What is the importance of mise-en- scene and or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the film you have studied?

What is the importance of mise-en- scene and or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the film you have studied?

The mise-en-scene in the films i have chosen is incredibily important in creating meaning, especilly in the film city of god. an exmaple is a scene where lil-dice is sat on top of a pile of bricks, basically sat on the building blocks of the city, (favelas.) not only is this forshadowing the fact that lil-dice is going to be on top of the city but also expresses the poverty that the people in the favelas live in, the only thing they have to sit on is bricks, they dont have anything that they can go and do. the mise-en-scene in really important becasuse it helps express the urban story themes of power, poverty and conflict.

Another scene weree the mise-en-scene is important in city of god is the story of the apartment. This is a montage sequence of the decay of the apartment. im my opinon this scene is a reflection of the regression of the favelas. the sound is also important in this scene as the voice over from Rocket gives it a scense of versimilitude. in the scene you also see the degression of the character Carrot, this scene again reguritates the idea of power, (people taking over the apartment) poverty, (the state of the apartment degressing) and conflict, (Carrot shooting Angleo) Carrot looks away when he does this, this empthysises the idea that you cant leave the favelas and that everyone is desdined for the same fate, this is later proven when Steak and fries shoots one of the runts and looks away as he does it, and again when benni looks away and shoots into the sky as lil-ze shoots someone. It really does emthisie the power struggle and the vicious circle that they are all in and cant escape.

I think that one of the most important scenes for creating meaning through mise-en-scene in city of god is the nightclub scene, in this scene the charaters are really empthsised through the use of mise-en-scene, half way throught the scene there is a two shot of Benni and Lil-ze, in urban stories these shots are useally used to show conflict between characters however i think that it was done to eexpress the charaters emotions dueing the scene, the two characters apeare to be split by light, Benni is all in the light where as Lil-ze is surounded by darkness, this reminds me alot of western films as there is the theme of polar opposites this one being good and bad. just after this section in the scene Lil-ze leaves and he is surrounded by green light, this instantly gives you an idea of what the charater is feeling, greed, anger, sickness. this then gives you an idea of what the character is going to do, and this is why the mise-en-scene is really important in creating meaning.

Another film that i have studied where mise-en-scene is important is La Haine. One of the scenes that I think really emphasises the whole westernisation of the community that the three main characters, (vinz, said and Hubert) live in, is the scene were a man is mixing music from his window, (this sound is diegetic), I think that this really generates meaning because the songs that he is mixing are, fuck the police by NWA and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf. The first songs is an American song and is very with the plot, (I think that it is with the plot because Vinz was to kill police man), however the other song is a famous French song, this was done I think to show the influence of Americanism with in the community. While this is happening there is a bird’s eye view shot of the neighbourhood, this then allows the audience to see the whole area as the camera travels, the community looks a lot like a maze and I think that this gives a lot of depth and meaning, the maze like structure could indicate that the people who live in it are trapped. This theory is greatly emphasized when Vinz, Said and Hubert go to Paris and there is lots of space where there isn’t in the place that they are living in now. Later in the scene the mise-en scene shows Vinz seeing a cow walk past him, this shows a lot about Vinz in the sense that he is dreamer, were as all Said wants to do it go and find Hubert, this also shows a lot about Said, it shows brotherhood, this is a big thing throughout the film, there is a theory that each of the three characters is a word in the French motto, liberty, equality and fraternity.

Another example of when the mise-en-scene and or music was important in the film for me was the train station scene. Before this scene it showed vinz being on his own and being separated from the other two, it also showed him seeing violence on screen and in a boxing ring, he seems completely desensitised by this however shortly after it shows him witnessing real life violence and he doesn’t know how to handle this. The scene starts with Hubert and Said missing the last train. There is a two shot of Hubert and Said and the background is blurred, Vinz then walks into sight, this depth of field shot shows a lot of meaning, because you couldn’t see him in the background even though he was there, I think that it shows him coming back to reality and is re-joining his friends after being distant, it’s also important I think because he left them but waited for them anyway, it is the first time in the film were Said hasn’t been the peace keeper. When the scene continues it shows the three of them walking in a line together rather than having one person lead and I think that this shows that they are all equal rather than any of them being dominate. I think that the mise-en-scene is important in this scene and is significant because there is a sign in the train station that says, “Change” it is significant because there is a lot of change between the relationships of the characters and the way that they act individually, this really becomes apparent within the next scenes.

