My favourite scene from my favourite movie "The day after" (1983)

1. The day after (1983)
The end of the familiar- the beginning of
the end
director:
Nicholas Meyer

2. My “favourite” scene
• to watch this scene press here
• it ends on 3.27
But my task was not to write about the whole film ( what I wish I could), but to write about my favourite scene in it ( and again, I
would like to replace the word favourite to the most impressive one). Why does my “favourite” scene end on 3.27? Because
everything what is happening after is too cruel even for non-sensitive people like me.
Well, I can’t say that this is my favourite film. It would be just the wrong word. This is the film, that impressed me.
This is the film, that shocked me. This is the film, that covers my body with goosebumps every time when I hear
about it. This is the only film that really scares me…
It is about consequences after a Nuclear Attack or, honesty speaking, after a play between two persons in which
everyone is a looser. Especially simple people, who suffers mostly.
Critics tended to claim the film was too tame, but still, being directed by Nicholas Meyer, it received twelve Emmy
nominations and won two Emmy awards for an Outstanding Film Sound Editing and for an Outstanding
Achievement In Special Visual Effects.

3. Why do I like it?
• The naturalness
• Cleanliness
• Structure
First of all, I must point out again that I don’t like it. I am impressed by it. Why? It shows us peoples reaction to a disaster! It shows us the
end of their world and how they are trying to survive. But do they have a chance? Most of them definitely not! And the audience see it and
wholly understands… how terrifying is that? So, this piece shows the naturalness of emotions.
My second reason is cleanliness of the shots. They are very straight and senseful. The picture explains what it has to, but avoids too much
drama. Yes, it is very dramatic scene, but everywhere have to be a measure. People are still hoping and I see it, I understand it, I believe it and I
am worry about it.
My third point is talking about a film structure, which includes several things like: great use of the sound, camera, different angles, colours
and how genius everything is put together! Each movement, gesture, posture, appearances, spatial behaviour… everything what is happening on
the screen puts and keeps you under a pressure.

4. B
• The sound
1: The tense silence at the
beginning is telling you that
something terrible is surely
going to happened.2: and this is the one of the most
intimidating moment of the film! The
diegetic sound of the emergency siren,
which basically means the end. This
particular sound will come into your
nightmares for sure (at least, in my case)
3: the sounds of fear:
screaming, shouting,
different illegible words.
Their terror fully
transmitted to the
viewers.
4: how does sound
decrease- this sound effect
repeats in this film
( maybe not so obviously)
many times.
! Reverse
zoom here
• But I should tell more about my
last point, because, obviously,
there is what to pay attention for.
Firstly, the great sound work that
really adds even more tension to
this scene.

5. The camera work
1: different shot
types: extreme long
shots, long shots,
areal shots, wide-
shots, medium shots,
close up shots, short-
reverb shots.
2: different uses of
angles: high
angle( to provide a
complete picture of
action) , low angle
( so these soaring
bombs are seen
more clearly).
3: difference editing techniques like:
parallel editing= spill screen ( a lot of
actions are happening at the same time)
eye line match.
4: camera movements:
pan ( I noticed that one
of them moves from right
to the left [1.23] crub,
crane, handheld( at the
end), zoom/ reverse
zoom.
4: all scenes are deep focused and
have no obvious transitions, all
shots are very straight.
! The colour changes to
the red here.
• So what can I say about camera
work in this scene? It’s
spectacular! I identified a lot of
different methods of what I had
learned and I want to tell about
several of them.

6. The camera work
1: different shot
types: extreme long
shots, long shots,
areal shots, wide-
shots, medium shots,
close up shots, short-
reverb shots.
2: different uses of
angles: high
angle( to provide a
complete picture of
action) , low angle
( so these soaring
bombs are seen
more clearly).
3: difference editing techniques like:
parallel editing= spill screen ( a lot of
actions are happening at the same time)
eye line match.
4: camera movements:
pan ( I noticed that one
of them moves from right
to the left [1.23] crub,
crane, handheld( at the
end), zoom/ reverse
zoom.
4: all scenes are deep focused and
have no obvious transitions, all
shots are very straight.
! The colour changes to
the red here.
• So what can I say about camera
work in this scene? It’s
spectacular! I identified a lot of
different methods of what I had
learned and I want to tell about
several of them.