My chosen scene from Bladerunner (1982, Ridley Scott)is very near the end. It is the scene where the replicant “Pris” is killed by Bladerunner “Deckard” In this scene many elements of Mise-En-Scene are used to create a very fitting effect for the scene. These elements include:

Light, sound, set design, character position and costume/makeup.

For example, in this scene there is a high contrast between light and dark, it is currently night-time and so it is very dark inside the building however there are random spotlights floating around. This contrast of light represents the contrast between good and evil. Pris and the other replicants being the ever-present darkness and Deckard being the light. This sets a mood for the audience and lets them who has power in each scene. At the start of the attack Pris seems to be in control, she has Deckard in a head lock and is inflicting a lot of pain. At this moment in time it is very dark constantly. However, soon after, Deckard shoots Pris. Now it can be seen that Deckard is in control and therefore there is a lot of flashing lights, the more he shoots her, the more the light flashes and the faster it flashes implying light overcoming darkness and Pris Dying.

Additionally sound is used to affect the audience. At the beginning of the fight there is quiet eerie music playing, This is signifying danger, later on in the scene when Pris is somersaulting over to Deckard she lets out a war cry-like shout. This then implies to the audience that there is more danger and this is proved correct when she manages to put him in a headlock and hit him. Finally, towards the end of the scene when Pris is being shot the is a huge amount of ambient noise as well as her screaming which then stops stops when she dies indicating that there is no more danger.

Not only that, but set design is a factor in Mise-En-Scene. This final scene uses an abandoned dusty building, This creates an effect of unpredictability on the audience as it is out of the ordinary and so anything could happen. Additionally the mannequins used at the start of the scene also create an extremely eerie effect on the audience as if there are many different people there and many possible enemies. Additionally the large amount of mannequins gives the audience something to look at and focus on since nothing much is happening, however later on in the scene the background is very plain and dark and we only get to see a few bits of detail on the all and floor. This is used to focus the audience’s attention on the fight going on and not the background.

Furthermore, we have character placement. Throughout the whole scene the actor; Ford, is the centre of attention however the character; Deckard is actually continuously being consumed by the darkness. This creates a sense of confinement and makes the audience feel uncomfortable as the actors actual position and the characters emotional superiority/ inferiority do not match up. For example while the actor is in main focus in each scene the character is constantly being beaten by the physically inferior character because of the emotional superiority she has over him. This also links to there being more darkness than light as mentioned before and how the Deckard must use his character’s emotional inferiority along with his actor’s physical superiority to overcome the ever present darkness. Only when Deckard shoots Pris do we suddenly see her in main focus, this also creates sense of discomfort because, although she is finally in main focus she has lost the superiority she had over Deckard and now has lost.

Finally the element of costume design really helps to create an effective scene because it accentuates the characters feelings and intentions. For example: Pris has very pale white skin with black and white makeup and a skin coloured costume. First of all this accentuates her black and white feelings. She is a replicant who is supposed to not have feelings, she is only supposed to have two feelings, life and death – light and dark. On the contrary Deckard’s suit is composed of many warm colours and his skin is full of red, this exaggerates his human nature and the complications and accumulation of colourful feelings he has. Secondly, the pale skin could represent the fact that Pris is going to die soon and therefore she does not have a healthy body or skin tone/texture. This juxtaposes with Deckard’s skin tone which as i said before is much more colourful and full of life representing the fact that as he is not a replicant with a short lifespan, he still has a long time to live theoretically and therefore looks healthier. In short Deckard is has a complicated and colourful costume where Pris doesn’t and this is because of Deckard’s healthy body and human nature (having all these feelings).

This is my induction task essay where i describe how the accumulation of micro and macro elements can help to create a “Good Film”

Film’s can be deconstructed into macro and micro elements; Macro elements include genre, message and value, representation, narrative, style, authorship and theme. Micro elements include editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound. In order for a film to be successful, these key elements must be well thought out.

For example with micro elements cinematography plays a large part, this includes camera angles and lighting and how scenes are captured to portray  the narrative as well as possible. Additionally, sound is very important, in general it is the sound in the movie that makes it seem real, whether it is a bone breaking or a wave crashing, if the sound is believable it will be more successful; with an audience.

Not only that but editing is also an important micro element. Whether it is the combination of scenes using transitions, the colour correction of a sunset or the c.g.i, editing is very important in turning a raw, unprocessed recording into a film.

Finally mise-en-scene, mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything in a scene. For example, the setting of a scene can tell what kind of an experience one will have in it or how it can affect someone / something. If the scene is in the desert, you will expect it to be hot etc. Another part of mise-en-scene is costume, whether or not someone fits into the scene will reveal how they impact the community and how they may feel. A fancy person in a poor town will stand out and cause a sense of discomfort. There are many other attributes and elements of mise-en-scene but in general it is the amalgamation of elements in the scene that will help convey the narrative.

Next is macro elements, there are many macro elements so i will explain them briefly.

Firstly: Genre

The genre of a film is a way of categorising the film so that it can be advertised to different audiences. Different people prefer different genres and therefore it is all personal preference.

Secondly: message and value.

