In this analysis I looked at the lunch scene in the middle of raising the barn in Peter Weir’s “Witness” made in 1985. I mainly look at dialogue and mise-en-scene. The whole film is about an Amish boy and his mother, Rachel, who witness a murder and a policeman, John, who goes into hiding as protection until the trial.
The scene itself is one where the community is brought together to build a barn in a day for a newlywed couple of the town.The setting is very specific because it’s focused on an Amish colony, therefore the audience has a hard time relating to a lot of things but this brings out John’s feelings much more because he doesn’t understand much about the Amish either. This particular scene had no dialogue spoken because all the messages were said in expression. The people of the community were looking down on Rachel and John’s relationship because the people all believed there were things going on between them.
The scene starts with an extreme long shot showing the progress already made on the barn and ends with a close up.The shots go from extreme long shot, to a long shot, to a medium shot. The shots seem to signify the community views and how they’re focused on Rachel. This is shown without camera movement towards Rachel but the scene sets its focus on her because it goes from very far, to very close, within three shots. Also, the majority of the shots are close-ups because it’s the thoughts that people are having that are pushing the scene to grow. Because there is little camera movement in this scene, Rachel is the main object/person.
She’s the only one that the camera moves for.There’s a tracking shot that begins when she starts moving. The camera only follows her because everyone is thinking about her and watching her, it’s as if the camera is one of the people of the community and they can’t take their eyes off her. However, because they’re thinking about her relationship with John, they are also focusing slightly on him because she’s changed slightly, once he’s come to live there. The focus is brought to John through the color because all the Amish viewed in the scene are wearing blue while John is wearing white.Therefore, while they’re all wearing similar outfits he’s not matching them because he’s not one of them.
The color is representing him being an outsider in their eyes and the way he feels, because he can sense that they don’t like him ‘infiltrating’ their community and corrupting Rachel. The few shots beginning the scene are quite packed with information because the focus is on everything and the shots are from farther away but once the camera has gotten down into the significant parts, the close-ups; there are only focuses on the people on screen at that time.The framing of the scene is tight even though it starts with an extreme long shot because in the first shot there is the barn and a house on the left with a tree on the right. The house and the barn are in the rule of thirds so the focus is on them and while on the left next to the house is open space of about the size of another house, on the right the tree ends right where the end of the frame seeming to give it an open, free feel on one side and a closed off feel on the other, it’s almost as if there’s no escape, they’re stuck in/with the situation.
There is natural framing from a tree encircling Rachel and John when she’s pouring him a drink. The framing brings the focus directly onto them without depth being compromised; the entire scene has an infinite depth in it. Keeping everything in focus, also keeps the movie very real to the Amish culture because it’s not complicating things by obviously using technology to bring focus to things and such.All the angles in the scene seem to be from eye level and keep the scene very natural, still representing the Amish culture of having a natural, down-to-earth lifestyle The scene is using high key lighting; it sets the daytime feel of being outside and in the sun, the lighting gives not only the setting of being outside but also emphasizes the happiness and joy that is coming from the community event.
The low contrast in the lighting pulls the audience into the scene because it’s more realistic and stops the eye from being distracted by things happening in the background.
