How Stephen Soderbergh uses film techniques to develop the idea of how humans behave when faced with the challenge to survive in 'Contagion"

How Stephen Soderbergh uses film techniques to develop the idea of how humans behave when faced with the challenge to survive in 'Contagion"

In the film we studied, Contagion directed by Steven Soderbergh, an important idea that was carried throughout the film was the idea of how humans behave when facing the challenge to survive. Soderbergh uses various film techniques such as sound, music, dialogue, lighting and characterisation to deepen our understanding of this, inside a story where fear among the world can be more deadly than a virus outbreak.

From the beginning of the film, Soderbergh implants the idea and situation into our minds and makes us question the inevitable, such as “What will I have to do to survive?” or, “Will I be alive tomorrow?” These inner thoughts spark a sense of panic into people’s lives, ultimately leading to a society driven by fear and chaos. A key scene that illustrates the theme is when people are queued at a clinic, awaiting their vaccine doses. Yellow lighting is deliberately used to show calmness and control in the pharmacy, with accompaniment of light, airy music. This displays the order in society. In contrast to this, they are soon informed by a nurse that “there will only be 50 doses today” and immediately, a riot increases and chaos begins. The technique of a blue hue is established to indicate that something bad is going to occur as the scene continues. The sounds include “coughing” (motif): worry increases and harsh sounds such as “shouting” and “smashing” of objects. As the noise increases, layers of instruments are added to intensify the music and to evoke emotions of fear and panic. I feel that that the heavy contrast between these techniques show just how quick people’s behaviours can change in a matter of seconds, due to desperate needs that affect the validity of their future.

Furthermore, key characters in the film such as Dr. Erin Mears, Dr. Orantes and Sun Feng all play vital roles in representing different kinds of behaviours that people may have in today’s society, when faced with the challenge to survive.  Mears’ character is shown to be very...

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