Synthesis Of The Truman Show

Like The Matrix, Inception, or The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, The Truman show causes people to question their own existence in ways that can only be understood through liberal use of therapists and commercial sex workers. The reason for this is that every single shot is framed to give the audience the feeling that what they see before them is real. Most of the shots are given through static hidden cameras complete with the distortions that those cameras would bring. Peter Biziou, the cinematographer, wanted to make a world that closely mimicked the quirks of a bad television show set. “In making Peter Weir 's 'The Truman Show ' [Peter Biziou] relied on that 'unreal ' look to create an insular world lit by too-brilliant sunlight (Hess).” Cinematography is “Every creative choice related to composition, lighting, and camera motion—anything that audiences can see in a given shot. (Schoenberg)” Cinematography usually starts with the composition of a shot as lighting and camera animation cannot be done until it’s know what environment the scene will take place in. The Truman Show’s set is very animated with people walking the streets and buildings alive with people. However the entire point of the film is that all of this activity is a facade, an act, a fabrication. The extras we deliberately instructed to wander …show more content…
Many of the film’s shots are filmed from “hidden cameras” that are placed in static areas with their lenses partially obstructed. When Truman was driving, for instance, the audience saw a truman through a buried lower resolution camera that was clearly placed to keep the camera secret above all else. These shots are beautifully framed the lenses distort the image The creators wanted to make the audience voyeuristic they wanted to make the the audience feel that they are watching The Truman Show and not a movie about the truman