decisions, unlike back at the citadel where all choices were from the "leader", Immortan Joe.