Page Heading
Technique
Analysis
Key
Scenes
Sub-heading
Definition:
A technique is the way in which a
composer constructs meaning.
In Distinctively Visual, you may only
use visual techniques. This means
techniques that encourage or allow
you to visualise or see what is going
on.
This means you can not use
techniques that are based in
sound or other language
devices.
Sub-heading
Using techniques:
Techniques you can use…
1.
Literary…
Descriptive language, imagery, metaphors, similes,
symbolism, personification, motifs
2.
Visual…
Stage directions, body language, images (photos etc),
lighting
Techniques you can use with care…
1.
Literary …
Allusion, contrast, juxtaposition, parody, repetition
Techniques you can not use…
1. Literary …
Alliteration, assonance, sarcasm,
cliché, onomatopoeia, rhyme,
music, emotive language, direct
speech, etc
Sub-heading
How to use unusable techniques
Talk about their relationship
with visual techniques.
Therefore the relationship and
interaction
becomes
the
technique.
Sub-heading
Visible and Invisible
Is the relationship between what you see and
what you hear about, and know is around but
you never see. It is deliberately hidden.
The Shoe-horn Sonata is a play with only two
settings and two characters. Even though
there are other important places (the POW
camps, the Daid Jones Food Hall, Chatswood)
AND other important and present people (Rick,
other POWs being interviewed)
WHY?
To make meaning
Visible and invisible continued
People and places which are visible
and prioritised by the composer. All
the focus is on them. They are
important.
What other people, places and
objects are seen and what other
people, places and objects are
unseen?
Sub-heading
Visual and Written
Visual elements are those things that you see…
Body language, lighting, facial expressions
(indicated by stage directions) and images
(pictures put up on the screen)
But being able to see things is does not tell you
the whole story. To make sense of what you are
seeing, you need to recognise how important
the things that you read/ hear are (music,
quotes etc) and how they add to your
knowledge of what you see.
What aural elements are
there in the text? What visual
elements do they reinforce
your understanding of?
Sub-heading
In Summary
The only way to talk about non
visual elements in Distinctively
Visual is by talking about how
they reinforce or add meaning
to the visual elements.
3 Key Scenes
Scene 4
Scene 8
Scene 14
Scene 4
In this scene, the obvious
tension in the relationship
between Bridie and Sheila is
contrasted with the sacrifice the
women made for the same
friendship in the face of the
atrocities of the POW camp.
Scene 4
p.
quote
Technique linked to meaning
37
“BRIDIE deliberately
ignores SHEILA’S rising
anger. Indeed, she
holds up some little
motel coffee sachets
and looks at them”
The body language described by this stage
direction epitomises the state of the relationship
between Sheila and Bridie. Incapable of dealing
with the intense and looming issues of their
experiences in the POW camp and following
estrangement, Bridie ignores Sheila and focuses
on small, insignificant details.
38
“it was the biggest
debacle since the
Greeks took Troy. And
I bet you Troy there
was some British
general’s forbear
saying [mimics cruelly]
‘What a smashing
wooden horse! I say
chaps, wheel her in!”
The parody of British imperial foolishness which
creates humour in this quote underlines the fact
that although Bridie has lived her life with more
normality than Shiela, she has not healed from
the deeply scarring experience.
The vitriolic “cruelty” of the line leads the
audience to a recognition that Bridie also angry
at and deeply hurt by the unexplained alienation
by Sheila.
Scene 4
p.
quote
Technique linked to meaning
38
“BRIDIE I got you
through the war.
Your empire didn’t
give a damn. They
left you to the
Japs.”
This is not a visual technique. You could not use it
unless you use one of the lenses I have provided…
This quote clarifies the intensity of the relationship
whose increasingly tension has so far been
expressed through body language and facial
expressions. It also makes clear the stark reality that
the POWs were completely deserted by their
governments, both before and after the war.
40
“And then – one
wonderful morning
– Lipstick Larry
comes strutting out
into the tenko –
wearing some of
our handiwork
beneath his baggy
shorts”
In this section, the light-heartedly humourous picture
of Lipstick Larry piercing his buttocks with a rusty pin
is contrasted with the sounds of Sheila being
beaten for her actions. The contrast between the
image and the sound illustrates the lengths that
Bridie and Sheila would go to, to obtain self respect
by not giving up in the POW camp.
Scene 4
p.
quote
Technique linked to meaning
40
“Ya-ta!! Then BRIDIE
and SHEILA drink. On
the soundtrack we
can still hear LIPSTICK
LARRY beating BRIDIE.
Blackout.”
The image of Sheila and Bridie drinking is
juxtaposed with the sound of Bridie being
beaten, encouraging the realisation that
although the women appear to be celebrating
their freedom, they are in fact still trapped in the
memories and with the scars of their past
experiences.
Scene 8
In this scene, the tension
between Sheila and Bridie
comes to a head with the
revelation of Sheila’s sacrifice.
Scene 8
p.
quote
Technique linked to meaning
57
“Remember how
pretty we thought it
was? The frangipani
everywhere – their
perfume used to
make us sick … […]
and those nights.
Filled with screams.”
Appearance and reality is an important theme
throughout the text as the appearance that the
women are happy and healing is challenged by
the slow realisation that they are trapped in their
past by societies and their own inability to
recognise and acknowledge the truth. The
relationship between appearance and reality is
here represented by the difference between the
apparently idyllic setting of the Belalau and the
nightmarish reality it hid.
58
“’plenty of room in the Direct speech is used occasionally throughout
graveyard for her’”
the play to emphasise moments when the
Japanese, in particular Lipstick Larry, have
physical and/ or emotional control over the
women. This example reinforces the emotionally
charged nature of the description of Lipstick
Larry as Sheila begs for her friend’s life.
Scene 8
p.
quote
Technique linked to meaning
58
“Looking at the shoehorn”
The motif of the shoe-horn is used throughout to
symbolise… (you should have some ideas of your
own by now!)
60
“SHEILA […] You can’t This quote symbolises the importance of sight,
tell the truth if you look and being seen, for the triumph of truth.
away”
Scene 14
This is the final scene in which
we see Sheila and Bridie
finally begin to leave the war
behind.