Please check my essay on Catch me if you can

Question 5: Describe a remarkable character in a visual/oral text you have studied.
Explain why the character was remarkable.

To have the courage to create something significant for yourself from basically nothing is a very remarkable thing to do. A character from Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘Catch me if you can’ who did this was Frank Jr. Frank was a 16 year old runaway, who became a world most famous con man, forging thousands of dollars and stealing identities from airline pilot to teacher - and he did all this on his own. Frank Jr is a remarkable character indeed.

Frank Jr was very brave, he made risky decisions which ended up putting him in a good position, but easily could’ve done much else. He was sometimes scared while taking these risks but, as the remarkable character he was, he’d take them anyways. We can tell that Frank was afraid from the non-diegetic music that played during scenes he was making these risky choices. For example, when he chooses to take the risk to run away from his parents and home, there was tense music playing as he ran to the train station, showing the audience that he was scared while making this choice. But he didn’t chicken out, he was brave, and went through with it. Little did Frank know this was one of the first steps to his remarkable future, and he would go on to become one of the most famous criminals in the world.

Frank had remarkable talents. He was able to manipulate people into believing basically anything he needed them to. An example of this is the close up shot shown of the necklace Frank used to manipulate a woman with. He used that necklace to manipulate the woman through a thing she wanted - the necklace. Some people could not pull off these sneaky tricks that Frank Jr would perform, but for Frank, manipulation was pretty much a talent, and he’d mastered it to get whatever he wanted from whoever he wanted. This is a way that he is remarkable. Without these cunning skills of manipulation, Frank would have never been able to do the grand things he did.

The final way that Frank Jr was remarkable was how even when he was scared or in a bad situation, he’d act calm, which helped get him out of trouble. In a mid shot of Frank Jr as he was getting questioned by the FBI you can see that his body language is showing he’s relaxed, which most world famous criminals wouldn’t be while being investigated by the FBI. But not Frank. He keeps his body language subtle so as to make himself out as less threatening/guilty. He’s sitting openly without fidgeting, and his facial expression is relaxed, even though he most likely was quite stressed and nervous. This helps him end up out of prison and in a job with the FBI (along with his knowledge in forgery of course). But that is remarkable, as he basically got away with everything, and he was able to show himself as calm even in stressful situations.

Frank Jr was a remarkable character in ‘Catch me if you can’. He was courageous, talented and skilful, and was able to keep his cool in stressful situations. These are acts that helped him build up a future, all from the young age of 16, with the help of pretty much no one. Frank Jr is like no other person in the world. No one else could have pulled off the things he did. That is what makes him so remarkable.

Kia ora Bartsimpson

Nice opening here - and generally good description of the remarkable nature of Frank throughout the essay - with some good film technique evidence used and clear signposting.

What you could do is look to build up your analysis of WHY some of these things are remarkable and link this in beyond the text too - for example where you talk about how his bravery is remarkable - build on this "for the audience, this is remarkable because it is common to falter in the face of risky situations, and we can learn that… Consider why this is a significant trait, what we can learn from it, the impact it has on the viewer, etc.

One of the criteria at level one is about how well you understand the director’s purpose in a text - you would benefit from trying to ensure you allude to Spielberg a bit more “Spielberg here uses tense music which…” “The director suggests that Frank is remarkable because” “Spielberg forces the audience to consider…” try to be alluding to what he is doing and why in each paragraph to ensure you meet this part of the criteria.

Hope that helps - a great start :slight_smile:

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