Many great films are great because of the messages that are portrayed and the values the characters are seen to have. This way the audience can relate to the characters but they may also learn a thing or two from the implicit or explicit messages in the film. These messages can be used to improve the community or to convey certain ideals.

Thirdly: representation

Representation is important because they are specific decisions directors make to create a unique story and directors can choose whether to represent stereotypes normally or abnormally so that their film may differ from other films.

Additionally narrative is important

Narrative is the story or plot of a film, it can be fictional or non-fictional. Good narratives have a beginning, middle, and end and show development to create differentiation.

Conjointly, style must be acknowledged.

Style is the way the film is presented to express ideas with a  different or interesting approach

Furthermore,

Authorship is an interesting macro element that helps make a film good.

Authorship is the state of writing, creating or causing. Ideally a good authorship would have a clear explanation to events in the film so that viewers may understand and yet also help the audience recognise the author by their style.

Finally: Theme

Theme in a film is all about having a basic idea that the plot and narrative runs off, different ideas can be conveyed in different genres by having separate themes. For example horror genre can have happy themes or scary themes. Themes can be more complicated than simple feelings and can relate to current world affairs. And in general are a way for producers to talk about similar ideas in an  alternate way. Therefore it is also similar to style. There is no such thing as a good theme and in fact, what makes a film good is how a producer or character conjoins a theme to a plot or idea so it may be portrayed in a desired way.

Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014) uses character placement very well, In many photos you can see Chris Pratt’s “Star Lord” in the foreground, this aligns the focus onto him and reveals his status as the leader of the group.

A beautiful use of colour in movies is seen in the film “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Wes Anderson, 2014).

Here, Anderson uses a large array of pastel colours to help set the mood or to show character significance. For example,in one scene, the workers wear purple to contrast with the red wall in the background, showing their importance to the hotel, however one of the guests wears red and therefore disappears into the background foreshadowing her demise.

additionally, characters like “Dimitri” wear black clothes to signify conformity – darkness taking over. And characters like Agatha had warm pink hues reflecting off their face which symbolises innocence and shows she is a lovable innocent character.

Spike Lee famously said that in order for a film to authentically reflect the experience of black culture, it should be directed by a black person. I do agree with this statement as you can only speak about an experience, if you have experienced it. Spike Lee claimed that movies such as Detroit (Bigelow, 2017) and Django Unchained (Tarrantino, 2012) were misinterpreting black narrative. This is because those films were directed by white people and therefore Lee concluded that because they did not have the experience they could not create the film. In my opinion anyone should be able to make any film however i do believe that It would be more accurate, more politically correct, or just a better film in general (perhaps) if it was directed by someone with the experience of the situation.

“The Nun” (directed by Corin hardy, 2018) Is a horror film about a nun that took her own life and the death of which is investigated by a priest and a novitiate. Together, they uncover the “Order’s” unholy secret, risking their lives in the process. The Costume designer Sharon Gilham did an amazing job. The horrific makeup and costume for the nun created an extremely eerie atmosphere. Although this film did not have a large amount of cheap jump scares, it had a lot of psychological mind tricks that are arguably even more terrifying  than a jump scare. The costume design really helped create psychological  thrills and was very accurate. I’m sure many people are going to have the face of the demonic nun in their heads for a long time as the makeup was too frightening to forget.

A great example of amazing costume design is in the film “Mad Max: Fury Road” (George Miller, 2015) the English designer Jenny Beaven designed incredible costumes that turned regular people into vicious and relentless killers. Whether it is the use of makeup to make the “war boys” seem hollowed and concave or the use of costume to accentuate the horrible diseases these characters developed from years of being in this toxic wasteland, “Mad Max: Fury Road” earned Beaven her 11th Oscar nomination and is widely known as an incredible work of art.

What does the top 2018 movie list tell us about the formula for a successful film. Firstly, one should explain that since this list is “international” there are many different film industries from different countries however Hollywood is by far the largest film industry on this list.  The top eight out of the top 10 films are Hollywood films. This tells us that film is a a huge part of western culture. The last two on the list are both from the Chinese industry so one can infer that film is also very popular in the eastern culture, partially because of the sheer amount of people living in china.

Additionally, looking at the genre of film can help determine the formula for a successful film. Many films such as “Avengers: Infinity War”, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Black Panther”. This implies that the action genre is very popular in the film industry, especially in western culture. Therefore using a popular genre is a key part in making a film successful.

Not only that, but bankable stars are very important. having your favourite actor in a film can attract you to it before you have even seen the trailer. People are more likely to see a film with a good/popular actor as they will assume the film is going to be good just because of that actor/actress

Finally, occupying the bottom of the list are two Chinese films, this reveals that China has a very large population and a very large cinematic audience and therefore can make this list whilst only being viewed in one country.

One amazing example of mise-en-scene in a film is in “Titanic” (James Cameron, 1997) the set design was incredible. This is because a full size replica was created just for this one film. Although initially the replica was full size, some parts were removed since they did not contribute to the scene e.g could not be seen at all.

This film was incredibly well made and has left audiences in awe even watching it today due to the intricate plot and terrific set design.