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.
