Entry 2 - Miss En Scene

This lesson we mainly focused on the topic of Miss En Scene and watch a video called Fate produced by past St Hilda’s students. 

The film Fate was a film about three girls being involved in what seemed like witchcraft after finding a note in an “abandoned” room. The scenes that lead up to that moment was somewhat interesting. I liked the way they used some “mysterious” rhythmic sound like the sound from Jumanji for the Girl 1 to find the note. I also really liked how they shot the girl from a low to high angle shot at first and then to a high to low angle shot when she was climbing up the stairs to show that something bad was about to happen to her (Powerful to weak). After that scene, the girl calls her friends to talk about the note that she found. The scene from then on is really interesting, as when they are performing the witchcraft, there is like this contrast of the girls being possessed. I think that this is a really good way to show a transaction, rather than the thing happening and then them mysteriously acting “cursed”. The way they used stop motion to show their curses was also very intriguing, especially the one where the girl had this cursed mark on her arm, cause it kept on moving. What I didn’t like, however, was how the other girl died from rat poison after seemingly thinking that it was a medicine. They didn’t really have a back story on why the girl decided to take medicine. In addition, Mr Andrews also told us that the phone ring at the end was supposed to be a phone call that would have saved their lives. It would have been better if that was done more obviously, i.e text message. Other than that, the film was really well put together and the story plot was interesting. 

Miss En Scene is a technique that is used in films. It involves; Style of Acting, Setting / Location, Lighting and Props / Costumes. 

Setting and Location:

The setting creates both a sense of place and a mood and it may also reflect a character’s emotional state of mind. A setting is often an extension of a character or their state of mind. Settings can be artificially made for the scene or an already existing location can be used. Mr Andrews told us that at Warner Bros, they fill the box set with everything that they need to create something that would suit their characters plot. For example, in the film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Draco Malfoy can be seen in his own blood bath after Harry Potter hits him with the Sectumsempra hex. The way he is placed in a closed off space with him as the focal shows that he is abandoned and isolated where nobody is going to help him. Furthermore, the water running from the broken taps helps to emphasise on how much blood he has lost, as the blood spreads into the water, creating a blood bath. 

Lighting:

Lighting is one of the most powerful film techniques that can help manipulate the viewer's, heart. According to the Masteringfilm, “The subtle use of light creates atmosphere and mood, dimension, and texture. It can help to convey a plot line, enhance key elements such as set colour or skin tone, and signals the difference between comedy and drama, reality and fantasy.”

Three-Point Lighting

This arrangement of key, fill, and backlight provides even illumination of the scene and, as a result, is the most commonly used lighting scheme. The light comes from three different directions to provide the subject with a sense of depth in the frame, but not dramatic enough to anything deeper than light shadows behind the subject. 

Key light. Powerful, bright light that best defines a primary, or key, person or object, creating a deep shadow. It is positioned at roughly a 45-degree angle to the subject being shot.

Fill light(s). Softer light placed at an angle to “fill” any unwanted shadows created by the key light, at about half the key’s intensity. It is usually placed opposite the key light at about a 30-degree angle

Back light(s). Throwing light on the subject from behind, it’s positioned behind at around a 90-degree angle; it can also be adjusted higher or lower to create other lighting moods. This helps to create an illusion of depth behind the main subject and brings it forward from the background. 

(creds: Masteringfilm)

Colour

Various colours are used to influence the mood of a scene. Night scenes are almost never shot at night but instead, blue light is used. In a love scene, warm colours are mainly used.

Props and Costumes: 

Costumes can say a lot about the character or the time period of the film. Costumes include both makeup or wardrobe choices. For example, if a film is set in ancient china, actors are most likely going to have traditional Chinese outfits and soft makeup will be spotted on female actors. If a character is rich and spoilt, they’ll be spotted with lots of expensive accessories and probably a well-tailored dress/suit or an expensive brand clothing. One of the best examples of the use of costume is in the film Cinderella. Cinderella used to wear ragged clothes and had dust on her face when she was a “poor” girl, but after becoming the princess, she is spotted with an expensive gown. 

Similarly, props are also used to show the character’s personality or the era that the film is set in. A carriage can be used to signify the Victorian Era and a sports car can be used to signify the 21st century. 

Style of Acting:

An actor or actress’s performance can make or break a movie regardless of how engaging the story is or how well the editing was done etc… It is the actor’s duty to bring his or her character to life within the framework of the story, and his emotional input dictates how strongly the audience feels about the film. Acting depends on gesture and movement, expression and voice. (Creds: collegefilmandmediastudies ) 

We also watched a video of James Bond: Casino Royale. There were a lot of MES techniques used. For the starting scene, a low to high angle shot of the man. The way the camera is slightly tilted makes the viewers feel and know as if something bad is about to happen to this man. The high screeching sound as the elevator goes up creates a tension for the viewers. The high to low angle shot that is rather significantly different from the low to high angle shot from the previous shot shows that he went from being powerful to not. In addition, the way his eyes are constantly on the elevator floor shows that he is in a hurry/paranoid. This is also represented by his body position, where he's standing rather stoic. In the next scene, he's walking down a hallway that appears smaller and smaller as he keeps on walking, portraying how closed he feels.

When the guy enters the room, the room is rather dark even though he turned the lights on, this is because mainly soft key lighting was used. This helps on creating a mysterious atmosphere as darkness is usually related to something bad. Following that, James

Bond unexpectedly appears as the guy turns around and the light is concentrated on his face, showing that him as a person in important. After that, there's a close-up shot of the gun, showing that the gun is going to be important. For the bathroom scene, the lighting used is a high key contrast, which differs from the office room. This is to show a clear difference between the present and the past. It's also probably because the director wanted to obviously show that James Bond is stronger than the other man, rather than making it mysterious. The guy then tries to shoot Bond, but the gun doesn't work. It then flashes back to the other man, but this time there's a close-up shot of him drowning in the sink and a close-up shot of James Bond's stoic expression, showing that he doesn't care about murder that much. This is also shown when James Bond kills the guy while he's mid-speaking.

That's all for this lesson.