The other film that i studied was Chuncking Express, this film was very different to the others as not all the urban stories themes where established however the mise-en-scene is still really important for example when mai is cleaning the police mans apartment, she hides when ever he come back and cant tell him how she feels, this scene uses similar techniques to the other films as it is done in montage and is a lot like the story of the apartment in city of god, however is shows the progression of the apartment rather than the decay in this film. the mise-en-scene in this scene does empthesis one of the themes which is power. mai has no power and she cant do anything about it, there is no escaping it. The sound is also really important in this scene, mai listens to a song called American dreaming, this again shows the westernisation of Hong Kong, westerniation is something that is apparent in all of the films i have studied and wouldnt be recognised without the use of sound and mise-en-scene.

Reflective Analysis

Reflective analysis

I have made a low budget experimental film; the film is titled Vitae. While making the film I have attempted to incorporate as many techniques from my influences as I could. This is because I thought that this would make my film more appropriate for my target audience, which is channel 4's 3 minute wonders. This is a programme for budding new directors to make films to be broadcast. This is why I have chosen the viewers of this program as my target audience. A lot of the 3 minute wonders were experimental films making my film appropriate for this target audience.    

When planning what I was going to do with my film I decided that I was going to have a simple car journey in which it shows different destinations that I believe are important in life, I decided to do this to show the life cycle and the order that people are expected live in, almost like a continuous loop with repeated destinations. Although life is supposed to be beautiful my intention was to show that no matter what you do in life everyone lives through the same things, you're born, you learn, you reproduce and you die. 

This relates to my target audience as perhaps they prefer films that aren’t mainstream because of their interest in channel 4's 3-minute wonder festival. Because of this I think that they would prefer avant-garde films, because my film has no linear narrative and isn't conventional to mainstream cinema then the audience may understand the reasoning of my piece and appreciate the meaning behind it better.   

One of my main influences is film maker Godfrey Reggio, I have watched many of his films, one of which influenced me the most, that film is Naqoyqatsi, and I was mostly influenced by how he took different everyday images and incorporated them into his work, this is what I tried to do with my piece but instead of piecing together the images to make a narrative I decided to have a montage sequence in the background in different points in time/ different points in life.

The setting of my piece would be different destinations that I believed important or almost cliché to human life. The destinations I chose were a maternity ward, primary and secondary schools, college, the justice centre, a work place, a place for a date, a church and then the first 3 are repeated and finally a funeral parlour. I chose these places because I thought the mise- en-scene would portray to the target audience the meaning of the piece. Godfrey Reggio also influenced this. In a lot of his films he uses past, present and future, this idea helped me to understand the meaning of his films so I wanted to incorporate it into my own so that my target audience could interpret my piece better. I planned my film like this as it is very specific to my own life, my piece is the things I have done, the things I am doing and the things that I could potentially do one day.

In the background of each destination was an event that could happen, I took different moving images from the Internet and incorporated them into the film, I did this because I was able to show more explicit things, like childbirth. The main influence for this idea was Simon Pummel's Body song, this is a montage film which uses found footage from the last 100 years of film to show the different stages of life. I decided to incorporate this idea into my own film by having life events in the background of each destination, I changed the opacity of the images so that the audience could see the destination and the event at the same time to show that the images corresponded. 

Another thing that I have used in my film is the use of black and white, some sections of my piece are in black and white and some are in colour. I believe that some parts of life are more important than others and therefore they are in colour, whereas others aren’t as important or they are things that people don’t consider really relevant, therefore these images are in black and white. This is a technique commonly used by Godfrey Reggio, I found it very effective in his films and thought I would apply it to my own.

