Institutions

Question 1

Production

Answer 1

-The low budget meant that special
effects were very limited. This can
be seen in the ‘sunken place’
sequences.
- “I came up
with the idea of shooting it with a
technique called “dry for wet.”
Normally that’s used for an
underwater scene — I think they did
a lot of it in James Cameron’s The
Abyss” Toby Oliver, cinematographer
- dry for wet= You shoot on a dry stage that
has lots of smoke and shoot
everything in slow motion.
- But they didn’t use
any smoke, because they’re not actually trying to say it was underwater. they’re saying it’s in his
mind.

Question 2

Casting

Answer 2

-Alison Williams (Rose)
has talked about how
she wanted to play a
role that would
challenge how
audiences perceive her
and break the
stereotypical ‘WASP
princess’ perception of
her.
-The casting of Alison Williams, who
has starred in Peter Pan, Marnie and
Girls was deliberate on Peele’s part
– he wanted a character that
audiences would instinctively trust,
in order that her betrayal would be
even more shocking.
-Daniel Kaluuya, who was British, was cast largely because of his role in Black Mirror, and his own experiences of racism and police prejudice in Britain fed into the way he played the role.
-The casting of Daniel Kaluuya was
also very effective – audiences (both
white and black) needed to identify
fully with Chris’s character, and
Kaluuya has a likeable, ‘everyman’
quality that made him very
successful in this.

Question 3

Age rating

Answer 3

• The final act of the film, as Chris
  fights his way free of the
  Armitages, is made much more
  effective and exciting by the use of
  violence that would not have been
  possible in a 12 certificate film.
  However, the camera does not
  dwell on images of gore, and much
  of the worst violence happens off-
  screen, allowing the film to avoid.
  -Much of the swearing comes via
  Rod and his rants about sex-slaves
  and Jeffrey Dahmer, and allows for
  effective comic relief throughout
  the film.