"Coding in Pictures: The Social Network"

In my English class, we are discussing social networking and recently viewed the movie “The Social Network.” I have seen the movie before, and it is definitely one of my favorite movies. Before seeing the film, I had little interest and thought a movie about Facebook must be very boring. However, the movie describes the making of the social networking website with an exciting story line. “Coding in Pictures: The Social Network” by Jim Emerson is an article that discusses the many ways the director of the social network captivates the audience, and I find this subject very interesting. Emerson reveals the techniques the movie uses to keep the audience interested and to describe the history of the topic in a dramatic way. The characters of the story are portrayed in certain ways, and reveal likeliness to each other in ways not noticed by viewers. Throughout the film, the main character and creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is portrayed as an arrogant know-it-all, although he was not described that way in real life. The director wanted the audience to connect more to Mark in the movie, and give a more dramatic account. Another technique the director of “The Social Network” used is called “tilt-shift photography.” With this way of filming, the director shows off a scene by recording from farther distances and speeding up the clips. The effect of this way of filming leads to more dramatic scenes and a bigger picture of the object. I find all of this use in the movie very fascinating.