In all of Godfrey Reggio`s films the music comes from a composer called Phillip Glass, this music is very dramatic but can also be very ambient. I didn’t want to use Phillip Glass’ work in my piece because his work is very specific to Godfrey Reggio`s films and emphasise his films, however I was inspired by his work and I still wanted to use the dramatic and ambient themes, so I decided to use the music piece Sudden Throw by Ólafur Arnolds, This piece is very ambient but dramatic at the end, I chose it because it wouldn’t distract attention from the images but will engage the target audience, I found that this piece corresponded very well with the montage sequence making it more interesting to watch.

Although the concept of the film was good I think that I could have made the film considerably better, for me there could have been more images so that it was more interesting to watch. I also think that the cinematography should have been improved to be more visually pleasing, I think that I should have used a tripod or driven slower to make the footage smoother, Because the quality of footage isn't a very high standard I think that it makes the film appear very rushed and amateurish and not aesthetically pleasing, which I don’t think would appealed to the target audience

City of god

What is the importance of mise-en-scene and or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films that you have studied?

I think that the mise-en-scene is really important in the film City of god. I think that the importance of mise-en-scene is apparent in one of the starting and ending scenes. in this scene it shows the character Lil-dice sat with the tender trio, Goose, Clipper and Shaggy, in this scene lil-dice is sat at the top of a pile of bricks this is an important aspect of the mise-en-scene because these bricks, to me, represent the building blocks to the city of god and because of Lil-dices positioning on these blocks it not only shows his power over the tender trio but also fore shadows what is going to come, that he will have the power over the city of god, also in this scene there is a lot of light and there is a clear sky, this could mean that there is hope for the future. Later in the film after his friend Benny dies, (his best friend and good influence) the mise-en-scene shows him with his back agains a wall made of the initial building blocks that he sat on, this shows meaning to me because it is almost like he is on top of the city ruling over it, but also means that he has completely turned his back on the City, like he doesn't really care about it anymore. The sky and the whole look of the film is an awful lot darker as well, this could mean that there isn't hope anymore and just shows the recurring motif that no matter what you do you can't escape from it.

Another scene that really emphasises the importance of mine-en-scene in this film is, "The story of the apartment." The beginning of this scene shows a very well furnished, well decorated apartment filled with food, owned by a woman,"Dona zelia" selling drugs to support her family at this time it was the early 60s when women had more power, there is a static camera used, i think that this is used to make the deterioration of the apartment more apparent, this montage sequence is the first one that you see in the film and because of its use of cross dissolves, i think that it was used to show the progression of time and shows you how long it takes for the apartment to deteriorate, later in the sequence there becomes less furniture, the wallpaper is replaced with nude posters of woman and instead of a bread knife on the cloth covered table, there is a meat cleaver sticking out of it, to me it just shows how quickly things can escalate in the city of god. Also in this scene you see the slow deterioration of domestication, to me it shows the animalistic nature of the people who live there, you can't domesticate a wild animal and as the take continues you can see the the people taking over get more and more malicious. I think that this scene in a way portrays what happens throughout the whole film, things slowly get worse and worse until it is almost unliveable.

Research catalogue

Dysfunctional families are a common theme in Steven Spielberg's films, does this make him an auteur?

Item 1- 'E.T.'(film)-1982

This is my focus film, for me this defines Steven Spielberg as an auteur. It backs up my idea of how he uses dysfunctional families in his work, a lot of the things that happened in his childhood are reflected in this film. There is a divorced family in e.t. just like in Spielberg's childhood, dysfunctional families are a common theme within Spielberg's films and I think that this theme is very apparent in 'E.T.'

Item 2- 'A.I.' (film)-2001

I picked this because it shows again the use of dysfunctional families, this wasn't originally Spielberg's but you can tell that the film is his, and I think that the narrative shows his presence as an auteur. Throughout the main protagonist is trying to be reunited with his family that is now dysfunctional, this is a recurring theme in a lot of Spielberg's films and that's why I think that this film backs up my theory.

Item 3- 'The Colour Purple', (film)-1985

This film is really helpful because it not only repeats the theme and backs up my theory, the story is of a woman who has to live in a dysfunctional family and how she overcomes this. It was Spielberg's first serious film which I think helped to define him as an auteur because he then later went on to make such films as Schindler's list.

