Reality In Peter Weir's Film 'The Truman Show'

in Peter Weirs film The Truman show, Weir constantly displays an idea of appearance verses reality. Truman is a man in Weirs film that is continuously unravelling truths about the appearance of the world that he lives in and the harsh realities of Hollywood.
The first Still shows a massive black dome on top of the Hollywood hills with a Smokey grey sky behind it. Beneath the dome is some grass and the Holly wood sign in large writing. In the right hand corner of the Still, there is a small image of Truman looking down at some biscuits and a bowl at a table. Truman is also wearing pink pyjamas in this. The rugged grass surrounding the dome in this Still shows the real world is not as nice as sea haven as it is untidy and duller than the bright

Behind him there is backdrop of a pale blue sky with large white clouds. Below him, there is a thin line and underneath that line is rippled water. This image shows Truman's realisation of the reality of what appears to be Truman's world. In this image, Truman's body language looks tense but perplexed as well as if he is overwhelmed. This is visible with Truman's fists, posture and facial expression. Truman has a clenched fist which shows that he is tense, his posture is slightly slumped showing a more reflective side to his body language. His face is looking straight forward as if he is determined and his facial expression looks confused. This still is a long shot with focus on Truman, this kind of shot makes the audience feel empathetic towards Truman because it gives a feeling that we are following him through this section of the film. the lighting in this image is very bright, this shows that this is a pivotal moment in this film but also a reliving and happy one. The line below Truman separating the sky from the water represents the world that he once knew and the truth about his world and his existence. The water is ripples shows that he is unclear about his future and what reality has in store for him. The water also has his reflection in it which represents Truman's old naïve life. The sky is a pale blue and is laced with white clouds these colours alone represent rebirth(white) and wisdom (light blue) which together means the birth of new wisdom, this is in reference to the new information that Truman has about his reality and the appearance of his world. Blue also represents release which Weir uses toward the end of this film and it portrays Truman's release form his world. The last significant part of this shot is Truman's shadow. Truman's shadow is trailing behind him and is between the water and the sky, the shadow looks like it is reaching out and chasing Truman, the shadows arm is out in