Mise-en-scene is putting into the scene in french and in film term means the look and feel of the scene and shots. the elements that are spoken and thought about under Mise-en-scene are:
Cinematography is basically the photography of the shots and scenes in the film and includes elements such as:
All of the elements of mise-en-scene and cinematography contribute to how the scene is portrayed to the viewer and can change emotion and importance of the features within the shot. We watched the short film, 'Wasp', to analyse the mise-en-cine and cinematography. I have seen this short before and thoroughly enjoy it due to it's gritty reality which is a genre that may not be portrayed well if it wasn't for the cinematography and Mise-en-scene.
Wasp Cinematography and Mise-En-Scene Analyse.
The short film is set in a realistic run down area which we see through the shots of the block council flats and rough-looking dogs, along with the graffiti street signs, which we see visually through establishing shots of the flats and close ups on the street signs, making the audience concentrate on the shot as a relevant shot to the scene setting. We can see that this single mum is struggling with money from firstly the location and then the props in which we see the cupboards with little food and the nearly empty sugar bag which the kids are mesmerised by. This brings us to the performance of the actresses, with the children looking so closely at this sugar bag, it strikes the audience emotionally showing how bad their situation is. this emotion is also portrayed through the shot sizes with CU's cutting from the sugar to the little girls eyes. The costume portrays that the family are slightly rough with the opening scene showing them in nighties, running into the streets and the baby half dressed with no nappy on. Also the hair is un-washed and scruffy and the woman has no make-up on or shoes. The Lighting throughout is quite bland with no over-exposure. The cinematography within the film really emphasises on the realism genre with a constant hand-held camera following the family, which also makes the viewer feel part of the action and emotionally involved. All the takes are quite long and fit well rhythmically together. Also the depth of field mainly consists of full focus, showing everything within the scene, however, some CU shots involve only the foreground element in focus, such as the young girl, to portray the importance of the girls emotional reaction to the action.
Characters are key to creative progress.
The entire narrative revolves around the
characters, therefore, if the character has a well built background
and characteristic traits, then the show can create successful
story lines around them.
“It’s all about character,
character, character…. Everything has to be in service of the people. That is
the secret ingredient of the show'' - Lost co-creator, Damon Lindelof. (Mittell.J, 2012)
Nearly every episode of LOST,
especially for the first few seasons, concerntrates on a different
character and their backgrounds and traits. This is what makes the
show so successful with the audience knowing so much about the
characters yet still with little mysteries that keep the suspense
building.
Character Recognition
Characters need to be defined into their groups such as; Main characters, recurring characters,supporting characters, extras & guest characters. The different roles mean different pay, contracts and credit placements. The main characters obviously get the highest pay and longer contracts, unless a special guest may be a high-list celebrity getting paid a large amount. Another case is Eastender's Tracy, who was an extra but has been a barmaid for years and has spoken, therefore, she is classed as a character.
Miranda D.J. Haza,2011.'Last Night's TV',Aug,27th.available at: http://whatculture.com/tv/last-nights-tv-miranda-series-2-episode-4-review.php
Characters and their traits are built up through the producers in pre-production, yet also within the actor/actress who is to play them. However, some actors can also be a producer on the show such as 'Miranda'. You may find this in many sitcom's as the main character usually writes a lot of their own material. Sometimes characters are affected by the actors that play them, such as the actor may die or decide to quit the show in TV case. Prime time dramas usually come up with a storyline to let the sudden absent make sense to the viewer yet more rarely some shows recast the characters. This is sometimes a big risk and uneasy to the viewer as the previous actor/actress for the character may have had a particular performance and look that added to the main characteristics of them. For example, you wouldn't see Eastenders recasting Phil Michell (i hope) as Steve McFadden puts so much into the character's iconic look and performance. Whereas, Eastenders and other soaps are known for replacing less developed young characters such as Lucy Beale. Doctor Who's narrative actually changed from when the first doctor, William Hartnell, left the programme, as then the producers used the sci-fi genre to their advantage and brought the doctor back as in a different body and now there has been over 11 doctors, changing over the years.
