Film Techniques In The Castle Directed By Rob Sitch

The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch, is an Australian comedy, which delves into the lives of a stereotypical Australian family, the Kerrigans. The film touchs on issues close to home in a humourous way. The audience is introduced to the classic Aussie family, narrated in the viewpoint of the youngest of the Kerrigans, Dale.

These two characters do not know and the audience needs someone to tell us what has happened so an understanding is created. They are underneath a destroyed gate while it rains violently around them. The setting is a very dark and unwelcoming environment, creating a strong sense of mystery. The audience does not know what has happened and the characters in the scene do not understand. A long shot shows the gate and the large rain puddles when a newcomer enters, seemingly from the camera. The character runs towards the two characters that are framed by the gate. This new character, the commoner, is the interrogator. He asks questions and drives the story forward. The commoner represents the audience and wants to know what has happened. As the characters volunteer to tell the story, the camera zooms in closer. The camera zooms in to simulate the audience members leaning closer, as they would lean closer to become more attentive to the storyteller and to understand a story more clearly. In this scene, the film sets expectations for the audience that will never be met. They believe as they story is told, a conclusion will be created at the end. The story is told from the point of view of two characters that were at the event and they still do not understand, suggesting it is possible that the audience will never know the truth.

Although released over 17 years ago, Rob Sitch’s comedy The Castle remains an incredibly popular film that portrays an ‘Aussie Battler’ family, the Kerrigans, in suburbia. Film writer Ian Craven states that the Kerrigans possess “the qualities of a simple good-heartedness family, with human decency and dignity”, all of which can be easily recognized by the audience throughout the film. The Castle takes a satirical look at Australian suburbia in order to manipulate traditional stereotypes, gender constructions, themes, identities, ideologies and cinematic techniques as a means of altering the positioning of the audience.

Hi everyone! How are you today? Nice to see all you guys here. Let’s me introduce myself first. My name is Jane Kennedy. I am one of writers of the film ‘The Castle’. I’m sure that everyone has watched ‘The Castle’, right? I’m invited to be here and tell you about this movie as well as how I and my team have built up and shown the ideas about the voice of Australians through it. As you know, everyone including Australians have their own way of understanding and an opinion of the world and people in it. That’s called their ‘voice’. However, the way Australians view and understand the world is unique. Let’s come back to ‘The Castle’, this is a story about the Kerrigan family who together stand up to fight against the government for their

Lee makes excellent use of these shots as a way of bringing the viewer into the action of the movie. His use of high and low angle, point of view shots both heighten tension and give the feeling that the characters

The plot of the novel revolves around the mystery of a murder in a town of racism and injustice. This plot can be drawn back and related to the setting of the story; Australia’s 1960s which overflowed with racial injustice and favour of white Australians. Silvey was able to unveil the narrow mindedness, racial inequality and injustice of Australia’s society in the past, leading to the malicious treatment of countless ethnic groups, including Australian Aborigines, through his plot. Jasper Jones, Silvey’s mixed race teen character, and Jeffrey Lu, Silvey’s Vietnamese teen character, are both victim to racial discrimination throughout the story, leading to their constant struggles whilst living their lives in an Australian town that only appreciates and favours White Australians. The involvement of racial prejudice, discrimination and murder in the plot of the novel play a significant role in showcasing the Australian history and its uniqueness. It also serves to advance the plot as well as its character’s nature and attitudes. The plot, overall, projects fundamental moral questions of the teenage boys, representing the experience of being raised either intelligent, poor, Asian or indigenous in rural

“The Dressmaker” has many similar elements and features to spaghetti westerns. How has the director used this style to engage a modern audience?

Another text that illustrates similar ideas of citizenship and cultural identity is the Castle directed by Rob Sitch. Castle follows the life of a working-class family in Melbourne, who have been told they must vacate their house to allow for infrastructural expansion. These texts demonstrate the importance of community and personal identity within the lives of Australians, that is experienced within citizenship.

