How Mise-en-scene is represented in a film

 

How Mise-en-scene is represented in a film

 

How the lighting in the film is represented (0:45)

 

 

Denoted here is two people looking at each other in the dark.

 

Here we can clearly see a mid shot of two people both of them being black talking to each other and both of them look like they are smiling and  seem to be getting along ,while the lighting in this shot is particularly dark which is a low-key lighting, the only lighting seen in this shot is background lights from what appears to be houses in the distance or street lights

 

What this connotes is that this film fits well with the genre of the BSR films due to its dark and realistic lighting and setting as usually in BSR films there's usually a high amount of dark luminous scenes to maybe show the characters feelings or emotions and maybe to even foreshadow or portray their future as a dark setting, the lighting can also represent the relationships between these two characters as it could show both of their troubled pasts of being together but the light in the background could be a signal of hope just like a religious symbol. This relates to BSR films due to the lighting portraying a realistic insight of what real life can be like making them both link to each other.

 

How the Colour of a film is represented in a BSR (1:45)

Denoted here is a man running over a persons body with a car in the background

Here we can clearly see a long angle mid shot of a person on the ground that appears to be hurt and someone running over him in some pebbled road that fancy houses would have and in the background we can see a car that is driving in front of a house and the situation that is taking place is all set at night. The colour used is very dull bland and not very saturated as it fits well to the BSR genre.

What this connotes is that the film is very true to the BSR films because the colour and texture of all the props and assets used in the production and post production of the film fits to the dark gritty feel of the BSR as ,BSR's are known to have a fairly dark deep story for example drug use and the story for this film is not much different. The colour can signify the depression that happens throughout the film because there are people hurt as we can see in the example above and it can show the true meaning of what life is like instead of the Hollywood glorified films that only show false depictions a lot of the time. It also clearly shows how everyone is fighting for their survival and how dark and grim it can be for instance people could be stabbing, punching and this all can lead to the victim up above. This depicts the representation of BSR characters because a lot of characters in the films under this genre all have the same conventions that are mention here, fighting even killing and trying to make al living.

 

How the setting an Era of a film is represented in a BSR film (2:01)

 

Denoted here is a man running down a path towards a bunch of police cars

 

Here we can see a man who is wearing a hoddie and jeans running down a pathway that looks to be of a wealthy house such as a mansion and on the pathway is a bunch of police vehicles such as cars and ambulances and police officers waiting there. The lighting is very dark once again as tis set at night outside and the only visible lights are coming from what appears to be the house as the path is all laminated and the flashing lights from the police cars and ambulances.

 

What this connotes is that the film is true to the BSR genre again because it has clear conventions from the BSR films such as the era that this film is set in.This film is set during modern times and we know that it is set during modern times because we can see the abundance of technology being used such as the cars and the flashing lights because not that long ago has these uses of technology have been used. We also know that this isn't set in the far future because mostly likely at that point would we have developed far better and more efficient ways of transportation and technology so using outdated equipment would be impractical. What also hints at the era is the clothing some people wearing in this shot, such as the man running as seen above, he is wearing a hoddie and some jeans which all link and relate to the era of today as a lot of gangsters wear this type of clothing making it another hint of it being set in the modern era. This links to BSR films because a lot of BSR films are set during the modern era to show what life is li9ke today but there are also some exceptions.

The film I chose to use for this mise-en-scène analysis was Kidulthood (Stylised as KidUlthood) more specifically I chose the clip of its ending as there was so much to analyze as so much was going on within this single sequence and I had a clear idea for representation of some of the categories of PLACE within mise-en-scène from my first viewing of the scene.

Actors 

 
Katie who killed herself very early on into the film had a strong family, the photo above shows Katie's brother who seeks revenge from her death note shown in the photo (below), he does this in a very convincing fashion from his actions the emotion he uses is very realistic and he is very distraught and crying when he finds one of her sisters bully's and dwells over the fact that Sam the trigger that led Katie to kill herself barely cares or even remembers.

