Film Techniques In The Great Gatsby Essay Example

In the film The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann, many significant film techniques are used throughout the scenes to present different themes and ideas to the audience. 

The techniques I will be talking about are music, dialogue, camera work, and costuming

One of the most important scenes that use these techniques to show the theme of obsession in the film is the Afternoon Tea Scene. One of the film techniques used in The Afternoon Tea Scene is music. At the beginning of the scene, a remixed version of the song Crazy In Love by Beyoncé starts playing. Instead of the usual pop sound, it's distorted and sounds as if it was written in the 20s. They did this by analyzing the aspects of the song, taking its pitch, tempo, and dynamics, and turning it into a jazz piece by removing the heavy bass drum sound and instead, adding a saxophone sound and other wind instruments. As the song plays, Gatsby is renovating and re-decorating Nick's house before Daisy shows up for afternoon tea. The combination of the music and his actions shows how Gatsby is “Crazy In Love” for Daisy. Luhrmann uses music to portray obsession and how obsessed Gatsby is with Daisy and how he will do anything to make her happy. Gatsby, much like many others, will do anything in his power to make Daisy happy and is constantly trying to get her back into his life. Overall the song “Crazy In Love” combined with dialogue, shows the audience how obsessed and infatuated Gatsby is with Daisy and how he will go to extreme lengths to be with her.

Another film technique Luhrmann used was dialogue. At the beginning of the scene, we see Nick walking outside to his front door only to see a bunch of construction workers outside, fixing it up and making it look nice. Gatsby arrives with workers carrying many bunches of flowers for Daisy. Nick tries to be funny and says. “ The grass looks great if that's what you're asking.” which Gatsby then replies with. “Grass. What grass.” Showing that Gatsby is so obsessed with perfection he can't even understand a simple joke. Gatsby shows obsession again further on in the scene when Daisy, Nick, and Gatsby are sitting in the living room filled with flowers. Daisy starts talking about how she and Gatsby have met before and how it's been a long time when Gatsby jumps in and says. “5 years next november.” This shows that Gatsby is so infatuated with Daisy that he counts every day that goes by without her. The dialogue used in this scene, Luhrmann used to show again how obsessed Gatsby is with Daisy and how he will do anything for her much like many well-known historical figures, for example, Hitler and the 9/11 terrorists who did everything in their power to get what they wanted.

The camera work throughout The Afternoon Tea Scene was extremely significant to the theme. There is a moment in the scene when Gatsby and Nick are in the living room waiting for Daisy to arrive. The camera uses a ‘shot-reverse shot’ technique, flicking between Gatsby, an old clock, and Nick whilst also zooming in closer on their faces. As the camera gets closer to Gatsby, the clock, and Nick, Gatsby’s face becomes more and more distressed. The camera is then at a close-up point on Gatsby where the audience can see how nervous and scared he really is about Daisy turning up at all. This shows how impatient Gatsby can be. The camera work helps portray Gatsby’s obsession for Daisy and how irritated and impatient he is when it comes to her. Gatsby is a perfectionist and has to have everything in order for him to function as a human. The shot-reverse-shot between Gatsby, the clock, and Nick shows how he can't function because Daisy isn't at Nick's house on time. Gatsby then gives the line. “ I can't wait all day… I'm leaving.” When the time is only 3:58 pm. Through the combination of camera work and this line of dialogue, Gatsby's perfectionist side shows through making him look even more obsessed over Daisy than before.

The costuming in this scene is very significant as it once again shows the audience how obsessed Gatsby is over Daisy and how he will do anything in his power to have her in his life again. At the beginning of this scene, Gatsby is wearing a blue shirt with a brown overcoat and orange tie along with a white suit jacket and pants. He has a brown pocket square to match with the overcoat and shiny black shoes to tie it all together. His hair is kept back with some sort of gel but not so much that there is no volume in it. Gatsby also has little to no makeup on. The costume as a whole shows how much he wants Daisy back. Gatsby wears these certain clothes to show his new life status, where once he was just a poor boy to now being a rich man. Throughout this scene, Gatsby is constantly slicking his hair back. This shows how nervous he is about Daisy and how vulnerable he can be around her. Gatsby’s clothes show how obsessed he is over Daisy as he is doing everything he can to have her, which includes dressing up as nicely as he can. 

In conclusion, the Afternoon Tea Scene is a very important scene in The Great Gatsby as the scene contains elements of music, dialogue, camera work, and costuming which Luhrmann used to portray the theme of obsession with Gatsby and Daisy. The obsessive behavior Gatsby projects towards Daisy is much like historical figures Hitler and the 9/11 terrorists as they did everything they could to get what they wanted.