Pocahontas
Meaning
Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical romance-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animations. Pocahontas, the beautiful daughter of Chief Powhatan, saves English adventurer John Smith from execution when British relations with the "savages" in the New World turned sour. Pocahontas even starts a romance with Smith, and the two almost sail away to Britain together at the end of the film.
Purpose
The purpose of this movie is to show that no matter what ends of the earth that you come from we are all the same. No matter what we look like or what are religions are, we are the same and we should be free to love who ever we want, and not to rely on arranged marriage. It also shows that not everybody will have a happy ending and example of this is, John Smith is shot and has to return to Britain and leave Pocahontas otherwise his wound gets worse and he dies. Both John Smith and Pocahontas are separated at the end which is what they were fighting to help prevent.
Form
The film uses variations of shots, the most common shot used is the medium close up. This shot helps capture the intimacy between the characters and show all the details in their appearances.
The lighting in the movie is represented as a normal day. It shows all the breaks of dawn and the brightness of the sun and moon and the darkness of the night sky. The lighting is all animated.
Content
The film used complexity of colour schemes, shapes, and expressions in the animation. A lot of the effects used keep to the colour schemes of the film. Most of the common colours are blues, purples, yellows, browns and reds. Each colour symbolises something in the film. The blues and purples symbolise the sky and the river. The yellows, browns and reds symbolise the sunsets and the symbols of the indians language.
The film is based on a true story and was set when John Smith arrived with the Virginia Company in 1607.
Genre
There are a variation of genres of this movie.They are:
- Costume Drama - Adventure Film
- Romance Film - Drama
- Animation - Music
- History - Music Drama
- Musical
- Family
Intended Audience
The intended audience for this film would be for families. For children from ages 6-17, and adults from ages 18-60. It is a PG rated film, so any children under the age of 6 should be accompanied by an adult, as there is a small amount of violence towards the end of the movie and some at the beginning.
Form
There are use of shots such as an Extreme close-up.
Medium close-up
Big close-up
Wide shot
Following shot
Long shot
High angle
Below are some examples of the concept art work for the movie. They were drawn in black and white then further developed in colour later on when Disney were certain this is the way they wanted to portray the characters.
The pictures have mainly got the lead male John Smith. The first drawing shows John just conquering a knew island, with his rifle in his left hand. The second drawing shows him getting onboard the ship and waving to the towns folk in London. He is carrying his belongings in a sack over his left shoulder. The last drawing shows John rescuing one of his ship mates Thomas who had gone overboard and couldn't swim. He is carrying Thomas which his left arm clenched under Thomas's left arm across his chest.
Form and Content
Production Processes
Development
The first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought etc.and the screenplay is written.
Pre-production
Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built.
Production
The raw elements for the film are recorded during the film shoot.
Post-production
The images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited.
Distribution
The finished film is distributed and screened in cinemas and/or released to home video.
Casting
Throughout most of the production, the cast members performed their dialogue in separate recording sessions.
In September 1992,Disney began casting actors for Pocahontas telling talent agents that its particually interested in Native American actors for the project. For the role of Pocahontas Broadway actress-singer Judy Kuhn was hired to provide the singing voice for the official character before Irene Bedard was cast. Michelle St. John had also auditioned for the role of Pocahontas but as Bedard had already been cast, the producers liked her voice enough to cast her in the role of Nakoma.
Design and Animation
Renowned for animating female characters such as Ariel (from little mermaid), supervising animator Glen Keane was immediately tapped to draw the official Indian princess. Glen Keane looked at a 1620's illustration of Pocahontas from a history book he had checked out. Though Keane would state that she was "not exactly a candidate for people's "Most Beautiful", so I made a few adjustments to add an Asian feeling to her face". A total of 55 animators worked on the design of Pocahontas' character.
