Crash Analysis

CRASH

The 2004 gripping motion picture Crash is described as telling interlocking stories of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism.

Paul Haggis, the director, used a number of techniques and methods to make this movie the award winning, show stopping film it became. For example in one scene, the audio codes in one particular scene sparked interest - the scene where a woman has a car crash (ironically) and her car has over turned, she is surprisingly being rescued by a police officer who 'assaulted' her before her husband a couple of scenes earlier. The woman screams as she refuses for him to touch her but has no option but to as it's a matter of life or death. The choice of music, which a very holy, slow type of sound, was used to convey narrative information to the audience additionally it adds to the atmosphere. As the scene reaches it's climax, so does the music as it gets louder and more powerful towards the audience. It gives the idea that something spectacular is about to happen,it is also noticeable that the music drowns out the speech from the actors and although words are not being spoken, it is clear to see what direction the scene is going in due to the climax of the scene. 

Camera shots are very close up whilst they are in the burning car - this is used to create emotion and tension and we are able to see both the woman and the police officers emotion at this moment, both scared and both faithful. The facial expressions add to this as their emotions are clearly represented and easily interpreted by the audience.

Another example of audio/visual codes is when a little girl gets shot protecting her father. The little girl, named Elizabeth, runs out in front of a gun however is unharmed. The music is again strong and overpowering when reaching it's climax which speech being drowned out by facial expressions give the clear representation of the current emotions. The lighting is very light and bright which suggests the innocence of the young girl.

Overall, Haggis involves many technical codes all through the film and it's the way in which he uses them that makes this film so compelling and cogent in the film industry.