Judge Dredd Drug Scene Deconstruction

Within the narrative of this 2012 drug fuelled film Judge Dredd a new drug has been created causing everything appear to the consumer to be happening at 1% of its normal speed. Therefore within these drug using scenes an incredibly effective slow motion edit is utilised in order to depict the drug usage.

In addition to this, another post-production effect is used, where the colours are greatly enhanced and saturation of the shots is highly increased. It is interesting to note the contrast between the dull colours used to convey the rest of the film, for example the grey-tinted establishing shots at the start of the official trailer, and the enhanced colours used to portray these drug induced shots. It can be suggested that this drug usage presents the characters a sense of escapism, as they can leave their dull, crime-filled lives, and be lit up in the vivid, colourful and enjoyable life of drugs. The colour usage present a physical contrast between the life they have and the life they desire.

The fade from vivid to dull used in this shot demonstrates as the effects of the drugs wear off and reality of the situation sets in:


via GIPHY

The colours  switch from very saturated and bright, to dark and dull, the most prominent colour changing from yellow to grey.

The use of extreme close ups demonstrate the importance of this drug and the significant effect that it has on its users, in this shot the focus is on the drug, even though it is not the centre of the scene, as everything in the background in blurred ad faded, this really depicts the strong effect the drug has, and how it takes control of the person and the situation.