Assignment

Q1 Illustrate the following terms as an important significant cinematic device/technique in film

production. With relevant pictures.

a. Mise-en-scene

Mise en scène encompasses the most recognizable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors; it
includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize
the spaces filmed. The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into
the scene”. In other words, mise-en-scène describes the stuff in the frame and the way it is shown and
arranged.

Pro- filmic elements of mise-en-scène

Coined in the 1950s by the French philosopher of aesthetics Etienne Souriau, the term pro-filmic refers
to those components of a film’s visual field that are considered to exist prior to and independent of the
camera’s activity: namely, the elements of setting, props, costume, lighting and acting (or performance)
which cinema shares with forms of staged spectacle such as theatre, opera and dance. For example in
the movie ‘The Graduate’, Director Mike Nichols cleverly played with costuming as part of the film’s
mise en scène. When we see Mrs. Robinson at the Taft Hotel, she’s wearing a fur animal-print coat,
which reinforces her role as a predator.

1. Setting

Setting creates both a sense of place and a mood and it may also reflect a character’s emotional state of
mind.  It can be entirely fabricated within a studio – either as an authentic re-construction of reality or
as a whimsical fiction – but it may also be found and filmed on-location. In the image, from Sofia
Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006), the ornate décor evokes 17th century France and the castle of
Versailles.  But here the baroque detailing overwhelms the character, conveying her despair.  The
actress’s position in relation to the objects within the frame suggests that, as a pawn in the dynastic
enterprise, Marie Antoinette is little more than a footstool.

2. Props

Props are used to make the film feel more realistic and indulging as it makes the audience realise that
the whole thing is real and not computer generated, props can also cause viewers to become engaged.
Within our thriller props play a rather large part as they change how the audience identifies a character,
our protagonists do not carry any form of weaponry making them appear vulnerable whereas the
antagonists carry a kitchen knife and a hammer which are common tools of murder making them appear
more cold blooded and deadly.

3. Costume

Arguably the most easily noticeable aspect of mise-en-scene is costume. Costume can include both
makeup or wardrobe choices used to convey a character’s personality or status, and to signify these
differences between characters. Costume is an important part of signifying the era in which the film is
set and advertising that era’s fashions.
In biographical films, costume is an important aspect of making an actor resemble a historical character.
For example, in Frida, the actress Salma Hayek was not only dressed in Mexican garb contemporaneous
with the 1940’s, she is also given a fake unibrow to more closely resemble the painter Frida Kahlo.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory would not have the same visual impact if Gene Wilder were
dressed in jeans and a T-shirt instead of his classic and recognizable purple velvet long coat,
patterned silk vest, and his Bell Topper hat. These costume choices are all about adding to the value
and mood of mise en scène.

4. Lighting

Lighting is often the tool that conveys mood most clearly.  A cinematographer can illuminate a given
scene with practical light, that is, light from lamps and other fixtures that are part of the set design, set
lights, light fixtures that are off camera and specifically designed to light a film set. But in each case, the
cinematographer is not simply throwing a light switch, they are shaping that light, making it work for the
scene and the story as a whole. This is done by emphasizing different aspects of lighting direction and
intensity. A key light, for example, is the main light that illuminates a subject. A fill light fills out the
shadows a strong key light might create. And a back light helps separate the subject from the
background.

But it is important to note the distinction between two basic lighting schemas in film: high-key (or low-
ratio) and low-key (or high-ratio). High-key lighting involves the fill lighting (used in the three-point
technique at a lower level) to be increased to near the same level as the key lighting. With this even
illumination, the scene appears very bright and soft, with very few shadows in the frame. This style is
used most commonly in musicals and comedies, especially of the classic Hollywood age. An example of
the common use of high-key lighting in musicals and comedies of the classic Hollywood era is its
presence in The Wizard of Oz  (1939). Low-key lighting is the technical opposite of the high-key
arrangement, because in low-key the fill light is at a very low level, causing the frame to be cast with
large shadows. This lighting style is most effective in film noir productions and gangster films, as a very
dark and mysterious atmosphere is created from this obscuring light. Welles featured low-key lighting in
several scenes of Citizen Kane  (1941).

5. 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 upon gesture and movement, expression and voice.

b. Montage

Filmmakers use montage for exposition, juxtaposition, or the passage of time, but they can also be a
collection of emotional vignettes and tell a condensed story in a short time. A montage sequence
comprises short shots or even still images in the case of a photomontage that have a continuity to them
and follow a certain rhythm. Together, the different shots function as a whole and tell a short story, or
advance the plot. Filmmakers use montage to advance time, give a retrospective in flashback, juxtapose
two characters, narrate simultaneous events, or elicit an emotional response from the audience. A
musical montage can use the soundtrack to enhance the scenes, a narrated montage can give an
exposition, or a montage with no dialog can heighten the tension. The word itself originates from the
French word for “assembly” or “editing.”

