To Kill a Mockingbird

Film

To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the biggest films of all time, it follows a court case where a black man has been blame for a crime he did not commit. The story is shown from the children's point of view as they learn to recognise evil and understand how people behave.

This film follows racism and southern American views as it revolves around the court case and how Atticus Finch fights for Tom Robinson's innocence.


Book

The book was the original source for the film and was much longer in terms of material. The book was split into two with the first half leading to the build up of the courtcase and the second half was the courtcase itself. Like the book, the film is told from the point of the children and the audience/readers are drawn on a learning experience of American attributes and their treatment of individuals such as blacks(Tom Robinson) and the mentally ill(Boo Radley).

Compared to American History X this film is slower paced and focused on the politics of interaction as well as the law. Children can provide a learning angle on a film so as it can be explained easily and given a better understanding. Throughout the courtscene we can see the power and equality of the characters from the camera angles:

Here Atticus and Tom Robinson are shown as superior

As Atticus questions Bob Ewell, Bob is shown
as the smaller man

The camera techniques throughout the court case show the superiority of characters and how we know who is good and bad/weak. Camera technique will be important in the film that the group will produce and can be useful when depicting power.