The cast really can make a great impact not only on their characters, but also on the overall narrative. Being a huge fan of LOST, reading Mittell's 'complex TV -character' chapter, many of my queries i had about characters sudden deaths or cuts from the show, when the characters had either worked great in the show or/and been built up characteristically, have been answered. Such as the character Walt, who played a young boy survivor on the island with his dad. I felt that Walt gave the storyline the young innocent character that the viewers would nurture and his background story still had a potential present storyline to give. (His strange mind power shown in a flashback). Therefore, I felt the show had lost a great component through Walt's departure, yet i have learnt through Mittell.J's 'Character' article,that it was due to his sudden growth spurt that the character had to be cut, which we as viewers realise in the later seasons when Locke visits him off the island and he is practically a man with a very deep voice and at least 2 foot taller.Going back to Eastenders as another example Jim Branning's actor, had a stroke, so the writers collided him and his character with them both having a stroke and now Jim appears every now and then on the soap speaking little words, yet the viewer is sympathetic to him as they are aware of the situation.
Walt when we next see him Izikavazo,2010.'615 the end no walt''Not confused just lost',May. Available at http://ncjl.wordpress.com/2010/05/
Alignment in characters us important as we need an attachment to main characters; following their experience and point of view, relating to their emotions and routing for them, yet we still need to connect with the other supporting characters in a serial. As i mentioned before about the LOST episode concentrating one different characters for the first few seasons.
Acting of character
Actors and directors find ways such as facial expression, dialogue and body language to portray their thoughts and emotions that we as humans can relate to. If something happens to a character, for example we may see someone walk by and hand him a note. This is were we then will see a thought process of the character, usually though facial expressions with a CU, which leaves the viewer in suspense and with a built tension. then we get the reaction, such as him running after the messenger or breaking down in tears. THE THOUGHT PROCESS IS IMPORTANT! It allows us as a viewer to think for them and have the imagination to guess what's happened. A thought process is also great for a cliff-hanger at the end of an episode.
Serial characters
Misfits.
Serial characters very rarely dramatically change in my opinion, yet in LOST, we have Ben Linus who goes from being a powerful character and leader for a few seasons, to then becoming a weak follower in the last season, once his daughter is killed. We see this through his performance of the character, as he follows others like Jack and Hugo more and becomes a friendlier guy that i begin to feel sorry for as soon as his daughter is shot. However, a common characteristic in TV serials is character growthwhich we see in young characters becoming maturer with more adult relation 'Outnumbered' is an example as the three children grow over the years with us seeing the most change in the oldest, Jake, who gets into girls and understands and feels emotion towards his family's problems, such as his granddad's Dementia.However, we also see growth in main characters like the characters in 'Misfits' and how they adjust to life with their super powers and how they then go about using them, becoming extra advanced. Lastly, there is transformation, where characters may create another opinion and have different values as we see in 'Desperate Housewives' with Gaby realising that all that matters is family and friends, after she goes to the full length to protect her husband from going to prison in the final season. whereas before this, money was mainly her top priority.
TV RAGE,2012.'Misfits'. Available at:http://search.babylon.com/imageres.php?iu=http://images.tvrage.com/shows/9/8784.jpg&ir=http://www.tvrage.com/Misfits&ig=http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ14zLmcUd5RDx_15eT_60T1L7QSAjfR1Acml-LWw40jSCx4r-1K9tJKYA&h=1024&w=1280&q=misfits&babsrc=SP_ss
The Bad Guys!
