Comparing Opening Scenes of Two Film Versions of Great Expectations

Comparing Opening Scenes of Two Film Versions of Great Expectations

The purpose of this essay will be to analyse and compare two versions

of the opening scenes of Great Expectations. The first was produced by

David Lean in 1994 and the second is an adaptation produced in 1997 by

the BBC. In particular, observation will focus on how effective each

is at creating an atmosphere of tension with regards to media

techniques, sound effects and other film features.

Right at the beginning of David Leans version of Great Expectations a

book appears which starts to be read by a narrator, the narrator is

Pip grown up. This reassures the viewer that Pip survives his eventful

child hood. After about a minute the pages start to turn over and then

the book starts to fade. I think the book is there to show everyone

that it is also a novel written by Charles Dickens, The pages start to

turn over which represents the weather which is windy. As soon as the

book fades you see Pip running towards the graveyard. To give a tense

atmosphere the set is dark and deserted, and the sun is setting,

casting a gold tint over Pip, and sound effects of the wind howling

have been added.

This version is done in Black and White because they did not have

colour in 1944. Even though it is done this way it creates more

tension of atmosphere because you look at where the light is and the

light will only be on the main feature.

When Pip gets to the grave yard he begins to pull out all the dead

flowers from his mothers and Fathers graves. When he pulls out the

weeds we can see from the close up of the grave that it has been

neglected. The viewer makes the assumptio...

... middle of paper ...

...nvict as flash

backs. I think this is effective because the audience is forced to

wait longer to see the convict, and because the scenes are in

different order, this makes the audience think more about what is

happening.

In think that David Leans version is also effective even though the

BBC version is in colour and more up to date. I think that this

version is quite a bit better in creating an atmosphere of tension

because it is much darker, and the convict seems to appear out of

nowhere, whereas in the BBC version we gradually see the convict, so

we are not as surprised. The scenery and weather is more effective

because when you are in a grave it should not be for a good reason and

the windiness in this version shows that. The setting is actually in a

graveyard and Pip is caught by the convict in the graveyard.