In 'The Day After Tomorrow' editing and sound are majorly used. The editing is used mostly for the weather based effects such as when the water leaks into New York City. While the water overflows into NYC, it destroys iconic landmarks such as the statue of liberty, this leaves an affect on the audience as it is completly demolished and worries the audience as its so famous and they know how bad the climate change is. Also the Hollywood sign is demolished by a hurricane in LA city. Editing is used when the pilot of the helicopter crashes and freezes instantly when he steps out. Also in the opening credits of the film, there is a scene where the explorers are in Antartica, the effects of climate change causes a major part of special effects, as the men nearly drop to there death when the ice cracks. Close ups are used alot in the film to show the emotion and shock on peoples face when they learn about what has happen. Such as when Jack Hall finds out Earth is going into a ice age, like he predicted but thousands of years early. There are also many extreme wide shots to show the damage the weather has caused to citys and the deaths its caused. Such as when LA is destroyed and the janitor opens the door of the building he works in, to see the ruins of the hurricane. It has an effect on the audience.Theres a lot of Diagetic and Non-diagetic sound used in the film. Examples of Diagetic sound would be noisy citys, speech and the phone ringing. Examples of Non-Diagetic sounds would be the water gushing into the city, wolfs howling (there special effects wolfs) and the hurricane wind. We also have orchestra music added, which comes under Diagetic sound, this makes the scene more epic and stands out more.
The Key themes within The Day After Tomorrow (in my opinion) would be action, diaster and adventure. On IMDB the themes are listed as: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi and Thriller.
The key characters are Jack and Sam Hall. Jack is an Paleoclimatologist, who is away from home often on trips to Antartica and varies of other places. Sam is Jack's son and an straight A student, with a very academic mind. He is invited to a school event in New York. He has to take a plane there and that is where he is first effected by the weather when the plane nearly crashes. Once him and his two friends arrive in New York they find out it has been raining non-stop for the past three weeks. All of the weather based events have lead up to the Earth starting a new ice age. Due to Jack being absent for most of Sam's childhood there is a very strained relationship between the two. Jack shouts at Sam for getting an F in an exam without asking Sam for a explation. But as the film gets deeper in, it shows that both Jack and Sam care deeply for each other, shown by Jack traveling the ice age to rescue his son. It makes the audience show that even though lots have happen to them throughout the years, they will also be there for each other. There relationship is also comment on by Sam's mum who says Jack wasnt there for his son while he was growing up and that he shouldnt disappoint him anymore.
