Film Techniques in Twelve Angry Men
Summary: Reviews the film Twelve Angry Men, directed by Sidney Lumet. Discusses the director's use of cinematic techniques, including lighting, music,and set design, to reinforce the themes of the story.
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"Twelve Angry Men", directed by Sidney Lumet, is a film which portrays intentions significantly employed by the use of film techniques. Although entirely set in a cramped, humid jury room (except for the few minutes at the beginning and end), Lumet applies many different film techniques to great effectiveness.
Lumet's usage of different types of camera shots is likeliest to be the most efficacious method of illustrating intentions in the film. Towards the …show more content…

For example, when the jurors are speaking, the walls and corners of the room are very dark and shadowy; the light is only on the juror who is speaking because the director wishes viewers to be paying all of their attention to the speaker. This is an effective way to express a vital argument to the viewers as they are concentrating entirely on the juror who is speaking and nothing else. The lighting is also focused on important objects in the room such as the knife and the diagram so that viewers are allowed to get a clear look and understanding of the evidence that is being showed. 'Music' is also another important method used in the film; it is used set the mood and tone of the film. Towards the beginning of the film, where the jurors enter the jury room, a solo flute theme is played; the slow and solemn pace of the music portrays the serious task that the twelve jurors have been set. During the decision of the case between the jurors, many musical themes arise to set the different moods that occur throughout the film. An example of this is towards the end of the film, where there are eleven votes to one. Juror number three's anger is expressed with fast loud music, then when he finally says "Not guilty, not guilty", both the music and mood develops into a 'tranquil and peaceful' state.
Sidney Lumet implements film techniques to great