In this lesson, we focused on the ‘M’ of ( M.I.G.R.A.I.N.E ), namely media language, which includes mise en scene, cinematography, editing, sound and lighting. We focused on two of these aspects but included editing, sound and lighting in some of our analysis as well.
Mise en scene – The elements of a scene
Cinematography – Photography and camera work in film-making
We watched a video that went into a more detailed explanation of mise en scene, including visual examples on-screen and clips from movies to back up points. The man mentioned three key elements, but missed a couple of others, which I will put at the bottom of my notes:
Intro – He showed us the introduction to one of his favourite films, which was a couple of minutes of a man shown working in a rocky field. The message here was that a strong introduction can showcase a character without any dialogue, and communicate some key information about them entirely visually. This lead nicely into the first element of mise en scene he talked about:
Character – Hair, make-up and clothing can all give the first hint to how we should feel about a character before we even know anything about them. What kind of clothing do they have and what quality? This could say something about their wealth or status. What kind of colours are the clothes or their makeup? Dark colours could mean that they’re malicious, whereas lighter colours could mean that they are angelic, kind or rich.
A good example of this is Bellatrix from the Harry Potter series, side by side with the fairy godmother in Disney’s latest adaptation of Cinderella, both played by the same actress, but entirely different roles. Their characters are almost direct opposites, which is a technique that is often used in the same film or series, to contrast two characters of ideas; binary opposition – showing polar opposites.
Props – the next important part of a scene. Accessories, weapons, gadgets and more, all of which make the world feel more believable, and can add to the mood, atmosphere, situation and character(s).What kind of objects are the characters holding? Are there weapons? Does their appearance seem more fantastical or sci-fi, depending on material and colour? What sort of things can we see in the background? Are there bizarre devices, tubes and chemicals, a vanity with makeup, books, posters or instruments? What is our focus being pulled to and why?
These are good questions to ask when trying to get a deeper understanding of a particular aspect of a movie. Personally, I would look into the setting in a more general sense first, which is what he went on to talk about next.
Set – location, setting, space etc. What does the area in the frame look like? This often sets up the world and characters or gives us massive clues about what will be happening in the scene. Is the place clean or cluttered? Tight or spacious? Cramped, natural, dark, filled with people, or disconcertingly empty? There are so many aspects of a room, building, or any other setting on-screen that can be questioned and analysed for a hidden message. Often, the space shown has a very explicit purpose in the film, but it can also do something as subtle as setting the tone, which often goes unnoticed by the audience, but is the key to evoking a specific emotion or reaction from them as they watch.
The example given this time was the hotel from The Shining, which is a classic in the horror genre. The hotel is designed to reflect certain themes/ideas within the film, such as the labyrinth-like corridors, made to appear endless and confuse in order to make the audience disoriented and lost, therefore frightened for the characters and even themselves if they feel like they are there, unable to find a way out – trapped with a murderous psychopath. Things like the patterns on the carpets, or the colours of the walls all add to the tension, making the set an incredibly prominent part of the movie’s success.
Here are the elements which weren’t mentioned, but are just as important: facial expressions and body language, positioning, and lighting & colour. The combination of these aspects, along with the ones above make up the aesthetic of a film, which is what allows the audience to be engaged, by immersing them into a certain world. Without an aesthetic, a story would not be as effective. For example, the world of Avatar is on a different planet, so it is a little easier for the audience to feel engrossed, but what about a film like Clueless, which takes place here on Earth? The reason that it is also a popular film, and why the audience can feel immersed in the story, is because it has a very clear aesthetic, made up from the location, characters, props, lighting, etc. all of which, tell us about the time period, characters’ backgrounds and priorities, and tone of the film. This is why when analysing, you say what you see, describe every detail, and consider the purpose of the scene. WHY does it look like that? WHY was it placed there? WHY is this person standing in the corner? Ask yourself – why? – as often as possible.
Next, we concentrated on cinematography by watching a clip from Jurassic Park and discussing how the camera movements worked with the scene. Once again, here are my notes from this task:
During the first half of the clip, there are a lot of CUs in order to reinforce the panic and fear of the characters by focusing on their facial expressions. It is also done to make the audience feel like they are there with the characters and make their adrenaline shoot up a bit with the tension. For a similar reason, the camera is level with the characters for most of the time, especially when crawling through the narrow space in the beginning, and to translate the feeling of claustrophobia to the audience. The times when this is stepped away from, e.g. low angles and high angles, is when there is a dinosaur in the shot and the audience need to see that it is still a danger, therefore still in the frame, and either above or below the characters (bonus if they can’t see it, because then only the audience knows of the danger, and it adds to the tension).
