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Kings speech
Moving away from the crime thriller genre of
Dirty Harry , I thought I would take a look at the
critically acclaimed The King’s Speech (2010).
The film charts King George VI’s battle with his
stammer and his relationship with Australian
speech therapist Lionel Logue. This presentation
should show how effective it is as an opening
sequence.
The opening sequence straight away establishes the
                  institution behind the film with the use of the
                  Weinstein company’s logo and the UK film council’s
                  logo – this tells us that the film is distributed by an
                  American studio , but it is ultimately a British based
                  film. Although the audience may already know the
                  genre of the film through the actual title and trailers
                  , the use of background information at the
                  beginning helps to establish the film as a historical
                  drama. The film could be classed as a biopic of King
                  George VI’s life and personal struggles .
The historical information also help us realise that the story arc starts in 1925 with the
Duke of York giving a speech in Wembley. The opening sequence then progresses onto
show him preparing with his wife and then eventually outside delivering his speech.
Audiences like structure and will want the narrative to have a beginning, middle and end.
The historical nature to the film allows the narrative to be presented chronologically in a
clear and fluent way. Dirty Harry (1971) depicted a state of dis- equilibrium with the
antagonist set on a killing spree in San Francisco – the dis equilibrium in the King’s Speech
comes from George VI’s struggle with his stammer and possibly the brief mention of the
abdication crisis. The new equilibrium is created when the King becomes a more confident
public speaker and motivates the country through a wartime radio broadcast.
Kings speech
Another key factor to the effectiveness of the opening sequence is the variety of
media language used. A range of different camera shots, camera
movements, edits, sound and music are included to give us vital information about
where the film is set, who the main characters are and how we are meant to feel
about what they do.
             The close up of the microphone is quite significant as it
             links back to the subject of the film and makes it clear
             that speech and voice are major themes. There tends to
             be lots of extreme close ups of the King’s face and there
             are plenty of mid-shots as well. These shots are
             purposely there to show his emotion and focus , they
             really do express that he feels terror in what he has to
             do. The sound in the opening sequence seems to be
             non- diegetic with the King’s first speech and the
             gargling of water two prominent examples. The use of
             non- diegetic sound adds a high level of quality and
             authenticity to the film. The score was composed by
             Alexandre Desplat and was made to sound dated by
             recording through old microphones made for the Royal
             Family. The music is quite sombre and conveys the
             protagonist’s lack of control and struggle to be heard.
Kings speech
The king is represented a very weak man and
doesn’t seem to be possess the qualities of strong
Monarch. He shakes and his lips tremble – this gives
the impression that he is an incredibly nervous man.
He doesn’t smile and his lack of strength goes
against the stereotype of a male protagonist. He just
simply doesn’t have the authority and strength that
Harry Callahan has in Dirty Harry or Bruce Wane has
in the Batman films. His costume and makeup tells
us many things too – his face is quite pale and this
shows that he is sickly timid man when it comes to
public speaking. His smart suit and top hat do show
his status as a royal , but the black casts a shadow of
seriousness and misery over him and his position.


Helena Bonham Carter as the Duchess of York seems to be the stronger character of
the two and this is not usually the case for women in film. She goes against the
stereotype in that sense , but she does perform as a good wife in the opening
sequence and supports her husband throughout. He needs a high level of
reassurance and this only adds to his weakness as a man. Her costume completely
portrays her as a royal due to her sophisticated makeup , hat and luxurious fur
trimmed coat.
Kings speech
The representation of the King actually creates an ideology and tries to make the
audience feel sympathetic towards him as he stammers. It is typical of an ideology to
support the protagonist against his battle and it probably wouldn’t be very politically
correct or well liked if the film depicted a previous King in a unreasonable light with an
ideology based against him.
Overall The King’s Speech is very effective as an
opening sequence for a historical drama film.
The music and costume stay true to the time
period and the media language enables George
VI to be accurately represented as a weak
nervous man with low confidence. The genre
and narrative are also established early on and
an ideology can be seen if representation is
looked at closely!

