Whale Rider

“Whale Rider” is an emotional semblance film.   Niki Caro, director of “Whale Rider,” used many different camera shots, lighting, composition, and strong dialogue to convey messages of female empowerment and the importance of communication.   One of the strongest messages Mr. Caro tries to tell the viewers is, humans can be an individual with their own thoughts and not an individual with other's views.
The lighting of a film is a key component in making a film.   If your film is too dark, the audience can't see what is happening, and it creates confusion.   If the film is too bright, it hurts the audience's vision and affects their ability to see what is happening.   The lighting in “Whale Rider” had extremes, but it was still beautifully done so the audience could easily transition from one scene to the next.   Mr. Caro's wonderful use of lighting can be perceived in the shot where Koro is walking out of his house to go to his granddaughter's performance. Koro sees the whales far off on the shore struggling to survive, which is another great establishing shot.   The lack of light in this shot is used to show the beauty and darkness of the night.   Not only is Mr. Caro indicating the time of day,   but he is also foreshadowing the dark times that were ahead for Koro and his family.   Koro was the person that everyone looked up to in the tribe, so he felt he could not disappoint his tribe or his fellow ancestors. The symbolism of darkness revealed the time of day, the darkness of the event, and that Koro was missing his granddaughter's performance all in one shot.  
Mr. Coro used many outstanding low angle camera shots and one exceptional high angle camera shot.   An example of a low angle shot in “Whale Rider” is when Koro is chanting to the ancestors, and Pai is sitting in the boat next to him.   In this shot, the viewers are shown how comfortable and commanding Pai is over the ocean.   Another incredible low angle shot is when Pai is given her speech to her grandfather on...