Fruitvale Station Essay

The film Fruitvale Station is a romance, crime, and drama filled movie based on a true story. In 2009, Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer in Oakland, Fruitvale train station. However, he was not pronounced dead until later the next morning at the Highland Hospital. The overall effect the hospital scene gives in this film is the shock of reality, the loss of a loved one and heartbreak. There are different mise-en-scenes involved with this scene to help project the reality check a major crime of one individual can have on a family/community both to the characters in the movie and the viewers of the film.
During this scene, Oscars’ girlfriend, Sophina has on dark eye liner that has smeared under her eyes from crying which gives her a distressed look. Wanda, Oscars’ mother, has no makeup on, also known as plain face, causing the viewer to focus on her many facial expressions. There is also use of shadows on their faces to enhance the dramatic intensity of their emotions. The make-up effects of the shot wound affected Oscars’ mom and the viewers because it is the reality shock that you get when you finally

realize everything you wanted to be a lie, turned out to be real. The overall scene is a very surreal emotion
When they first arrived at the hospital it was night time and in the waiting area there was a window that you could see out of.

Throughout the scene it goes from night time to day time, which is represented through the window. The lighting perceived through the window indicates that Oscars’ family and friends waited in the hospital from that night to the next morning to find out if he would pull through from tragic incident. Lighting plays a major role on the effect a scene can have on its viewers. For instance, bright lighting would represent happiness within character. In this case, for this scene, the lighting is very dim causing a gloomy, drowsy saddening effect. Soft lighting also plays a role in this scene to contribute to that effect because its focus is only one thing, whomever the main emotion is coming

from.
Angles have a special emphasis on emotions reenacted in this film, such as the close ups on Sophina and Wanda when they must take in every bit of disappointing and depressing news the doctors have. Another angle captured in this film that causes a dramatic effect is a side view of Wanda looking and her deceased son laying on the gurney, the last way she viewed her son. Many people can relate to this incident because they one can only imagine what it is like to lose someone you love in a situation like that. Many others do not have to imagine because they have experienced firsthand of either someone they cared for or was from their community.
There are plenty of effects different films and scenes for different viewers can feel from. There could also be an anger effect towards the incident, and possibly others that could be consider an effect on viewers. But the main effect the scene perceives is shock of reality and heartbreak. The more information and depth of knowledge within mise-en-scene that a viewer has can determine a different effect one may perceive.