The Stranger

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 12th grade August 2001

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The Stranger The Stranger is a very interesting book. The Main character, Mersault, is very nondescript. He is very coldhearted to life in general, and doesn't even care when his own mother dies. There is not much emotion in this novel, therefore this storyboard was difficult to create.

The pictures that we chose were what we thought best represented the most important symbols and objects in our scene. Our first slide shows a medium shot of Mersault as he was in the heat at the beach. The camera angle was low because we wanted to show how big the sun was in the background. This creates an almost hell like appearance. The movement of the camera is tracking in order to show him walking in the blazing heat. The lighting chosen was high key because it shows the brightness of the situation and it conveys the heat of the day.

The techniques we used for Mersault, Masson, and Raymond were to use a low camera angle on them because it shows power over the Arabs. We also used the high camera angle technique when trying to make the Arabs appear disadvantaged and outnumbered. When Mersault was debating to kill the Arab or just walk away, we used a spinning technique to show confusion and exaggerate the effect that the sun's heat was having on him. Without the sun, Mersault would not have been irritated and the Arab would still be alive. We used bottom lighting in a couple shots to show the sinister look on Mersault's face. For the scene where the two Arabs are lying in the sand, in order to show their innocence we used the concept of front lighting while they were tranquil in their surroundings.

We used extreme close-ups to express the importance of each weapon. The picture of the Arab's hand holding a knife represents a major change in the story so we wanted to concentrate on it. Once the knife came into play, Mersault's life went into a major change. The camera angle we chose for this slide was low. The movement we chose was tracking at close range so we could see up close the important event that was transpiring. The lighting in this situation was high key because we wanted to show the shine of the knife.

We thought that this project helped us understand how to identify the main symbols of the story. Through the use of camera angle, movement, sound, lighting, and shots we now will be able to tell the hidden meanings of future pieces that we examine. These camera techniques, when closely examined, foreshadow many things that are now much more evident.