Item 4- Spielberg A Retrospective, Richard Schicknel (book)

I found the information in this book to be really useful it explains a lot about his life and the relation between his personal life and his films which really helps me to make connections and backs up the theory that Spielberg is an auteur, I found that the most useful was page 1 and the chapter The Colour Purple. I will be using quotes from this in my presentation script.

Item 5- Pocket Essentials Steven Spielberg, James Clarke(book)

I found that the most helpful part of the book was the chapter 'To Fly', starting from page 40 to page 43. it was helpful because the information in this chapter backed up my ideas of Spielberg being an auteur, it has lots of information about his film e.t. which in my opinion is the most useful film for backing up my argument of him being an auteur, because of its representation of dysfunctional families. I didn't find the rest of this book that helpful but I will use quotes from other sections of this book in my presentation script.

Item 6- Steven and Stanley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW5RJz6YvpI (interview)

In this interview there are a lot of helpful quotations that will be useful for me to use with in my presentation script, it also discusses how Spielberg made A.I. his own even though it was originally Stanley Kubrick's, this backs up my argument that Spielberg is an auteur.

Item 7- A Cinema Of Loneliness by Robert Kolker, (book)

I found this book helpful, in the book it shows analysed photographs of scenes from my focus films. This is helpful because it shows how he uses different shots to express family problems, and this relates to my question by telling me that he does use dysfunctional families.

Item 8- http://www.theyshootpictures.com/spielbergsteven.htm (article)

I found this article relatively helpful, some of the content in this article backs up my question and helps me to argue my point. I found one particular quote that states that Spielberg does use dysfunctional families with in a lot of his films, this quote will be used in my presentation script.

Item 9- Steven Spielberg on his 29 films, from Duel to bridge if spies- telegraph- (picture gallery.)

Although this doesn't necessarily help me answer my proposal a lot of the quotes that are found on this slide show will be helpful for my presentation script, because I can use the pictures from the slide on the projector.

Item 10-A. I and Spielberg 1- (article)

I think that this can be helpful because there are points in here that argue for and against reasons why Spielberg made his films the way that he did. This is useful to me because I can use some of the ideas from this article to back up my point of view.

Item 11- http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/great-directors/spielberg/ (article)

This is incredibly useful; the article discusses what makes Spielberg an auteur. A section in this article is from the perspective of John Baxter who is one of Spielberg's biographers. He has a huge insight as to why Spielberg makes films the way that he does. I think that it will be really helpful to use quotes from him in my presentation script.

Item 12- http://time.com/3544502/spielberg-movies/ (documentary/ article)

The first paragraph of this article is really good, it completely backs up my ideas that he uses dysfunctional families in his films and that this makes him an auteur. This article explains lots of different ways that Spielberg is an auteur but this specific paragraph is really useful to me as I will and can use it in my presentation script to prove my opinion.

Item 13- Spielberg- 'The Culture Show' BBC2 (documentary) 2006

The documentary discusses lots of different films that Spielberg has made, although it does talk about my films completely. Spielberg mentions details about my focus films and also other films he has made that have a similar theme to the ones I have chosen to discuss. Spielberg also discusses how he represents family in his work. This will be really useful when I come to write my presentation script as it has really good quotes relevant to my question. Spielberg also relates my focus film to his real life, this is really helpful because it proves my argument.

Item 14- 'Teach Yourself Film Studies' by Warren Buckland (2010)

This book discusses what makes a director an auteur, it is extremely helpful to me as it goes into detail about what makes someone an auteur. It has information that I can use to back up my argument and it also has lots of useful quotes that I will use in my presentation script.

Item 15 - Rejected items.

'Schindler's List'- I was going to use this film as an example however I thought that The Colour Purple was a little more appropriate as it was his first serious film and I think that it was more useful to answer my question than Schindler's List.

The Passions and Techniques of Spielberg. (an analysis by Steven Benedict)- I did find this useful but I don't think that it helps answer my question and therefore I rejected it. The analysis does talk about what Spielberg did production wise but didn't go into much detail to why he did something, it didn't discuss the relation of his films to his own life.

