‘Crash’ – Paul Haggis Initial Response

1.) Paul Haggis’s “Crash’ is a film that revolves around the story of how a unlikely group of individuals CRASH together over a period of 24 hours in Los Angeles. And how people are often much more than what they appear to be

2.) I was interested in Daniel as a character. This is because of the way the director deliberately deceived the audience into creating a false first impression of him, this effect can be created by type casting characters to fit an exact demographic for Daniel I first thought him to be a gang member or criminal of some kind. I thought this was quite clever as one of the central themes to the movie is prejudice, for the director to use the very theme he is trying to convey in the film on the viewer proves first hand the perspective he is trying to show through his character.

3.) I believe Paul Haggis’s intention was to go back to human behaviour and display visually how complicated human interaction is and how much we rely on preconceived ideas to form personal opinions.

4.) Haggis uses stereotypes for most if not all of the characters in the story. No one turns out to be who they seem. The director uses that first impression effect to manipulate us (the audience) again with all the characters that are deliberately represented as “good people”. A classic example is the young police officer Tom Ryan, Haggis conveys him to us as a good guy at the start he does this by his appearance and the way in which he moves and the way he speaks. But towards the end of the film when Haggis engages that characters darker side when he murders an innocent black man.

5.) L.A attracts all sorts of people from the valley to the the beach. I’m sure that’s why Haggis chose to use utilize Los Angeles as the set for a movie with such a diverse cast. The city itself somewhat represents the diversity that is found in the characters that we are exposed to.

6.) Were there any cinematography techniques that stood out to you? Choose ONE and discuss its effect (presenting directors intention, causing a viewer realization…)