The idea behind this montage theory goes back to Russian filmmakers in the early 1920s. It was Lev
Kuleshov in particular who posited that the connection and interaction of two sequential shots creates
more meaning for the audience than a single shot. Through editing, the sequence becomes more than
the sum of its parts. This cognitive effect for viewers is known as the Kuleshov Effect. Soviet filmmaker
Sergei Eisenstein made that editing technique his signature and developed five usages of montage:
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal, and dialectical.

The following are the examples of Montage through films:

1. Parasite (2019)

Director Bong Joon-Ho uses sixty short shots over five minutes in his film Parasite to set up the events
that will follow. The cunning of the poor family works to dispose of the housekeeper of the rich family
and install all of their family members as servants. The exceptional montage places characters together
instead of juxtaposing them, just as one family is getting close to another. Classical music creates a false
sense of harmony and security, dramatically different from how things will turn out.

As the montage starts of we see a series of seeming unconnected shots, from Ki-jeong walking past
Moon-gwang to hot sauce being put of pizza to Ki-woo removing fuzz from a peach. All of these
moments are threaded together through a voice-over, and a beautiful piece of music called “The Belt of
Faith”, but they still feel strange and unconnected. As we get into the latter parts of the montage, all of
these shots come back, and are revisited. These images beautifully mirror images at the end, and it
almost feels as those the montage is having a conversation with itself. 

2. Up (2009)

A camera flashes, and we’re transported years and years into the future, to Carl and Ellie’s wedding. This
is the beginning of the legendarily tear-jerking Up montage—which compresses the highs and lows of a
decades-long marriage into about five minutes of screen time. The whole first half of the montage is
devoted to showing how much life and joy Ellie brings to Carl’s life. The montage starts from their
cheerful wedding to them thinking to have kids but they can’t. That is the first time Ellie stops moving
and there is a sullenness and sadness sensed in the movie which is replaced by their common dream of
visiting Paradise Falls in the next scene. But once again, in the next shot, we see them in crisis but still
lovey- dovey. Near the end of the montage, we get an old shot with a surprise of tickets to their dream
until Ellie collapse and is in hospital to Carl at her funeral in the next shot. This montage is responsible
for the vital success of this whole movie as of how many emotions a person watching goes through in
those five mins.

Q2 Write a film review of your choice.

Before Sunrise (1995)

 “I kind of see love as this escape for two people two don’t know how to be alone. People always talk
about how love is this totally unselfish, giving thing, but if you think about it, there’s nothing more
selfish.”

“Isn’t everything we do in our life a little more to be loved?”

Before Sunrise is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater, produced by Anne Walker-
McBay, released by Castle Rock Entertainment. This is the first of the three movies made under the
Before Trilogy. It stars Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert and Hanno Pöschl among the lead cast.
The screenplay was written by Kim Krizan and the director Linklater.We watch as their two captivating
characters, Jesse and Céline, interact with one another – honest strangers in a foreign country, meeting
for a surreptitious moment in time.

Jesse is an American man heading to Vienna, travelling around Europe, while Céline is a French woman,
returning from a visit to her grandmother in Budapest. Upon meeting on a train, they start talking and
form a connection with one another. In an act of spontaneity, Céline gets off the train with Jesse, and
they spend the day together in the beautiful city of Vienna.

For a movie that relies so heavily on the dialogue between two characters, the chemistry between their
actors is imperative – to be undeniable, intriguing and almost tangible. It felt like I was simply watching
two real and raw people, taking a leap of faith and letting go of the walls they’ve built. Jesse and Céline
are nothing like one another, yet they find themselves in one another all the same.

Cinematically, there were many moving shots in this movie, where we’d follow the conversation
between Jesse and Céline while they were walking. This made me feel so deeply involved with the
setting, and contributed to the real-time experience of the entire movie – their conversation was once
again the focal point, and we get lost in the moment. Linklater incorporates wide shots of all the streets,
cafes, and hidden locations that Jesse and Céline visited together at the film's climax, but without them.
It was genuinely amazing. I was surprised by how the characters managed to give each place they visited
so much life in such a brief amount of time, underscoring the movie's perpetually transient nature.

Before Dawn is the kind of movie that left you gasping for air once it's over. The kind of movie that poses
the subject of whether you want to spend your life regretting all the opportunities you didn't take and is
realistic enough to give you hope for yourself.

References:

 http://mediajfs.weebly.com/mise-en-scene-and-props.html
 https://www.careersinfilm.com/mise-en-scene/#s_what_is_an_example_of_mise_en_sc%C3%A8ne
 https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/mise-en-scene-2/
 https://boords.com/blog/what-is-a-montage-definition-and-examples#examples-of-montage-from-
movies
 https://885.movie.blog/2020/02/11/why-parasites-peach-scene-is-the-most-perfect-movie-
montage-of-recent-times/
 https://www.theringer.com/movies/2022/6/14/23166006/up-first-10-minutes-making-of