Steven Spielberg by Paul Bullock (article the director’s chair)- I think that this was helpful, it explains why he might make the films the way he does and it does ink to his childhood however I don't think that this helps answer my question of whether his use of dysfunctional families makes him an auteur.

Steven Spielberg's techniques and themes by Steven Benedict- Although I found this you tube video helpful because it did back up my idea that Seven Spielberg is an auteur, it showed it in a way that wouldn't be helpful in answering my question. It highlighted how his religious and spiritual themes made him an auteur were as I think that dysfunctional families do have a big part in it also.

A2 presentation script: Spielberg

Dysfunctional families are a common theme in Stephen Spielberg’s films, does this make him an auteur?

projector: Images of Steven Spielberg (item 9), and question shown underneath.

speaker: An auteur is a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author. "Directors who show a consistency in style and theme are called auteur's." (item 14) In my personal opinion I think that Spielberg’s experiences throughout his life really affect the way in which he directs his films, I think that he put a lot of what happened in his personal family life into his work, this is what I found out...

speaker: The first film that I thought really emphasised a dysfunctional family was E.T. In this film there shows a family without a dad and it seems that E.T. comes along as a father figure for Elliot, " E.T. becomes a surrogate father and friend to Elliot whose father in the story has divorced his mother." This quote backs up my idea a lot,"(item 5) when he was young his parents divorced he still included the divorce in his film E.T. which makes me think more that he is an auteur. (item 1) "Steven Spielberg’s films tend to convey a certain “heaviness” with regard to adult life but joy and belief with regard to the children. He is at his most effective in his films that focus on childhood, such as E.T. (item 8) because I know that this kind of thing happened when he was a child it makes me think that because he put his own life experiences into his films that he is an auteur.

projector: Phone home scene (item 1)

speaker: In this scene you can see E.T. learning to talk English and asking to phone home, this scene makes me think that E.T really wants to be with his family, this also makes me think of when Spielberg was younger, “the films drama is driven largely by the main characters faith and desire to return home.” This is significant to me because when Steven Spielberg was young he moved around a lot with his dad’s job, and perhaps when he was young all he wanted to do was return home after moving to so many different places. However, it also says that E.T. was a substitute to a dad or a friend, this could be Spielberg’s way of saying that Elliot wanted his dad to come home, because of this it really makes you think that Spielberg is putting his own life into this film, which I think makes him an auteur. (item 5) This scene to me really portrays the connection between Spielberg's life and Elliot's life the film, making me think that he is an auteur.

projector: Elliot cuts his finger scene. (item 1)

speaker: In this scene you can see Elliot cutting his finger and e.t healing it, but what stand out the most for me in the scene is that Elliot's mom is Reading Peter Pan in the background. For me this is important because the story of Peter Pan is about a lost boy from a different world who take on the role of a father to the lost boys, I think that this is significant because I can’t see the same thing with E.T. and Elliot. This relates to my opinion that Spielberg is an auteur because he was away from home when he was a child, much like E.T. or Elliot. (item 1) “For me e.t was both the quintessential story of my childhood and at the same time the end of my childhood, it gave me the courage, based on its success, to start more adult subjects. E.T. gave me a free pass to fail." this quote really makes me believe that he is an auteur, because he actually states that he put his own life into this film. E.T. was a great experience for me because I wanted to be a dad after making it. I wasn’t a father and I kind of became a father to those three kids." this quote really does suggest that he put his life into this film and made it completely his own, I think that he got so connected to his own story that it changed him and I really believe that this backs up my opinion. (item 4)

projector: E.T. Leaving Earth scene. (item 1)

speaker: In this scene E. T’s family come back to take him home, which to me is a really important scene in the film as you can really see the connection between the life of Spielberg and the characters, what I mean by this is that in the film all E.T wanted to do was go home and be with his family, just like Spielberg when he was living with his father. All he wanted to do was go home and be with his family, (item 4) because of the way that Spielberg has put himself into this film, it really shows that he is an auteur.

