This extreme close up is from The Good , The Bad and The Ugly (1966 , directed by Sergio Leone) and it helps the audience to empathise with Blondie because we get to see his facial expressions. Furthermore, the extreme close up shot helps us to understand what is going through the characters mind because we get to sse his face in minute detail.

The opening scene of The Shining (1980 , directed by Stanley Kubrick) is a panoramic shot and this conveys the vastness of the environment and it also displays the isolation that the characters will experience because there is only one moving object in the scene which is Jack’s car and everything else is completely still and there is no movement whatsoever.

This medium – long shot from Star Wars (1977, directed by George Lucas shows the Stormtroopers and it gives the audience a full view of them and at this point in the film , the audience doesn’t know what  a big threat the Stormtroopers are so they may feel a sense of curiosity.

Long Shot – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (dir. JJ Abrams, 2015)

In this scene, Rey and BB-8 are the main focuses of the shot, as they are the only significant things in view.  The use of the long shot helps to show the extent of the desert, to capture the mood of the scene. It is also a good way of showing the scenery, as the shots far into the distance help to immerse the audience into the idea of Rey’s life on an alien planet. This helps the audience to understand her situation, as she has been living on this desert planet for most of her life. The director could also have used an extreme long shot in this scene, but then the audience would have been more concentrated on the surroundings of the desert than of Rey and BB-8, who are the main focus here.

Close Up – Les Miserables (dir. Tom Hooper, 2012)

A close up shot is when the camera focuses on either props or characters in great detail. Throughout this film, there are many close-ups of different characters while they’re singing. This is an effective choice by the director, as it helps the audience to fully see the emotion in the character’s faces. For example, this shot focuses on Fantine, and it is clear to see the sadness in her eyes as she was just forced into the life of a prostitute and raped. This close up shot highlights the fact that she’s broken and has hardly any hope left within her life. If the director decided to use a different shot, for example a medium long shot, it wouldn’t have created as much of an intimate atmosphere and therefore, the audience wouldn’t have understood the intention behind the scene.  

Medium Long Shot – Doctor Strange (dir. Scott Derrickson, 2016)

A medium long shot is a good way of structuring a scene as it allows a lot of information to be seen by the audience, while still focusing on the central character. This shot from the film allows the audience to clearly see Doctor Strange’s powers, showing how he has developed over the course of the film to get to this point. This type of shot also allows the audience to get a good look at the set behind the characters – in this case it is of the New York Sanctum. It shows the level of detail that went into the design of the set, to make it believable for the audience. However, it doesn’t show as much detail in the characters’ faces that would have been shown if a close up had been used instead.

Blade runner uses many elements of mise en scene when introducing Deckard to the audience. Ridley Scott wants the audience to understand clearly who the protagonist is as well as the kind of world he lives in. As many other elements in the movie are very complex, it is understandable why Scott and his team wanted to help the audience get a grasp of the kind of world they will be entering.

SET DESIGN

I think that set design is arguably one of the most important parts of mise en scene for introducing an audience as it has the potential to immerse the audience right from the very start of the movie, creating a sense of immersion and verisimilitude. When the film was released in 1982, it had critical acclaim due to its realistic looking future (created by Syd Mead) as many people believed that the future would look similar to that of Blade Runner’s. The way that Mead and Scott created such a believable world using neon signs similar to that of the already futuristic city of Tokyo, or the high rise skyscrapers that tower over downtown Los Angeles, all of these elements were fairly accurate to real life and what has happened since the movie’s release. However there were still many elements that Mead was incorrect about such as the billowing smoke towers or flying cars. The introduction to Deckard in this cramped and busy environment, perfectly sets up the rest of the Blade Runner world, and manages to easily immerse the audience into the film.

LIGHTING

Lighting is yet another key feature in Blade Runner throughout the film, however the opening to the film when Deckard is introduced, is very different to much of the other lighting in the film, yet it still has undertones of the darker and more gritty world that the director wanted. This scene is very bright and the neon signs that litter the streets provide a top lit effect on Deckard. This effect creates shadows on Deckard’s face, and this combined with the rain and darkness of this scene shows the bleak undertones brought to us in the rest of the film. Throughout the First scene, Deckard is predominantly lit from above, or behind by artificial light, whether from the neon signs or the lights above him when he enters the noodle bar. Compare this to the minimal lighting used in the chase through the abandoned building between Deckard and Roy Batty. There is much less light and is lit mostly by shards of light from billboards outside, which is a huge contrast to the bright artificial light of Deckard’s introduction

COSTUME

Costume is incredibly important in a movie such as Blade Runner as it must be expertly designed to look how Syd Mead imagined it. The introduction to Deckard shows that he is out of place as many of the clothes worn by the mixed race culture that surrounds him are very different to his own. Similarly to the undertones of set design and lighting, Deckard is wearing a very bland and bleak outfit, with different shades of brown and black, where as many of the other people around him are wearing colourful, over the top outfits. Combine this with the bright colours of the neon lighting, and it makes Deckard seem very out of place in the current environment.

