p. 1

pleasantville crossing boundaries making choices

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p. 2

this establishing shot of the present-day school campus shows us a vast soulless place that could be anywhere various degrees of conformity are on display emphasising the loneliness of the crowd.

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p. 3

in the foreground bottom third of the screen five girls are lined up wearing almost identical backpacks

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p. 4

in the middle distance several students can be seen wearing identically coloured blue jeans also wearing backpacks

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p. 5

the first medium close-up mcu of david toby maguire shows him isolated against a blurred background stressing his outsider status.

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p. 6

this first mcu is one of many trick camera shots in pleasantville david on the right side of the screen appears to be holding a conversation with a pretty girl

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p. 7

on the left side of the screen who doesn t speak and appears to be paying close attention to david whose voice can be heard over this reverse mcu shot.

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p. 8

but as the view cuts to another wide angle we see that the girl is nowhere near david whose isolation against the now nearly deserted campus is doubly accented.

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p. 9

the classbell rings summoning us to class and we get a sequence of moving shots showing the camera tracking in towards a series of teachers

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p. 10

all of whom are delivering a downbeat analysis of the future for the gathered students

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p. 11

as the camera tracks in the rows of students in front of us diminish and we get closer to the teachers and to david who is of course seated in the front row.

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p. 12

this reverse shot of david shows his glum reaction to the downbeat message about the world in which he lives

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p. 13

while david is seated upright and leaning slightly forward the body language of the other students reflects boredom and serves to once more separate david from the crowd.

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p. 14

david sits in his comfortable nest watching the programme but his eyes betray his interest in events in the real world.

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p. 15

the reverse shot shows david s views of the perfect family in pleasantville which he watches through the frame of the television screen the black-and-whiteness of pleasantville is in stark contrast to the tungsten-tinged world in which he lives.

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