- Settings & Props
This scene is filled with chemical elements and science photos, which shows the audience that it is a chemistry experiment class. Through these settings, people can realize that characters are all students.
- Costume, Hair & Make Up
All characters in this scene wear goggles, which shows that they are doing experiments.
- Facial Expressions & Body Language
Character A(first male fox) is focusing on the experiment. However, his partner, character B(first female fox), looks inattentive and keeps looking at her right side, which shows that something on the right side attracts her. Character D(beaver) has more body language, which makes this character look more naughty.
- Lighting and Colour
Warm soft light covers the whole scene, which makes the scene calm.
- Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
Symmetrical balance was applied in the scene. Also, the rule of thirds is used to locate the position of characters.
- What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.
The first shot shows the scene location(laboratory). The second shot, which is a medium shot, faces characters A and B, which shows that their status is equal.
- What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.
First, there is a medium shot of the door to tell the audience where the story takes place. Then goes to close up to show their talking. Through the eyeliner cut to close up of other two characters. It’s easy to know that there are two groups. We have a deep focus from the beginning to here. Then cut to the dialogue of the fox in blue and the female fox by the reverse angle with shallow focus to show their relationship.
Research Activity 2
- Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture? How are the characters placed in the frame?
Mise-en-scene: Two characters, one male and one female, lying on a bed in a room. Their wearing and hairstyle show that the male is much older than the female. A pair of slippers is on the carpet. The light in the room is warm and blurry.
The props, like bed and slippers, for example, show that these two characters are at a hotel. The slippers show that only one person lives in this room, one of them must be a stranger. The bed is clean and neat and the bed throw has not been removed, which shows that this is their first night.
Characters are placed in the middle of the long shot. They look a little nervous and tired. It seems that they are thinking of something. The woman crosses her arms in front of her chest, which show that she is at a loss.
Research Activity 3
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Week 4: Analysis Of Mise-en-Scène
Posted on 30th October 2021 by Ziyao Zhu
Research Activity 1
https://www.youtube.com/embed/FhVA4NBWbC4?feature=oembedFantastic Mr Fox-Chemistry
- Settings & Props
The first shot shows where the scene takes place – an indoor chemistry lab. Also, we can tell that all the characters are students due to the label ‘Miss Muskrat’s Class’ on the door. Every character are wearing goggles and interacting with beakers. The fox in blue use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire gives me the feeling of reliability. All the set dressing behind works together to form the sense of laboratory.
But actually, I have doubts about the setting. The pictures of animal skeletons and plants in the set dressing give me the feeling of the laboratory is also for biology class. However, the label said it is a Chemistry laboratory. So, I think that might confuse the audience.
- Costume, Hair & Make Up
The fox in blue wears a shirt. That may show he is well-organized and calm. The rat who burn the experiment wears a T-shirt shows he might be sloppy. The female fox wearing a dress may show that she loves beauty.
- Facial Expressions & Body Language
The fox in white looks at the fox with the dress when he talks to her. The eyeliner goes to her. And the audience can see the female fox’s eyeliner is straight to her left which shows there is something that attracts her outside of the frame. Also, the movement of taking out of the goggle show the female fox want to show the spots on her skin because the fox in blue said he like them.
- Lighting and Colour
There is a warm orange tinting covering the whole scene. It’s not the cool colour that I imagined the lab would have. The warm colour forms a humorous and relaxed atmosphere.
- Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
Symmetrical balance was applied in the scene. Also, the rule of thirds is used to locate the position of characters.
- What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.
First, there is a medium shot of the door to tell the audience where the story takes place. Then goes to close up to show their talking. Through the eyeliner cut to close up of other two characters. It’s easy to know that there are two groups. We have a deep focus from the beginning to here. Then cut to the dialogue of the fox in blue and the female fox by the reverse angle with shallow focus to show their relationship.
Research Activity 2
- Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture? How are the characters placed in the frame?
From the quilt and the disposable slippers, I can clearly tell the story that happens in a hotel room. There is no special from their costume. But from their haircut, I can tell that the man with white hair seems older than the woman. They looked embarrassed lying in bed. The soft yellow light also creates an ambiguous atmosphere. They don’t look familiar to each other. The woman’s pose shows she is nervous. Maybe they will talk after a while. Two characters are in symmetrical balance but the quilt is asymmetric. It also creates a sense of artistry.
Research Activity 3
- Can you describe the relationship between the characters?
The woman wearing white is Mrs. de Winter, the new hostess of this house. The woman wearing black is Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper of Manderley.
- How do we know what the relationship is?
- Can you describe how the mise-en-scene works together to tell us what the relationship is?
From their costumes and hairstyle, we can find out that Rebecca is the hostess and Mrs Danvers is her housekeeper. What’s more, Mrs Danvers has a poker face and a calm voice, which shows that she is not quite interested in Rebecca. It is obvious that Rebecca feels afraid of Mrs Danvers because her actions are quite nervous and unnatural. The camera also shows their relationships. Mrs Danvers is at a higher level compared with Rebecca and the camera, which gives the audience a great sense of oppression. Most of the light is facing Rebecca and only a small part of light illuminates Mrs Danvers’ face, which shows that their relationship is not quite peaceful.
Research Activity 4
- Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture?
The costume and architectural style are so distinctive that I can say the story took place in the Middle East. And it seems she is worrying about something. The hand’s position show she’s trying to wrap herself up, giving the feeling of she’s trying to hide something. The red hood has a high saturation give the feeling of tension.
Props: the character is surrounded by low-rise buildings, telephone poles and people who wear robes and scarves with dense beards. All these props show that she is somewhere in Egypt or Iran.
Costume: the girl wears a red scarf on her head and green/yellow clothes, and carried a bag on her back. Her costume is quite different from other people, which shows that she is quite special.
Facial expression: the girl looking around on the street, looks quite nervous and worried.
Light: natural warm light, which shows that the girl is outside.
Colour: The main colour of this scene is red, brown and yellow. The scene uses a lot of unbright colours and the only bright colour is the girl’s red scarf, which separates the girl from other people and shows her speciality.
- What type of shot is it?
A medium shot
- What is the camera angle?
Eye-level shot
- Where is the character located in the frame?
The character is in the middle of the camera, walking on a street that has old buildings on both sides.