Long takes and camera movements usually rely on each other. Frame mobility helps to break the long shot into significant smaller units (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008, p. 215). With the use of camera movement, this shot can be broken down into three parts – Lisa and Lieutenant Leopold walking towards their family members, where the camera tracks them, Lieutenant Leopold breaking the news to his uncle, where the camera stays static, and Lisa’s parents questioning Lisa about her refusal, where the camera tracks in from a long shot to a mid-close up shot.

The Castle is a movie primarily about a family sticking together and their fight for the right to live in their own home. The Castle’s portrayal of family is both positive and negative.

An idiosyncratic (habits peculiar to them) and loving family who face the challenges presented by ‘compulsory acquisition’ house gets taken forcefully, Identity of working class family and their triumph at conquering the system, Humour created by what is described and what we actually see on the screen – tells us how marvellous when really it isn’t yet so serious when describing it, Aussie battler, working class, constructed through Darryl, Mateship, community spirit (looking after Jack who is vulnerable), Outdoors, Bonnie Doon, nature, holidays, Sport, fishing shots of father and son, Myths – Australia is an egalitarian (not equal) society, Xenophobia – fear of foreigners through Lebanese neighbour, Urban warrior – fight for rights, justice, Tall poppy syndrome – one thinks is better than the rest , Myth of lucky country – disempowered by their ethnicity and age, Jack and Farouk, value; home, sense of place, respect, trust loyalty Construction of Aussie Battler; Plight of working class; Exploitation of working class by gov’t and large corporations, Challenges to authority, Uncovering the myth of the egalitarian society (not equal)

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls’. The memoir is about a young girl named Jeannette, and her three siblings, and the trials and tribulations they face whilst growing up with an alcoholic father and a careless mother. The memoir recounts the unconventional and poverty-stricken upbringing of Jeanette and her siblings at the hands of their deeply maladjusted parents. Jeannette faces many hardships throughout her childhood, but she forges a better future in spite of her past. Jeannette Walls’ lifelong success is the result of her determination to overcome a dark and troubled past.

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. In this book, Jeannette recounts her unconventional upbringing along with her three siblings. Yet, despite of it all, she grew up to have an ordinary life as an adult with a professional career in journalism. Throughout childhood, Jeannette’s family lived like vagabonds, having no permanent residence, sometimes even not having an actual home but sleeping in the family station wagon. One day they lived in the middle of the desert by Joshua Tree, the next week they lived in Las Vegas, then following week it was Welch, West Virginia. Because of all the moving that the family did, the children sometimes found themselves homeschooled, and other times were enrolled in school. The parents, Rose Mary and Rex, though flighty parents, were intellectual, artistic, and visionaries. They instilled these values into their children. Coincidentally, the children tapped into having their own traits and talents. Lori is the artist, Jeannette is the journalist, while Brian is the mediator. Unfortunately, Maureen, the youngest, never learned resiliency nor did she find herself or come to her own. As the children grew older, one by one, they moved to New York to live an ordinary life and pursue their own individual passion. Lori became a fantasy illustrator, Brian became a police sergeant, and Jeannette became a TV correspondent. Maureen was the last one to move to New

The Castle, directed by Robert Sitch and produced in 1997, is arguably one of the greatest Australian movies ever created. It is a peculiar, boorish and above all, humorous film, that is loved by most Australians. With great use of trademark Aussie humour, amateur camera work and Australian stereotyping, the movie can be very relatable to Australian viewers, typically those of the blue-collar working-class level. Even with light-hearted humour that could be taken offensively, and seen as a ‘dig at Australian culture, in my opinion, the Castle portrays the typical Australian working -class family and has an underlying message of being resilient and never giving up!

Survival is the key struggle in The Shawshank Redemption. This film takes place in the corrupt Shawshank State Penitentiary where mental and physical abuses inflicted upon prisoners are the hard realities of the system. For the prisoners of Shawshank, life is often bleak and violent. However, the will to survive is what keeps the characters motivated to retain their humanity and challenge the institutionalization of Shawshank. In particular, the film’s main protagonists, Andy Dufresne and Ellis “Red” Redding, exemplify the struggle for survival in the face of a corrupt, frightening, and oppressive prison system. In order to survive the harsh realities of the world, people adapt with personal traits like courage and resourcefulness in addition to forming community with other people.