Another film that shows Spielberg's use of dysfunctional family's is A.I. (Artificial intelligence) Having researched this film I have found that the original idea for A.I. was by Stanley Kubrick. Before he passed away he had been talking to Spielberg about the ideas that he had for the film and he had asked him to direct it. When Kubrick passed away, he did, I think that this is one of his more personal films, the whole theme of being loved and the feeling of belonging, when he started to produce the film he didn’t change any of the story but really put himself into it. (item 6)

projector: Imprinting on David scene (item 2)

speaker: I think that this scene is significant because it really shows a dysfunctional family, almost at its worst, the family is replacing their dying son with a robot and this scene where David imprints on the mother sets that in stone. Although Spielberg didn't include his own life experiences into this scene I do however think that it really emphasises how dysfunctional this family, which makes me think that my opinion of him being an auteur is correct because of his frequent repetition of style, by this I mean his continuous use of dysfunctional families. (item 2)

projector: Abandoning David scene (item 2)

speaker: This scene however differs from the previous one that I showed, in this scene David is being abandoned by his Mother rather than being destroyed. This scene makes me think of Spielberg's life. When Spielberg left with his father he felt abandoned by his mother, (item 6) this shows to me that my idea is correct. Spielberg put himself into this film with his use of dysfunctional families, I think that this shows he is an auteur. “I basically learnt to put more of my own experiences into my films for my characters in my pictures, I’m encouraged". this is quote of him admitting that he puts himself into his films which really backs up my theory and almost proves it. In A.I. his whole plan changed because not only did he have to use his own style of directing, in the sense that he wanted to put some of his own experiences into the film, he also felt that he had to use Stanley Kubrick’s style. For example using Stanley’s favourite lens in most of his shots when he was directing the film. Even thought when you watch it you can see a lot a Kubrick’s style you can tell that it’s a Spielberg film and I think that his ability to do that truly shows that he is an auteur. (item 6)

projector: Teddy and David trapped under the Ferris wheel scene (item 2)

In this scene it shows Teddy and David trapped and then saved by aliens. The ending of A.I. for Kubrick was that David and teddy were trapped under the Ferris wheel in the sea, he wanted them to be trapped until their batteries ran out and then the credits would role. However, this did not happen, there is a lot of controversy about the ending because Spielberg put his own idea and twist into the film and added aliens to the end. Because of this fact I can’t help but think that he wanted to put more of himself into the film rather than making it a Kubrick film. (item 10) This makes him an auteur because even though it wasn’t entirely his film he still wanted to put himself into it. (item 6) In the end David got to spend one more day with his mother, the dream to be part of a functional family and to be loved came true, this to me relates to Spielberg's life making me think that he is an auteur.

Another example of a Spielberg film that includes dysfunctional families is The Colour Purple, (item 3)

projector: Celie and Nattie are split scene (item 3)

speaker: For me this is one of the most powerful scenes for showing dysfunction in families. Although this only relates to Spielberg slightly as he wasn't forced from his family, it does show a really, truly dysfunctional family at an extreme. I have used this film as one of my examples because this is the first serious film that Spielberg made. (item 4) By serious I mean the story is really hard hitting and emotional. This film to me really shows that he is an auteur because it doesn't matter what the genre of the film is, it still shows the same consistency in theme. (item 3) (item 14)

projector: "I don’t think that I could have made Schindler's List or empire of the sun without the colour purple, that would have been impossible I didn’t have the maturity, the craft and the emotional information. “(quote) (item 4)

speaker: This quote to me, (although I don’t think there is any relation between the film and Steven Spielberg’s childhood other than dysfunctional families) makes me think that Steven Spielberg is an auteur. Because of the severity of the plot of The Colour Purple I think that this film helped him to be an auteur because of the amazing films that he was mature enough to make after the production of The Colour Purple. (item 4) I think the fact that this film is almost entirely based on really dysfunctional family’s really helps me to answer my question. This film was one a Spielberg’s most emotional pictures, and I believe that he would have really had to think about his own family life and what was bad about it and then think about how much worse it could have been. I think that’s why Spielberg was the author to this film, he used it to mature himself, he made this film apart of himself which in my opinion makes him an auteur.

