Day 2: 12 Angry Men

[Karen Haas]

What I learned: The filmmaker has set up an intriguing journey: 11 of these characters seem intent on finding a young man guilty and one man with strong convictions must make them really think about what they are doing rather than just rely on group think. This is the ultimate contained movie– all in a jury box, I think.
Basic scene components —
Scene arc- jury box deliberations, first vote happens before even beginning of conversation
, situation- 11 to 1 favor a guilty verdict
, conflict, only one man wants to talk about defendant
moving the story forward, Jury must decide if has prosecution fufilled the burden of proof, otherwise they must let him walk.
entertainment value, interesting but not really fun, heavy, serious stuff
and
setups/payoffs. each man has a story to tell why he votes the way he does… we shall see how each man’s intro plays out later, I’m guessing
Invitation to the journey: Jury must decide the fate of a young man with a disadvantaged youth.
Watch 2nd time for:
Challenging Situation· man against 11 men
Interesting Action: deliberations
Intriguing Dialogue a man’s life is on the line
Something inside this character needs to go on the journey He needs to do the right thing and deliberate on it first.

[Teresa Burnham]

1st watch
We see the conflict in this movie immediately after the foreman gets to the last juror who does not vote “guilty,” like the other 11 jurors.
Tension increases when the juror #8 admits that he’s not sure about the defendant’s guilt or innocence but believes that further discussion is necessary since the defendant’s life is at stake.
When a biased juror #10 claims to know these types of people, it triggers juror # 9 to react, calls him ignorant and questions his proficiency of the truth, plus other reactions, and distractions arise. This propels the foremen to start further discussion.
Juror #2’s reason for finding the defendant guilty validates the juror #8’s assertion that further discussion is needed and moves the story forward.
What makes this movie entertaining is it gives us a glimpse of people’s reaction when their certitude is challenged and speculation about the final verdict.

2nd watch
The main character doesn’t seem assertive about his vote, but he is persistent about having at least an hour’s discussion about the trial.
The heated dialogue between juror # 9 with the biased juror # 10 who gave a denigrating description of the defendant and his community, shows the weakness of their belief.
The attitude of juror # 7 when juror #8 mentioned that the ball game doesn’t start till 8 shows that he really didn’t care.

[Mary Albanese]

12 Angry Men
FIRST TIME — Basic Components. The scene arc/situation is to show us we have 11 votes for guilty and one for undecided. Mr. Undecided says we owe the man a few minutes as we are talking about condemning him to die. The others don’t agree.
Conflict – Some of the men are angry at Mr. Undecided. Some feel he’s a soft do-gooder. One wants to get out and go to a ballgame. Some support his desire to talk. We get several of these personalities in conflict right away.
Moving the story forward – the big questions – what did they hear/see that makes them think what they do? Let’s have each one tell us. This is set up, and the first one starts to reveal why he voted that way.
Entertainment Value – Lots of conflict. Some people are clearly jerks. Will the jerks learn something? I want to know. I am intrigued/entertained by the possibility of that.
Set-ups/pay-offs. We have the consequences of what their votes will bring. We know the victimized young man who will get those consequences. We know that the Undecided man will feel guilt if he doesn’t at least consider all possibilities.
Invitation to the journey – We know it is Mr. Undecided’s sense of right and wrong that is at stake. He’s not sure, and until he is sure, he can’t in good conscience send a young man to his death. It’s a noble cause. He says it wasn’t easy. But despite not being sure of the man’s innocents, he wants to be sure of his guilt before he sends this young man to his death. So he pushes them to talk it out to try to get to the bottom of it.
SECOND TIME
Challenging situation – One man of conscience against 11 who just want the whole thing over quick and be done with it.
Interesting action – Verbal arguing. With 12 different viewpoints, we are already off to several combative verbal exchanges.
Intriguing dialog – here we have a real life and death situation. “get this done in time to see the game. “It’s a life. We owe him a few minutes.” “We don’t owe him a thing.” “Born in a slum, mother died, father in jail. Somebody kicks him at least once every day.” “He stabbed his father 4” inches into his chest.”
Something inside this character needs to go on the journey. Mr. Undecided makes it very clear that his conscience must be satisfied this young man is guilty if he is to vote guilty, as he realizes this young man’s life is literally in his decision, so for his own sake, he must be very sure. And right now, he is not sure. There are pieces that make the young man look guilty, but Mr. Undecided needs to be SURE before he sends young man to his death. His conscience will not be appeased until he is certain.