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Kings speech

  • 2. Moving away from the crime thriller genre of Dirty Harry , I thought I would take a look at the critically acclaimed The King’s Speech (2010). The film charts King George VI’s battle with his stammer and his relationship with Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. This presentation should show how effective it is as an opening sequence.
  • 3. The opening sequence straight away establishes the institution behind the film with the use of the Weinstein company’s logo and the UK film council’s logo – this tells us that the film is distributed by an American studio , but it is ultimately a British based film. Although the audience may already know the genre of the film through the actual title and trailers , the use of background information at the beginning helps to establish the film as a historical drama. The film could be classed as a biopic of King George VI’s life and personal struggles . The historical information also help us realise that the story arc starts in 1925 with the Duke of York giving a speech in Wembley. The opening sequence then progresses onto show him preparing with his wife and then eventually outside delivering his speech. Audiences like structure and will want the narrative to have a beginning, middle and end. The historical nature to the film allows the narrative to be presented chronologically in a clear and fluent way. Dirty Harry (1971) depicted a state of dis- equilibrium with the antagonist set on a killing spree in San Francisco – the dis equilibrium in the King’s Speech comes from George VI’s struggle with his stammer and possibly the brief mention of the abdication crisis. The new equilibrium is created when the King becomes a more confident public speaker and motivates the country through a wartime radio broadcast.
  • 5. Another key factor to the effectiveness of the opening sequence is the variety of media language used. A range of different camera shots, camera movements, edits, sound and music are included to give us vital information about where the film is set, who the main characters are and how we are meant to feel about what they do. The close up of the microphone is quite significant as it links back to the subject of the film and makes it clear that speech and voice are major themes. There tends to be lots of extreme close ups of the King’s face and there are plenty of mid-shots as well. These shots are purposely there to show his emotion and focus , they really do express that he feels terror in what he has to do. The sound in the opening sequence seems to be non- diegetic with the King’s first speech and the gargling of water two prominent examples. The use of non- diegetic sound adds a high level of quality and authenticity to the film. The score was composed by Alexandre Desplat and was made to sound dated by recording through old microphones made for the Royal Family. The music is quite sombre and conveys the protagonist’s lack of control and struggle to be heard.
  • 7. The king is represented a very weak man and doesn’t seem to be possess the qualities of strong Monarch. He shakes and his lips tremble – this gives the impression that he is an incredibly nervous man. He doesn’t smile and his lack of strength goes against the stereotype of a male protagonist. He just simply doesn’t have the authority and strength that Harry Callahan has in Dirty Harry or Bruce Wane has in the Batman films. His costume and makeup tells us many things too – his face is quite pale and this shows that he is sickly timid man when it comes to public speaking. His smart suit and top hat do show his status as a royal , but the black casts a shadow of seriousness and misery over him and his position. Helena Bonham Carter as the Duchess of York seems to be the stronger character of the two and this is not usually the case for women in film. She goes against the stereotype in that sense , but she does perform as a good wife in the opening sequence and supports her husband throughout. He needs a high level of reassurance and this only adds to his weakness as a man. Her costume completely portrays her as a royal due to her sophisticated makeup , hat and luxurious fur trimmed coat.
  • 9. The representation of the King actually creates an ideology and tries to make the audience feel sympathetic towards him as he stammers. It is typical of an ideology to support the protagonist against his battle and it probably wouldn’t be very politically correct or well liked if the film depicted a previous King in a unreasonable light with an ideology based against him.
  • 10. Overall The King’s Speech is very effective as an opening sequence for a historical drama film. The music and costume stay true to the time period and the media language enables George VI to be accurately represented as a weak nervous man with low confidence. The genre and narrative are also established early on and an ideology can be seen if representation is looked at closely!