projector: Celie is reunited with her children scene (item 3)

speaker: This scene reminds me a lot of my focus scene because it has the same kind of ending. that ending being that E.T. goes home and is reunited with his family. This is just like the ending of The Colour Purple, this makes me think that Spielberg is an auteur because of the similarities in style and in themes. (item 14) It is so alike his other films even though has a completely different story and I think that his use of dysfunctional families in these films makes him an auteur.

projector: photographs from the book "cinema of loneliness". (item 7)

projector: photographs from Duel to bridge if spies- telegraph (item 9)

conclusion: " Hardly a single one of my films isn’t based on something that happened in my childhood."(item 4) This proves my argument, Spielberg himself has said that he uses his own experiences as a child in his film. I think that proves that he is an auteur. Going back to my original question, Dysfunctional families are a common theme in Stephen Spielberg’s films, does this make him an auteur? Yes, I believe it does, he puts parts of himself into all of his films and makes them his own, because of his consistency in style and theme, (item 14) I think that this makes him an auteur.

Molly Ryan

Case study 1 mocking jay part 1

directed by: Francis Lawrence

produced by: nina Jacobson and Jon kilik

screenplay: Danny strong and peter Craig

based on: mocking jay by suzanne collins

staring: Jennifer Lawrence

             josh Hutchinson

             liam hensworth

             woody harrison

             Elizabeth banks

             Julianne Moore

             Philip Seymour Hoffman

             jeffery wright

             Stanley tucci

             Donald sutherland

music by: james norton Howard

cinematography: jo williams

edited by: alan Edward bell

production company: lions gate and colour force

distrabuted by lions gate

release date: november 9th 2014

running time: 123minutes

country: usa 

language: english 

budget: $250 million (shared with part 2)

box office: $275 million 

i think that this film made lots of money at they box-office because its the 3rd film of the franchise and was originally a book series, they also separated mocking jay into two parts, making it seem more like an epic, this would intrigue people making them think that they must watch part one and part two, the movie was also publicised incredibly, persuading people to go and see the film. 

Jennifer Lawrence also seen in another famous franchise, ( playing mystic in days of future past and x-men first class) which will have attracted people to go and see mocking jay part 1 simply because she is staring as the main character, i think that because she w in the movie the people advertising it made sure that i was known, the advertisers would have used this to their advantage, they would have also used josh Hutchinson's fame to help promote the film as lots of people like the actor.

i think that this film also encouraged other teen targeted books to be made in to movies for example maze runner and divergent. 

Jurassic park scene analysis.

Jurassic park film analysis

The scene starts with an establishing shot of a kitchen, this shows the mise-en-scene and allowed me to know the setting of witch the scene was going to take place, I think that the director did an establishing shot so that the audience could see how small and compact the kitchen area was, perhaps to add emphasis on the enclosed room, the low key lighting also makes the area appear smaller making the characters look trapped, this is a generic convention of sci-fi horrors witch gives you an instant insight of what the film genre is. After the characters entre the room they switch of the lights which makes the lighting even more low key, to me this made me think that they were hiding or running from something, this added tension and made the atmosphere more known to the audience, once the lights are turned off the camera tracks them as they more lower down and hide, while this happens the footsteps that area heard on the ground as they run are really loud, this adds to the intensity because the room they are in is so quiet and the footprint are immensely loud in the silence, the use of extremes is generic in the sci-fi horror genre().

 In the initial view of the scene everything is low key lighting other than the exit signs which are red, red is also a generic convention of the horror genre and is shown in the mise-en-scene of many other films; the shining uses red to signify danger for example the words “red rum” are written in red this shows the danger behind the words, in this situation the red indicates danger, this also gives you an insight into what’s going to happen in the scene because the only way out for the characters is danger, this made me feel uncomfortable because I knew that there was no escape form what the children were hiding form.

The scene continues with a two shot mid-shot of the characters with the lens focused in the two characters and the door, I think the director did this so that people saw the relationship between the characters and the door, the door being there salvation but also their fear, I think that the director also did this to establish the importance of the door and the characters, I instantly thought that because the door was in focus that something significant was going to happen through that door because of this the scene made me feel suspenseful, like I was waiting for something to happen.