When the family climbs down from the hatch onto the dinosaur skeletons, we get a low angle to, once again, show how high they could fall, and how dangerous it is, even when there are no raptors around them for the moment. When the action begins again, the camera flicks to the characters a lot as they are separated by various obstacles, in order to emphasise the danger and make the audience feel like they are there. With the raptors, the camera puts them on the same height as the human beings, to show they are of almost equal dominance, but when the Tyrannosaurus comes, we only view the family through high angle shots, because the T-rex is much stronger and they are inferior compared to it.
All throughout, the fast-paced editing and constant movement show how frantic the family feels and how rushed the situation is because of the danger coming from all directions. The camera follows the action continuously, sometimes placed in the position of the obstacles falling/harming the family, so we can see their reactions, sometimes even following the movement of their heads or eyes, so that everything that is happening is clear, whilst angles are used to showcase power levels between the dinosaurs and them.
During action scenes such as these, the cinematography is of utmost importance, because it determines how the audience will be feeling; even if the mise en scene is spot on here, without the right pacing, camera movements and perspectives, the action would feel off and wouldn’t be as effective in making the audience feel on edge. It is also important for the audience to know who to empathise with, so that they can feel the danger and fear of the characters, on their behalf, and feel more engaged with the story. As well as this, action-packed scenes would be confusing if the situations the characters were in weren’t clearly shown – Jurassic Park succeeded with this part of the film, because it wasn’t confusing for even one moment, and I remained quite tense all the way to the end, wondering if the family would escape or not, or if someone would be lost in the process.
– Task –
Our tasks had us applying everything we recapped by analysing snapped scenes (images) from different films, as a class, and then a scene (clip) from a movie of our choice. Here are my notes from the group discussion and some of my extra thoughts:
The clip that I chose is a favourite scene from one of my favourite movies, Wonder Woman. I believe that this scene is not only good to dive into because of the action, but also because it’s raw and emotional, a moment where Diana unleashes her anger fully and saves many lives thanks to it.
This is a very fast-paced action scene in the film, where Diana has entered a battlefield. We start off right in the middle of the action, following the movement of Diana as she turns a corner. We’re quite close up, in order to see the bullets and explosions being directed towards her, showing us how dangerous her surroundings are, and how courageous she is to enter them. We can already tell that she is a hero from the first couple of seconds. The camera is constantly moving and shaking, as if we’re running along with her and are also affected by all of the explosions, making it all the more impactful when she later wins the battle because it felt like we were fighting alongside her. The fact that we are shaking, whilst Diana is quite steady in the chaos tells us that she is powerful and in control, and she will handle the situation. We subconsciously trust her and can put our lives in her hands because of her strength and confidence.
As explosions continue, we follow her from behind, making us feel like we’re protected from what’s ahead. As she jumps up and enters a building, we are initially underneath, and the low angle reinforces how strong she is compared to us, and if it wasn’t already obvious, that she is unnaturally powerful and above a normal human. It hints at an inner power that she hasn’t tapped into and foreshadows the end of the film, where she is revealed to be half-god.
As we cut to the next shot, we are facing Diana as she breaks through a window. This is where everything changes. First off, we are in front of her, instead of behind, in order to showcase her full wrath and power. She is in the middle of the frame, because she is most important in this case, and her fighting is affecting everything. This is where the pace changes too; as she breaks through the window, time slows down, making us think that she is doing something momentous and she is reaching the full height of her power. We see her enter in a full body shot, with the heroic stance, before quickly going to a close up of her face. This is the calm before the storm when everyone is still getting to their senses and realizing what is happening.
Suddenly, Diana snaps into action and begins to fight. Her theme song starts to play, and as we see her defeat the enemy soldiers one by one, we get hyped up and excited for her. As we witness her incredibly fighting, this feeling is heightened thanks to the slow-mos coming in at the exact right moments (e.g. when a wooden beam hit her body but she destroyed it with the sheer impact) and the camera moving around her to better showcase her punches and blocks. Because we are shown this high skill in combat from all of the best angles, where everything is magnified, our amazement and excitement are also greater, therefore making a stronger connection with her as a character.
I am going to stop here despite only analysing 30 seconds from the clip because there is so much to talk about with each second, or a few seconds that pass by, that it would take me days before I finish with this one video. We often overlook cinematography, but when we take a second to carefully watch and appreciate the way in which a scene is being shown to us, we can see a lot of hidden intentions behind each movement and angle. Ultimately, it all adds to the mood of the specific part of the film, such as this one, which is exhilarating, slightly scary and exciting.
I am quite confident in the ‘M’ of Migraine, and I really enjoy finding hidden messages within everything we can see, as well as linking it to relevant information, such as the time period, the themes of the films, the vision of the director, and so forth. I think that this is one of the most enjoyable parts of film and tv because even if most people do not go into such detail, I think that they also subconsciously pick up on the messages portrayed through the media language and enjoy the story more that way.