BLK Film Clip Analysis

This is the baseball scene from the film 'War of the Worlds'

Film Making Conventions

• At 0:16 of the film clip it shows the stepfather's happy expression, which shows the attempt of trying to bond with the son.
• The son's facial expression is shown to be quite emotionless, which resembles the difficulties for the stepfather to earn his respect.
• At 1:17 the stepfather throws the ball too hard and the son gets hurt when he catches it, this could be because the father is angry as the son is hard for him to bond with.
• The clip includes a shot which is a frame within a frame (1:36) of the smashed window caused by the teenage boy leaving and not catching the baseball. This could resemble the weak relationship between him and his stepfather.

Cultural Codes

• The scene shows a son and stepfather playing baseball while talking, this is seen by the audience as a typical situation in where a stepfather attempts to become closer with the son and bond with him.
• The backyard is a small area which also looks quite run down and as a poor view. This makes the audience assume the owners are not very wealthy, and are a typical coping family with some problems.
• Both the stepfather and son are wearing baseball hats which rivaling teams, one is wearing red socks and one is NY Yankees. This is easy for the audience to relate to, and helps express the poor relationship between the stepfather and son.