Day-Lewis Acting Techniques

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Films are created to entertain an audience via the actors involved who effectively portray different characters and the setting. In ‘My Left Foot’ and ‘Gangs of New York’, Daniel Day-Lewis shows an ability to fully immerse himself to create the characters of Christy brown and Bill Cutting. His full interpretation of the characters are supported by the director’s use of costume; make-up; setting and cinematographic effects to fully translate the themes of each film. Jim Sheridan’s ‘My Left Foot’ was successfully filmed through Day-Lewis’ acting techniques which give the audience a full portrayal of Christy Brown. His time spent in the wheelchair weeks on end prove to give him success to embody Christy that the audience neglects the fact that…show more content…
Significant for its scandalous scenes of rivalry and riots of the 1860s, the opening scenes play an important role in setting up one of the film’s most important motifs: Day-Lewis’ role as the notorious crime-boss and kingmaker. In these scenes we see the battle between Bills gang, The Natives, and The Dead Rabbits. The battle scene is introduced with an establishing shot of the two gangs standing in front of each other with a wide proxemics distance between them to effectively show the division between the two gangs in the frame. This is followed by a medium shot of Day-Lewis holding his weapons in his hands as his gang stands behind him, illustrating him as a superior character. The illusion of his superiority is supported by his intimidating posture and the pride seen in his facial expression as he speaks with dynamism and a New Yorker accent which also adds meaning to what he’s saying and emphasise his nativity. The use of marching drums and dramatic music accompanied with synchronous sounds of windows and chairs breaking add intensity and discord intended for the

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