When it comes to bad characters, we rarely look at them subjectively as the director doesn't want us to have an emotional connection with them. In 'Breaking Bad' we learn Walt's back story and spend subjective time following his view, so we route for him, even when he is creating the 'best weed' even though morally, we know is wrong. Also we see in this first episode that their are some bullies that Walt overhears talking bad about his disabled son, in which he decides to knock them all out. As viewers, we get a great feeling from watching him do this even though it's not exactly necessary. We have no sympathy for the bullies, yet another reason for this is because we have not been introduced to them and don't know their back story. Perhaps if we knew more about them as we do with Walt we may feel more sympathetic to them even though what they are doing we morally know is wrong.
However, in soaps, the viewer spends quite a bit of time with them and the storyline runs on for quite a while, building our fury and hate for the character, giving us great satisfaction when the character is found out of their nasty ways. Archie Mitchell, Eastenders, is a prime example of this and like many of these big reveals, it is revealed on Christmas day his real bad side. Archie Mitchell also had the Charisma that many bad guys have which is to overlook their evil with them being seen as a lovely charming person to the characters within the story world.
Archie Mitchell Mirror,2009.'Eastenders star larry lamb on...'.'Mirror',Oct,21st. Available at:http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/eastenders-star-larry-lamb-on-why-his-father-426104
Often people underestimate the contribution and importance that sound has in film. sound allows a narrative to run smoothly and portrays emotion that may not be portrayed to the viewer as clearly without the sound. The first sync sound film was 'The Jazz Singer' which was in 1927. Before this, films were completely silent with a pianist or orchestra playing to the films at the screenings. Once sound took off, it created issues within Hollywood, such as some big film stars had foreign accents that were not understandable or they has unattractive voices. A great example of sound introduction in films is in the film, 'Singin in the Rain', with the young attractive woman having a horrible voice and unable to sing. Audience's also had to stop talking to let the film star's speak.
'Talking audience's for silent pictures became silent audience for talking pictures.' - Robert Sklar, Moving made America
Sound is very powerful in film today. It can create suspense, such as in'Rear Window' where we hear the loud footsteps coming up the stairs yet do not see them or who the feet belong to. It can also create tension with it's music, such as in 'The boy in the striped Pyjamas' where we hear the music getting louder and louder while the father is racing against time to save his little boy, within the climax. minilissiegirl,2009.'The boy in the striped pyjamas-finale scene'.'youtube',Mar,28th. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-bR1WBOttU
Sound comes in four main categories; Music, Sound effects, Dialogue and Silence. With this comes Non-Diegetic and Diegetic sounds.
Non-Diegetic - sounds that are not within the screen or character's world, such as soundtracks,music and narration. In 'The Conversation' we think the opening soundtrack is non-diegetic, yet when the camera gets closer into the shot and different shots develop, we see that there is in fact a band playing the theme tune within the park, making it a diegetic sound. Diegetic - sounds that come straight from the stories world and within the screen, such as dialogue, sound effects that are within the world like light savers. although they are not realistic in our world, in the narrative's world they exist. Also if a character has a flashback moment or we hear their thoughts. This is still diegetic. Dialogue coming from the next scene, that we hear faded in towards the end of the current one is also diegetic and is known as a sound bridge, creating a smooth transition to further scenes.
All these sounds cause effects.
space
time
coordination
disruption
symbolism
emotion
perspective
subjectivity
Bordwell.D & Thompson.K (2013) Film Art. Sound in the cinema.
Silence is just as powerful as sound as it puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position as silence is off-putting in reality. Very rarely do we come across complete silence. therefore it can increase the tension in a film such as a horror. while writing this blog i have witnessed an advert which i wouldn't have even acknowledged if it wasn't silent. This proves that silence makes the audience pay attention to the visuals.The 1931 film 'M' is a good example of the power of silence as when the mother calls for her child, it is silent with no one around, showing that the child is gone.
Sound and Space. The louder the sound, the closer it is or if it is a loud sound, sometimes Pleonastic, it may be to gain to viewers attention to the sound source or for dramatic effect. A use of Pleonastic sound i have use myself in a short film i made 'Breakfast'. I used this for dramatic effect and to portray the harsh relationship of the couple through the loud gritty sounds of breakfast cooking. The sounds space also sets the scene, such as the viewer will know that the character is in a large building or far away if their voice is echoed or quiet.
