Drifters

2 Pages 575 Words

John Grierson’s 1929 movie Drifters contained many visual aspects that enabled him to portray his ideas. I found that the controversies between different elements in the movie were most interesting. We watched as the director flashed between the sets of the controversial elements to help show their connection. His camera technique allowed for us to make this correlation.
Man vs. Herring portrays one of the controversial ideas in the film. Grierson showed a picture of the fishermen in their boat then switched focus to pools of swimming herring beneath the surface of the water. He often filmed the two characters in the same scene. One example of this occurred when the fishermen were emptying their nets as well as when they were placing the fish in barrels. He did this to show the conflict between the herring that do not wish to be caught and the men trying to catch the herring.
Another example of controversy between two characters in the movie is Bird vs. Herring. The birds in the film prey on the herring. We see that wherever the birds are present the herring are often found nearby. He did this by showing the birds flying overhead followed by a shot of the herring swimming below the sea. This idea is also emphasized when we see the seagulls floating in the shallow water near the harbor. We observe them dive below the surface in search of fish.
The bigger fish and the herring also serve as a sense of controversy in the picture. We see a sense of anxiousness among the herring as the larger fish enter the picture. It is obvious that the larger fish are not welcome as the frightened herring dart out of the way of their predators’ jaws.
Nature also has another way of placing worry in the minds of the sailors. A large mammal, possibly a whale, is seen swimming very close to the ship. One move by this object could either injure the ship or rip the net. Either could prove to be detrimental to the survival of t...