Django Unchained is a movie that takes place in the times of slavery where the blacks have to fight, entertain, and work at the pleasure of the white supremacist. Jamie Foxx played the heroic character and in my opinion did a miraculous and stupendous job. He gives the sense, “there is still hope. ” The former-slave teamed up with a German Bounty hunter in order to free his wife from a tyrannical plantation owner, Leonardo DiCaprio. This leads to a humongous and heightened stand off at the end of the movie, this is the scene that I will be focusing on for my depiction, which I believes tells a lot about each character.
Listen closely for the addition of the music as well. The music is used to enhance the scene, give it more character and uniqueness. Whether the sound added is diegetic or non-diegetic. In this scene the addition of music does not determine whether it is diegetic in entirely, the other surrounding sounds used in the scene, whether introduced as a suspenseful sound or the sounds being produced are visible within the shot determines it. The scenes start off as Django and the white supremacist leader finally confronting each other about the actions that have just taken place.
The German Bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz speaks in pro for his slaves and wants better, he no longer agrees with the ways of the plantation owner. The famous gun battle commences as he shoots him in the chest. Quentin has an eye or gory bloody action, and he did not fall up short when creating this shootout. The shootout follows to the center hallway of the house, shot as shot, one by one, and the villain’s fall. Django is fighting for his fellow friends as well as his own life at this point.
You will notice that most of this scene introduces no outside music. Quentin wants the audience to understand the horror and realness of what is happening. He really enhances the pain and visuals of the villain’s because he wants to show them the same hatred that the slaves had to face for many years. This is where the scene really kicks into gear; as Django comes around the corner music begins to play as the timeframe of the shot slows down to make it more heroic and suspenseful. pac- the payback/untouchable makes Django seem like a badass. The point-of-view shot from the barrel of the gun as he rack- focuses on the gun to basically tell you this is going to turn bad, quickly. The only non-diegetic sound added in was as the camera pans from left to right to follow the gun shot through the body of the bad guy as it makes contact with wall and centerpiece on the table; the addition of a high pitched sound is created to give the sense that a bullet deflected off it.
From this point on, the scene is in slow motion, to continue that same feeling of heroic and suspense. The sound of Jamie Foxx’s voice is used as a voice over; this is the turning point where he no longer has control. The scene commences at this point when he is taken hostage, until he later breaks free. For the music used, you cannot really determine whether a diatonic scale was used in entirety because the octaves are steadily constant throughout to give the same feeling of action and suspense.
The setting and quality of light produced in the scene is also another factor that creates the dark and ominous feel as well. Overall, this movie was a thrill to watch and I always enjoy depicting and reviewing a Quentin Tarantino film. He puts it into perspective of the literal meanings to hatred, racism, and overall traitorous qualities. I really enjoyed this film, and covered multiple aspects to Tarantino’s reasoning’s for his decisions to how and why he directed it the way he has; really well done.