Musicusually goes with the films feel, genre or time period. For example, in 'Forest Gump' most of the music is rock and roll which matches the era of Forest Gumps life story's with the hippies ect. Also in 'The conversation', the music has a wide jazz theme about it, in which i think portrays the mans character and personality, as he loves jazz music, which we see through his saxophone playing along to the music. Very often in film, a Kitmotif is used which is a small musical phrase used every time this character comes on screen or into a scene. Mostly action films use this with a few iconic beats used for a superhero in 'Kick-Ass' or the Joker in 'The Dark Knight', which only uses one beat, yet it is so effective. We also get this Kitmotif for reoccurring events, such as the famous sounds in 'Pyshco' with the stabbings and 'Jaws' with the sharks.
Rhythm - Just like shots, sound usually has a rhythm. Dialogue may have the same talking speed and emotion between two characters having a conversation. Also the music would normally go to the emotion of the visuals with an action scene synced with a fast upbeat soundtrack. Disney films usually have the characters moving around to the beat and rhythm of the background music, weather they are dancing or just moving in general.
Dialogue - Dialogue moves the narration on with the speech spoke from the characters. The beauty of dialogue is that it can be a great element to change a subject, with characters having a conversation between one another. For example, character a & b talking about dinner and then character a addressing character b asking if he had heard about the man next door. A simple example but it certainly drives a narrative forwards. Voice-over from the characters can drive the story forward as well, with Will Smith's voice-over in 'Seven Pounds' it goes from the opening flashback to the beginning with his voice-over explaining that 'In seven days God created the world and in seven seconds, i shattered mine.' This drive the story on with him going straight into his back story.
The voice performance of the character is key to allow the viewer to be able to feel the correct emotion and meaning the director wishes to be achieved. For example if Character A, had answered the door and came to tell character B who was at the door, different emotion and meaning could be portrayed by the way they expressed this. They could shout with happiness 'Tom's here', portrayed as a great feeling for both characters or character A could whisper with concern to character B, that Tom's here, with the viewer seeing some underlining story about 'Tom' and on edge about the situation.
Bordwell.D & Thompson.K (2013) Film Art. Sound in the cinema.
Before now, I have always looked at Narrative as an overall subject with the meaning that the narrative is the story,content and structure in a film/TV show/book. Yet when looking into it, we see that it's much more complicated than that with a narrative's meaning being different to a story's meaning, plot's meaning and narration's meaning.
Narrative
Narrative is a chain of events which causes a new situation in a film, though cause,effect,time and space, which then brings us to the end of a narrative. It is one situation which is usually put in an order that makes sense. Narrative can use parallelism, showing 2 different stories in parallel which could be used by director to show the difference in two characters lives for example. This can be seen in the beginning of the film 'Pretty Woman' showing the major difference between the prostitutes life and the extremely wealthy high-class man. This gives the audience a clear idea of the different lives and sets the storyline. Parallelism can also concentrate on more than one characters story or narration, making it more complex and not one-sized. Soaps do this all the time, such an example from one 'Eastenders' episode with the director parallelling stories; Lola and Lexi story, Syed and Christan story, Joey's love life and a few more character stories going on around these.