COMPOSITION

The composition in this scene is crafted incredibly well as the use of sound as well as the use of the rule of thirds. Deckard is shown in many of the Shots to be off to the side of the frame, while there is something else happening on the other side of the frame. This helps give the film a satisfying and professional look. The use of sounds help achieve verisimilitude by giving the audience a feeling of the busy and cramped world.

SPACE

The use of space in the Scene where Deckard is introduce shows the crowded and overwhelming world that the audience is stepping into. The use of extras walking through the busy street to give the city a feel of being alive and lived in makes the world much more believable and increases the sense of verisimilitude. The panning shot that opens the scene does not focus on anybody specifically until it reaches Deckard, showing the audience quickly and easily who the protagonist is.

Shot Distance

This is my work on Shot Distances for the film Shaun of the Dead

This is an example of a Dutch angle from Do The Right Thing(1989, director Spike Lee) and it averts the expectations of the audience by using an unusual camera technique and it makes the world appear to be off – kilter and this may alert to the audience to the fact that something may be wrong and in the case of this film a lot of things are  wrong.

This low -angle shot from The Shining (1980 ,directed by Stanley Kubrick) makes the audience feel like the character was being watched and this  may make them feel uneasy and it helps to develop tension within the scene and it adds to the feeling of  uneasiness that the audience may feel.

This High angle shot from The Matrix (1999, directed by the Wachowski siblings ) makes the audience feel nervous because Neo is about to fall off the building  and the shot establishes what is at stake by showing the distance that Neo has to fall and this helps to establish verisimilitude because if a person falls off of a tall building  they will die and this shot suggests that this will happen to Neo if he falls down.

In the film Deadpool 2, the main character Deadpool is able to break the 4th wall throughout the film. usually in films, this is used to either give extra context to the audience with complicated events in the film, r it’s used for comedic effect. In this film, it’s used mostly for comedy, but also sometimes used to give context about Deadpools past and his feelings about whats happened. For example, he breaks the fourth wall in order to tell the audience how he got his powers, but he mostly uses it to tell the audience a joke or talk about another character in a comedic way.

Depth of field: This is the focus on the different layers in frame where the foreground, middle-ground or background can be sharp  all at once or one of them is clear.

Shallow Focus: When a photo or film has full focus on something or someone while the rest of frame or scene is out of focus. Usually done to show importance or to keep focus on something.

Deep Focus: Where the Foreground, middle-ground, and background is in focus while all of the frame is sharp and clear.

To similar scenes in Pulp Fiction where there is a use Depth of focus in deep focus and shallow focus.

Kill Bill volume 1

Eye Level: The face to face with O-Ren Shii, this is to show both of them being equal in skill while being fearless at the same time. This continuous use of the angle on Uma Thurman’s character also is used to show her at her most lethal moments in the film when the film gets most violent.

Low: The fight uses the low angles as a way to show Thurman’s character’s move set and skill while showing every detail of the fight at the same time.

Birds Eye: To show how both lethal the Bride is and how outnumbered she is, the birds eye view does well to present both. As to the audience sees how difficult it is for her to escape as the bunched up circle around her moves closer. The circle could be viewed as the cycle of revenge seen in this film.

This is a good example of an extreme close-up, from ‘Dawn of the planet of the apes’ (2014, by Matt Reeves). This shows the detailed and highly profiled facial features of the ape which uses an interesting array of colours and textures to make the audience feel slightly intimidated by the character. I think that this shot is so significant and effective because of how realistic the ape looks, knowing that this is CGI rather than makeup or prosthetics makes this shot look so much more interesting because of how realistic and life-like that the ape looks. This particular style of shot adds greatly to the idea of verisimilitude within the film because it enforces realism within the apes because of the high levels of detail shown. I think that this is a clever technique in intriguing the audience, especially since this shot was used for some editions of the movie poster, because it draws the audience into wanting to watch the movie because of how realistic the apes look which makes the movie seem more appealing straight away

A popular example of a close-up is from ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966, by Sergio Leonne). This shot is significant because it emphasises the significance of ‘Blondie’ as the main character within the film. By blurring out the background, we are forced to focus on him, which suggests what he is an important character. Using the object of a cigar represents his causal and sometimes informal behaviour. The audience could be interested by this shot because we are learning more about the character, which makes us like him more but also begin to understand his decisions and traits

Medium close-ups can be used more frequently but I personally think that they are more difficult to get right because they can struggle to portray the characters facial expressions or the background at once. I particularly like this example from ‘The dark knight’ (2008, by Christopher Nolan) Heath Ledger, who played the joker, was praised for his good acting within this movie despite being the antagonist rather than necessarily the main character. I really like this shot because his eccentric personality is displayed very well here. Capturing his hair, facial expression and unconventional outfit shows how bizarre yet interesting he is. The colour contrast of the dull and slightly withered green against the stark red and dapper purple, adds to this unique perception of the character. By showing all of these different aspects within the shot, the character of the Joker is widely developed because more aspects of his personality are visually displayed. This makes the character more likeable because we understand him more and are learning more about him