The mise-en-scène that is done here through acting is the convincing performance from Katie's brother making this story much more believable as he had reacted the way someone in reality would react after finding one of your family members persecutors through bullying. This performance further  strengthens this sense of realism we feel almost constantly throughout this film, the performance also reinforces the point that Katie was killed very unjustly and Katie's brother feels like he has to forcefully instate this justice himself as this has not just affected him but everyone who knew Katie, this feeling is what helps the audience further despise this Antagonist and keeps the audiences mind set on the characters roles in the movie. There is also a clear understanding of Katie's brother we know that he is not a completely bad guy from the way he lowers his gun when Trevor says that, "He's not worth it.", however this judgment is severely clouded by the death of his sister and so when Sam starts to act up to get some of his reputation back Katie's brother goes to pull the trigger.

I feel that the mise-en-scène here is done well as we get a very good feeling of how British social realism characters usually behave in this darker genre of film, we see that he is mostly aggressive due to strong themes in this case it was revenge, however, in other films it could be a range of things from depression even to jealousy, even so this gives someone who is new to this genre a clear feel for some of the emotion that could be shown by the actors in such a film. The mise-en-scène here also shows the fallout of events and how things could very easily spiral out of control shown very evidently in the closing scene of the film, however, here all events transpire into one big finale although this could be for a "big ending" as shown in most films, I feel that here it is to further explore this common trait in most British social realism films of this bad ending and how not everything is resolved in the closing sequences. The scene also strenthens the point of these British social realism common traits particularly here we see someone having to embrace this darker side of himself due to the transpring events, the acting proves this as he is not able to fully embrace this darker side after being brought to tears by the final moments of her sisters life and how depressing and sad they must have been, only after a further push by Sam is he brought over the edge and is prepared to kill him, the acting by the actors of both Sam and Katie's brother shows the audience how brutal and harsh the lives of people within British social realism films are.

Production

 

The mise-en-scène in this film has been improved greatly by the production in many different ways, the scene here is where Trife (Trevor) is given the death shot with the baseball bat by Sam (the editing here has also made it much harder for viewers to watch as it seems much more brutal as it has had effects added to it to make it feel truly hard). Also in the scene we see Alisa shocked in the background. The picture that is shown is very dark and a fitting representation of a British social realism film. 

The mise-en-scène in this scene is very strong, firstly regarding the set, this is also well done, although we are in a lower class area the people who live on this set are richer than most in this area this is displayed as off into the distance we see little else but other far neighboring houses and garages. The set more specifically is very open, and that feeling of danger is much more evident as the persecutor Sam is able to attack from anywhere. The props equally have this feeling of danger which is too often present in almost all of these British social realism to illustrate that the lives of the people in this film are almost never not met with threat and are not easy lives to live this is shown through the use of this baseball bat from Sam's perspective we see a threat to his status within this community as he let three young school boys beat him up and rob him. The movie also uses its costumes well showing these roles for all of the characters in the film we also see this slightly sexist outlook, where Alisa is wearing a dress to the party along with most other girls, however, we see that the boys can dress however they want often to maintain this image of masculinity they mainly decide to wear tracksuits. 

This shows the generic conventions of British social realism films as we are easily able to see the general main themes of such movies from abuse of drugs to simple violence, this is all shown through the production of mise-en-scène in the film the props such as the smaller knife and the baseball bat that the people here in this film are not very educated or have little knowledge of what could be the consequences due to their youth or just dangerous or desperate people in general due to the weapons they carry, equally it could just be the film creators way of telling us where these people live is very dangerous and the only way that some people can even start to feel safe is by carrying weapons of their own. This conforms to many of the British social realism trends such as living within a dangerous community or place, the theme of petty crime in general or serious crime to try and survive through poverty and even just wanting a high status within a community which Sam clearly wants this is seen especially when he is confused as to why he wasn’t invited to a party.
 

Colour

 

The image here shows Trife (Trevor) on some steps after being beaten very harshly with a baseball bat he is now very injured and is close to death, it is a very emotional scene and the actors show it by some of the expressions in their faces. 

We see the red colour of blood splattered all over Trevor's face mostly people around Trevor are wearing white clothing, however we see Becky in a pink dress and we also see Moony in a darker tracksuit and Jacket combination and Green is also seen from the surrounding grass and weeds. 

This red colour that usually indicates danger and death usually appears towards the dark climax of a British social realism film or in the dark ending here, similarly it is shown in this darker ending we see Trevor spitting up this blood and having is smeared across his face, this is a regular convention in British social realism movies as this sense of brutality and death is present almost within all movies of this genre with action within the film.