Image is composed of different techniques that when combined, provides the viewer with a newly created impression which shape meaning and understanding of the world around us, and the people in it. .
Images can be manipulated by composers using various techniques to make and shape audience understanding and interpretation. This manipulation is shown in strictly ballroom where the director, Baz Lurhman's use of cinematography and the film's mis-en-scene create a certain meaning for the viewer. As images can be created verbally and visually, it can also be through literary techniques. The poem "stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone- by W.H.Auden creates a sense of devastating loss where the author reveals the pain and grieving of losing a loved one.
Strictly Ballroom is a film about being true to oneself and rebellion against the false and materialist world of Ballroom dancing. As the film starts, we see the opening of the red velvet curtains, which indicate the style that we can expect during the film. These red curtains let us know that what we are about to see is highly theatrical and fairy-tale like. As characters practice their last minute preparation before entering a competition, the blue Danube waltz is played, this is an effective piece of music to open the film. Not only does it set the rhythm of the opening scenes, but also it helps characterise the world of ballroom dancing. The Blue Danube' has become a cliché as people unfamiliar with classical music recognise this tune and associated it with dancing, and it is therefore very appropriate for the clicked, rule-governed world of ballroom dancing. The glamour presented through colourful rich costumes and the elegance of the blue Danube' is quickly contrasted humorously with Shirley's shout "come on a hundred!- which sounds more like the kind of shout we would hear at a footy game.
Much of the humour in the opening scenes comes from the mock documentary'.