In North by Northwest, the main character Roger Thornhill is mistaken to be a spy named George Kaplan by the villainous Phillip Vandamm and his henchmen. When no one believes him about his own kidnapping, not even his mother, Thornhill flees persecution from his pursuers as he seeks the real Kaplan. Along the way, he unknowingly meets the spy the false Kaplan identity was a cover for, the secondary protagonist and his love interest, Eve Kendall. North by Northwest is a visually stunning and thrilling action film of the classic Hollywood film narrative, with romance and injustice. It uses cinematography and film techniques such as misé en-scene, shot duration,
Early films by Edison and Lumiere involved very simple cinematography, little to no editing and simple realist mise en scene. However, Georges Melies, a theater proprietor and an amateur magician, laid foundation for the new generation films. In A Voyage to the Moon, he becomes first person to introduce a sci-fi film. In this paper I hypothesize that A Voyage to the Moon was most innovative in cinematography and editing. Although mise en-scene was the main focus of the film, I hypothesize that mise en scene wasn’t as innovative as the other two.
Alfred Hitchcock successfully performs suspense and shock in a number of ways.One way was when he reveals that the cop is following her, making us think that he found out concerning the money she stole.Another way is when we see Norman staring through the hole, examining her as if he is waiting to make his move.The last technique that Hitchcock constructed suspense is when we identify a shadowy character gazing at her take a shower, making us wonder who it could
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
Mise- en- scéne is a French term employed by the English language, it has origins in theatre and it is referred to "the contents of the frame and the way they are organized". (Gibbs, nd)
The intriguing world of Casablanca, displays a wondrous mise-en-scene in fashion that accentuates emotions and feeling through aspects of cinematography. From the movement of the camera, to the intricacy of the shot distances chosen to be included within the frame, the film reveals important elements of the diegesis without uttering a sound. The cinematography of Casablanca gives the audience an insight into the intimacy of Rick and Ilsa's relationship, and seeks to situate the viewer’s attention to the space and time of the film.
Film Noir is a genre filled with many interesting conventions. The films within Film Noir use narration, performance, lighting, and blocking in order to tell tales of murder, betrayal, and questionable morals. In this sense, Double Indemnity is a classic Film Noir film. It is a story of two ill-fated lovers lured by lust and greed to commit a heinous act: murder. The main focus of the film (and of this essay) is on Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson and how Phyllis uses Neff. Phyllis is painted in a sympathetic light at the beginning of the film but, by the end, her true natures of corruption are revealed to all. The things that tell the most about Neff and Phyllis are their performances, specifically how they react to either dialogue or sound, and their character blocking. Considering that Double Indemnity is focused around their relationship, it is through examining Neff and Phyllis that much meaning can be found. Double Indemnity’s use of both characters and sound contributes to the theme of a web of corruption spun by an evil temptress.
In conclusion, lighting, diegetic sounds, and cinematography are three key elements of mise-en-scene that director Alfred Hitchcock uses in his movies, specifically North by Northwest and Rear Window. These elements are skillfully integrated into these movies to create suspense that keeps the audience on their toes, questioning what is going to happen next, and wanting more. Even though Hitchcock used these techniques in completely different ways, the end result for both was a timeless, suspenseful
2. Mise En Scene: The Mise En Scene in the film Birdman is shown countless times through the broadway stage. Backstage areas of the theater, dressing rooms, rooftops, corridors, and, of course, the stage all provide deeply detailed to perfectly contain the characters in the film. Printed couches, scrawled “congratulations” notes, flowers and flickering light bulbs adorn our hero’s dressing room. These spaces are each decorated to look authentic. Color also plays a large role in “Birdman”. The stage lighting shifts dramatically throughout the play within the film and this theme often bleeds into the backstage of the St. James Theater. Props, paint cans, and other clutter strings together through
The movie Hidden Figures by Theodore Melfi is talking about the civil rights and equality of men and women in 1970 's to 1990’s. The Mise-en-scene means "setting up a scene." There are six elements that make up mise-en-scene acting, costume and make-up, setting, lighting, composition or space and lastly. In Hidden Figures, the mise-en-scene helps audiences to become closer to the story and have the same feeling as those main characters. The director uses many different kind of shout angles to show the unbalanced between black people and white people at that time and the color and lighting also help the director can present the emotions that the characters are facing different kind of events or people.
“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you stranger” (The Dark Knight, 2008), this is the stand out sentence that the main antagonist, The Joker (Heath Ledger) speaks in the opening scene of the movie. Not only does this line set up the suspense for the rest of the movie but it also sets up the suspense for the opening scene of the movie. ‘The Dark Knight’ is a film directed by Christopher Nolan that builds suspense and intrigue throughout the movie, the director uses mise-en-scene, mise-en-shot and editing to put a seed of meaning for the viewer to draw from. This essay will analyse the opening scene of ‘The Dark Knight” mainly focusing on mise-en-scene, mise-en-shot and editing, where meaning can be taken away from the movie. This can definitely be seen in the opening scene of the movie, it has all the components to make it the perfect scene and the viewer will be able to
Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is a cinematic classic, released in 1941. Citizen Kane challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema. Kane was narrated by several people that include their take on Kane’s life. The story unfolds by many flashbacks and is told by different perspectives over the years through different narrations. Charles Foster Kane was a millionaire, head of newspapers and died saying “rosebud”. The story focuses on telling about Kane but is about a reporter trying to seek what and why his last words meant. A reporter, Thompson was trying to seek why Kane’s last words were rosebud and what it was. The reporter interviewed people such as Mr. Jedediah Leland who was his friend until he was fired from the newspaper after transferring to Chicago to take care of that newspaper. Jedediah was fired after he was found to be face down on his typewriter writing a review of Susan and her horrific performance. Kane’s
La La Land directed by Damon Chazelle known for directing Whiplash (2014) was nominated for several Academy Awards. La La Land (2016) is a film directed and written by Damian Chazelle the acting stars, Emma Stone as “Mia” and Ryan Gosling as “Sebastian”. The film is about two different people Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) who share similar dreams to succeed. Mia, an aspiring actress and Sebastian an aspiring jazz musician. Both seemingly meet up and start dating. Even though, as the two start to find success in their careers their relationship starts to take a downwards spiral. The film story and location is set in a modern-day musical that is set in Los Angeles. The film was shot on location in many scenes and shot on the Warner Bros. Studios. Chazelle states it’s an homage to musicals of the 1950’s and the pictures of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The film uses a wide range of vintage type of film making from the use of film reels rather than digital film, to the use of cinemascope and widescreen, and the use of filming in actual locations and time.
The cinematic language that we hear in modern day movies would not be as it is today if we hadn 't had synchronous sound recordings from the beginning of film. Cinematic Language is the systematic method by which movies communicate with the viewer. Some examples of cinematic language are, Mise-en-scène, camera angles, the use of long takes, & depth of field. Barthes theory of Expressionism, the use of lighting techniques, montage and elaborate props push to make The Wizard of Oz appear to be a spectacle of realism.
One of the major things about aesthetics is Mise-en-scene (put in scene). Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the film. This is formed by setting, props, costumes, makeup, and etc. It was originally a theater term, but it expands over the years. This leads us into cinematography, which is the "aspects of the shot that are related to the camera". Aspects of cinematography include duration, lens, angle, and etc. Cinematography is one of the most important things in a film. The next aspect is sound. In film, sound can be synced, off screen, music, and it can be even be effects (ex. ADR, Foley). Editing is when all of these come together. It is how a movie is put into place shot by shot.