C) Shot sizes

In the opening sequence of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' the shot sizes mainly consist of close ups and extreme close ups. A close up is when a camera 'zooms' into an object so the object 'zoomed' in on is the main thing in the frame ( or the camera is just close to an object); e.g. a cigar box. An extreme close up is when the camera is extremely close to an object ( or extremely zoomed in ) e.g you can just see the grip of a pen in a shot. Extreme close ups and close ups are usually used in film to show detail of an object / person or to make the audience aware of something in particular. An example of this would be when the camera shows a close up shot of a whistle nearer the end of the opening sequence. The close up starts off blurred and then gains a clear focus on the whistle, we can see this by looking at the images below.
1) Here the whistle is blurry. 

Here the whistle is not blurry.
2) 




I believe the director did this because it makes us even more aware that we need to pay special attention to the whistle and what it may mean. The director highlights this because the whistle could be symbolism for Atticus’s part in the movie as the defender of Tom Robinson (his lawyer). It shows the authority that Atticus has, however it also shows that whoever blows the whistle has the final say (like an umpire). This means that it could also be symbolism for the Jury / townsfolk / judge. Atticus is Scouts father and a lawyer in this movie. From this camera shot on the whistle we learn that Atticus is a very fair person and obeys what is right. It tells us that Atticus is a very honourable man. I believe this is the message the director was trying to get across when using this camera shot. This shot also tells us about one of the main themes in the movie - Racism. The whistle is supposed to stand for authority and fairness however, the image of the whistle starting off blurred tells us that this is not so. It shows us that what should be fair is not. Racism was a big part in the movie 'To Kill a Mockingbird' because the movie tells a story of a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. It affects the black man (Toms) life immensely and in the end we see that justice does not come. This is when we learn that the authority (whistle blower) has blurred the lines of what should be right. This story line helps us learn about life and racism in the 1930s because that is when this movie and story are set. In the 1930's racism was a huge thing. Blacks were not 'allowed' to associate with the whites at all. White skinned people were considered so superior, that a simple 'hello' from a dark skinned person (negroe) was considered very rude. Whites and blacks attended different schools, different churches and lived in different areas of the town. We see all of this very clearly throughout the movie. We also learn that if a black person is accused of wronging a white person in anyway, nobody really objects to their death / conviction in any way. However in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' we see a white lawyer (Atticus) stand up for a black man accused of raping a white woman. He and his family risk public condemnation from Atticus doing this but he does it regardless in order to stick up for what he feels is right. We can learn a lot from shot sizes in the opening sequence of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.