Mise-en-Scené Analysis of Submarine

Homework Task: Choose a film and write how Mise-en-Scené  is effective in a selected scene in the film.

Film chosen: Submarine (last scene)

Mise-en-Scené Analysis of 'Submarine'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pWy8YHkBtM

Submarine is a coming-of-age dramatic comedy set in Swansea in 1986, the main character being 15-year-old Oliver Tate who is convinced that he is an unrivalled genius and widely loved by his classmates, when in fact he is pretentious and socially alienated. He is in love with a mischievous but straight-talking girl named Jordana in his year, and goes as far as bullying an overweight classmate to impress her. Their relationship progresses throughout the film as Oliver tries to tackle parental relationships on top of his own.
To put the final scene in context (spoiler alert), Oliver's parental situation slips out of his clumsy grasp and his mother ends up cheating on his father. However, in the progress of preventing this happening, Jordana's mother had been diagnosed with cancer, with which Oliver didn't pay nearly enough attention to, leading to him and Jordana falling out. After things between his parents are resolved between themselves, Oliver attends school to find Jordana with a new boyfriend. After finding her on the beach whilst contemplating his action, he admits his mistakes. Jordana argues with Oliver and begins to ignore him, in which this scene takes place.
The most evident thing in this scene is that neither of the characters say a word, yet the scene runs through a series of emotions between the two characters. All you hear is the sound of the tide and the crashing of the waves while Oliver follows Jordana into the sea, this is symbolic as it gives the audience the direction to analyse their expressions and feelings as it gradually goes from anger, to shock, to happiness. The make-up in this scene is very bare as to not grab anyone's attention or to mislead the audience into thinking either of the characters are concerned about their look at the time of the scene. The lighting is of the soft twilight in the beach, adding drama to the scene and a sense that the climax of the film is near, just like the day in the scene. The camera is shaky and obviously being held in the scene, which furthers the realism of the scene and helps make it feel genuine. Overall this scene is a very effective and smart one from Richard Ayoade, aswell as notable for its impact with no dialogue. 

The Office Analysis

Homework Task: Choose a TV Drama and write how Mise-en-Scené  is effective in the opening sequence in terms of creating realism.

TV Drama chosen: The Office

Mise-en-Scené Analysis of ‘The Office (US)’

The Office is a Mockumentary styled comedy-drama that is, conveniently, set in an office in an urban Business complex near New York City. The drama in The Office could be described as unexpected from the opening sequence, as the setting is of a regular office, in which, you would not expect dramatic events to take place and the music in the opening is uplifting, almost like an elongated jingle that sticks in your head. In the various snippets of the show played at the start of the sequence, you see office workers doing regular day-to-day things, however, further through the credits the themes of friendship and romance are incorporated by the characters grouped together in particular snippets, thus adding a sense of realism and drama.

The cast in The Office are all chosen to look like regular work-goers, however little physical traits of each show what their role is in the show, for example, the ‘funniest looking’ guy in the show acts as the funny guy, through his hairstyle and stereotypically geeky look, the overweight character is stereotypically clumsy and unintelligent, while the serious characters are not shown to be smiling or taking part in the various quirky activities displayed in the sequence. The costumes enhance the sense of realism as they all look like genuine salesmen but gain their individuality through the actions they are doing in the sequence, such as various movements and their facial expressions throughout.

Before you’ve even watched any of the show, the introduction tells you vaguely of the personalities and friendships in the show, after watching it you can assume 2 characters are ongoing friends/lovers throughout the show or that a specific character is the one to make a joke in a scene. The Office also focuses on social faux pas, therefore you can also see which characters would generally be described as the ones to act out this faux pas while being able to observe who the normal, hardworking victims of it are.

Storyboard of Two TV Shows

Storyboard of Two TV Shows

 Covert Affairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5JcJykjHNE
Summary:
A young CIA trainee, Annie Walker, is sent to work in the Domestic Protection Division (DPD) as a field agent. August "Auggie" Anderson, a blind tech operative, is Annie's guide in her new life. In the beginning, Annie's cover story is that she works in Acquisitions at the Smithsonian Museum but she is later let go. As of the fourth season, her new cover is that of a glamourous and well-connected importer/exporter, with expensive tastes and dealings that may not always be legal.

 

Game of Thrones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L2PVdrb_8

Summary:

Several noble houses fight a civil war over who should be king, while an exiled princess tries to find her place in the world, and the kingdom is threatened by some rising supernatural threat in the north.

Analysis

In the storyboards, it was necessary to include the Actions taking place in the scene, the sounds that could be heard either diegetically or non-diegetically and the camera shots that made up the scene. Common shots that were used in both these openings were tracking shots, mid shots and close ups. In Game of Thrones, a pattern appeared to emerge, one that included the camera going from wide shot, to mid shot, to close up then panning out and starting again. The mixture of animation and live action in Covert Affairs made it slightly more tricky to label camera angles, but was a lot shorter than Game of Thrones.

Analysis of Openings to Three Different Films

Analysis of Openings to Three Different Films

Pulp Fiction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jomr9SAjcyw

My Notes:

• Definition of word at the beginning

• Unsettling noise leading to opening scene

• Seemingly unrelated opening

• [Minimal] change in camera movement

• No music [until the end of the scene]

• Skewed world view of opening characters, obvious "bad guys"

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY4f_83t_rw

My Notes:

• Thriller

• Dark atmosphere

• Heavy Rock music

• Simple colour scheme

• Special effects

• Animorphic substance/symbiote (oil was used)

• Supernatural themes

• Deep underlying theme

• Connections to film within credits

Juno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20PQBtyfNZY

My Notes:

• Lighthearted

• Animation

• Quirky

• Consistent theme

• Uplifting music

• Cheery atmosphere

• Clear protagonist 

Blog Details

Blog Details

This blog is an online, interactive portfolio of my coursework for AS Media Studies. I am the only administrator and moderator of this blog and everything posted is of my own work unless stated otherwise. None of my work is posted or moderated by my subject teacher. I will use this blog to post images, videos or text posts related to my project and videos of interest hosted by websites such as YouTube and other forms of media to help portray my portfolio to the best of my ability. Please feel free to comment on any future posts with constructive criticism, posts containing abuse, or unrelated content, will be reviewed and simply not posted.

To visit the website of the school of which I am participating the Media Studies course at, please follow the link below:

http://www.st-anselms.com/

-Lewis