Synopsis for this 'Eastenders' episode - ''Lola's left devastated as her hopes for Lexi's return evaporate. Will anyone step up to help? Syed is worried about Christian when he refuses to go to the police. Can Syed get through to his husband? Lauren makes a surprising move after one too many drinks in R&R.'' BBC,2012.'Eastenders'.'IPlayer',November,1st http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01npf3y/EastEnders_01_11_2012/
As well as parallelism, there are other techniques into telling the story, as long as, as a narrative, it is in an order that makes sense to the viewer. This includes telling it chronologically, beginning to end, or breaking chronology, showing the story in a different order. For example, 'Seven Pounds' shows the climax of the narrative right at the start and then goes back to the start of the narrative along with flashbacks. This convention can entice the viewer as they are at a suspense of the hidden cause. The director also chooses to view an event more than once, as a flashback, showing that this is something Will Smith's character keeps thinking about and is a cause of the narrative. Another great example of this is 'LOST' which uses flashbacks, flash forwards and even flash-sideways, which can be confusing by really gripping to the viewer trying to make sense of the narrative.
The story is the whole series of events, chronology, that occur which the audience may not see. It's everything that happens step-by-step to the characters and within the events. As soon as a shot, sequence, scene is cut within the edit and the narrative doesn't include, say for example, what character A does after visually showing character A shopping in one shop, then the story is not being shown fully to the viewer.
Plot
The plot is how the story is shown visually to the audience, such as flashbacks. the plot can effect audiences in different ways. It controls the time, space and effect. It's up to the plot when to reveal character traits to us which many films do even within the opening titles in 'Rear Window' it introduces us to the man and shows he's had an accident while doing his photography job and that he is a peeping tom, just through the camera shots.Sometimes a plot may repeat story events, as I mentioned about 'Seven Pounds', this is usually to reveal new information which also occurs in 'The Conversation', repeating the sound recording over and over till it's clear.
textthing,2011.'Great movie scenes:episode 9-the conversation'.'Youtube',Nov,8th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoaFl_D0S8w The screen duration is much shorter than the story duration as a story such as 'Bridesmaids' story duration is over many years from when the two best friends met, as they speak about this, yet the plot duration is under a year, from when she announces she is getting married until they get married, and the screen duration is around an hour and a half.
''The filmmaker builds the plot from the story.The audience builds the story from the plot.'' - (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p.75)
Narration
This is how the plot is portrayed to the viewer. who's view point we are being told the story from, restricted or unrestricted. This could include being limited to only one character's perspective, such as the 'Rear Window' where we only have knowledge from the man's view, yet this allows the audience to go through the emotion along with the character, not knowing something till they do. Another narration could be showing more than one characters point of view and their individual stories and feeling, showing the audience a wider opinion and view on the relation.Narration can come from someone who is not a character such as a 'voice-of-God' voice over which you mainly find in documentaries. Subjective narration is when the audience are told of the character's life and Objective narration is explaining just the external information, such as what we see and facts of the visuals. An example is 'Life', with David Attenborough explaining what we are witnessing visually and facts of these visuals. A good narration example is 'The Lovely Bones' with Suzie Salmon giving a voice-over through-out which she tells us how she feels, her family feel and tells the story. This is unrestricted narration.
Step - By - Step for Narrative.
A typical narrative goes through the same traits to get to the conclusion. I will use Rear Window as an example.
The Opening usually gives the viewer a setup which we have with 'Rear Window' showing the man staring out his window with a broken leg, observing. We also meet his girlfriend. He feels somethings not quite right with one neighbour.
The Development 'the character learns something on the course of action' & 'takes steps to achieve an object or condition' - Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, p85. This occurs in 'Rear Window' with the man seeing the curious neighbours wife go missing and takes action to find out where she's gone as he believes he has killed her. This allows the viewer to have some sort of expectation of the climax. The climax however may have only a few different outcomes available, with in this case, if the neighbour is caught or if he kills the man and doesn't get found out. Another good example is 'The boy in the striped Pyjamas', with the options being if the boys survive or if the dad is just too late to save them. Films with a classic format often have a closure, closing the story which with 'Rear Window' being an old film, it has this closure with the man being arrested and everyone happy. Whereas 'The boy in the striped pyjamas', there is no closure, the audience just know the boys are dead and it's the end. I think this happens much more in modern day films as they either wants the viewer to use imagination or to portray a message such as there was no happy endings in the war so why would there be in the film.