There is a jump cut to the door which makes you know that something is defiantly about to happen, there is a low thumping noise that begins as the camera zooms closer into the door little window, there is low key lighting all around the door however there is a strong light shining through the doors window, this could signify hope or freedom, by this I mean the window could represent light at the end of the tunnel, however the noise in the background of the zoom is repetitive which genetically, according to horror conventions means that something is about to happen, even though you have that feeling of hop coming through the doors lit window. Suddenly with only a small quite sound a dinosaur appears, to me this doesn’t scare me I think that perhaps it didn’t because conventionally there would be a loud sound to shock the audience however there wasn’t one, I think that the director did this maybe to make the audience feel like they were there, I think that if there were loud noises it would have taken away the realism, if there was a monster outside my kitchen I would be quiet too and I think that this was done purposely so that the idea of you having to be quiet scared you more than a loud noise would have, because to me I felt that I was experiencing what the characters were feeling.

The dinosaur breathing heavily on the glass blocked out the clearness and light almost like the dinosaur was crushing all the hope that the characters may have had, the camera then zooms toward the male character who then sees the monster for the first time, there is a lot of reflection in the cabinets and surfaces in the room which makes the room look unused and very cold I think that the director did this to show that the characters are completely uncomfortable and scared because the room is obviously not an environment that they are used to because it is so clean and desolate. The boy has a bandage on his hand witch shows that he has been hurt, maybe from this dinosaur, this gives you an indication that they might be hiding from the dinosaur, once the camera show the boy it jump cuts back to the window on the door, the dinosaur turns its head and squints its eye as if it has spotted the boy, almost like it was looking for him the first place, this made me feel tense as I was wondering what was going to happen to the boy and unnerving because the eye was directly in the centre if the camera which made the dinosaur look like it was looking at me, this again seemed to involve the audience to almost make it feel like you are there watching it.

All the way through there has been low and quiet repetitive sound, however this is then broken by the dinosaur making its diegetic sound, it also steams the glass and its face is dead centre, this shocked me slightly as I wasn’t expecting the music to break its repetitiveness, I think that this was done so that audience would be shocked and surprised because you were expecting something to scare you and it didn’t you forget that you were supposed to be waiting for a scare and then this unanticipated noise frightens you even more. The dinosaur completely blocks out the window so there is no clear light at all anymore, which makes you think that the characters have no hope left.

There us parallel editing after a jump cut from the dinosaur to the children characters, its jumps straight to a different character in a different place where there is high key lighting and the sound is less extreme and much more relaxed because there is no repetition in the music, I think that the director did this to emphasis the different situations and show the intense and the calm, this could show how the characters are feeling and also show but you know that its happening at the same time because once the other female character says “unless they learn how to open doors” it jump cuts back to the handle of the door in the kitchen, this means that what she said foreshadowed what was going to happen.

Low key lighting surrounds the handle of the door and shows reflection onto the door as the handle is moved up and down by the dinosaur, because the only thing that I can see is the door handle I can only concentrate on, this to me makes me feel on edge, because I know what’s going to happen and because all I can see is the door handle that’s the only thing that the director has allowed us to think about at that point, I think that this is because the concept of a dinosaur opening a door is extremely surreal the idea is terrifying and to me that’s the reasoning for why the camera was static on the door handle was so people could get the opportunity to be scared of the concept as well as the fear for the safety of the characters, this made the handle extremely significant to me because it gives you the opportunity to be scared for more than one reason.

The camera remains static while the dinosaur opens the door and you see the claw, then there is a jump shot, I think that the jump shots wear used to make the sequences pace significantly quicker so that the scene gave the impression of because dangerous and nerving because the action is constant, there is constantly something happen which gave me lots of things to think about in scene all at once, to the head, the camera then goes static. The dinosaur then breaks through the door by opening it and then blocks the door way, or the exit way, because the sign is red which is a convention of the genre the dinosaur being the danger and the evil consumes the door frame, this really emphasises the importance of the red in this scene because It shows the shear danger that thee characters feel about the dinosaurs

Molly Ryan.