In the film ‘Billy Elliot’ directed by Stephen Daldry, one important setting in the film is the interior and exterior of Billy’s house and neighbourhood. Also, the behaviour that occurs within this setting introduces us as the audience to an important idea of pursing through obstacles to reach your dream. In this case, Daldry introduces us to the obstacles that Billy must encounter and push through in order to achieve his dream of being a professional Ballet dancer.
These include his father’s stereotypical views on ballet, the socio-economic class division at the time the film was set and lastly, the miners’ strike that Billy’s father and brother partake in. In the very first opening scenes of the film, we are slowly introduced to the main character Billy Elliot. The opening scene shows the body parts of a young boy bouncing up and down on his bed in slow motion along to music. There are shots of his arms, torso and legs, but it isn’t until later on that we see the full body of the character.
By using this technique of close up camera shots with the slow motion, it introduces the character of Billy Elliot slowly, the director encouraging the audience to make their own assumptions of the character and his personality. At this point, the audience knows of no troubles Billy will face in the film, not revealing anything about the background of the character or the storyline to come and therefore Billy is made out to be just a regular pre-adolescent boy.
