Gattaca Film Techniques

In this scene, we see Vincent beat his genetically superior brother, who is ‘Valid’ in a swimming contest, highlighting the importance/drive of the human spirit and that ‘there is no gene for the human spirit’. In this scene we the audience are allowed to further grasped the underlying message of the film- that a person’s self-worth cannot be measured by their gene code. The director Andrew Niccol’s shows us this through the use of four key techniques in this scene are as follows Non-Diegetic music, a green tint, medium close up shot and cross cutting. All of the theses techniques allow Niccol’s to convey emotions and themes through the movie ‘Gattaca’ without the uses of dialogue.

The director Niccol’s cleverly manipulates the technique

Allowing them to fell apart or involved in the characters choices, making the viewer more emotionally attached to the films idea/themes and the events that occurred in the film. Intertwining the purpose of the movie and the effect of the techniques that Niccol’s used. Both the Music and the green tint create an atmosphere of hostility between theses two character Vincent and Anton, a conflict between the divided society ‘Vail's’ and ‘Invalid's’. A conflict that has torn a family apart, a bond that is meant to be the strongest of them all is damaged beyond repair. Ripped apart by a society that is consumed by the values and beliefs that ‘Gattaca’ is built upon. Giving us as the audiences the opportunity to learn from this movie, as science fiction is normally based on technological advances and major social or environmental change, frequently to portray a time or place. Theses tow technique work together to convey an atmosphere filled with turmoil and shame, theses techniques do this by subconsciously manipulating the viewer into feeling a certain way at a specific point within this scene. Both theses techniques convey the same emotion of desire and prospects, as the technique of the green tint conveys the feel pity towards Vincent who has been discriminating against from as such a young age, whereas the uses of non-diegetic and diegetic sounds and music evoke the mood of suspense or tension of the situation. Both of theses techniques convey the same theme of both discrimination and the potential of the human spirit. Both of these themes can relate to other science fiction movie such as the film In Time, also directed by Andrew Niccol, where people are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25. Time becomes the new currency that people work for. In theory, this could be a good thing, as age 25 could arguably be considered the time