The Mise-en-Scne of a Film - Essay Example

Film Studies Part A Andre Bazin thought that the mise en scene of a film constituted its commitment to "realism", and that editing (montage) wascharacteristic of "expressionism". What do these two terms (mise en scene, montage) mean, and what did Bazin mean when he made this distinction Bazin's belief in mise-en-scne focused on realism in cinema. He preferred longer takes and "deep focus or depth of field of photography". This means the viewer could simultaneously clearly see on different planes of distance, e.g. witnessing people in a room planning a boy's future and also be able to look out the window at the unaware boy, playing in the snow. A cinema should allow the viewer to interpret the film with its ambiguity, mystery and interconnection in real life. His belief on mise-en-scene is referred to as "true continuity", with experiments in editing and visual effects. He opposed the manipulation of reality in cinema, a film theory of the 1920s and 1930s. Bazin believed that a film should represent a director's personal vision. His writings focused on a new emphasis, with attention to more than just the usual exploration of story-performance-theme that discussion of films routinely limited itself to or focused on. His criticisms were deep and focused on the entire message, including such things as the role of the set and props, camera movement, and the use of deep focus to depict the personality of a character. He was keen to notice how Chaplin's Tramp kicks backwards instead of forward. Bazin ushered in new dimensions to film discourse. His explanation in cinema discourse was understandable by the ordinary folks at the time. These views on montage or editing and deep focus were embodied in a chapter titled "Montage Interdit" in his collection of writings, Qu'est-ce que le cinma(What is Cinema) where he prefers longer takes, explaining it, and "questioned the suitability of montage as a cinematic attempt to mimic literary simile." Because of its relationship to shot blocking, mise en scne is also a term sometimes used among professional screenwriters to indicate descriptive (action) paragraphs between the dialogues. The concentration on objective reality, deep focus, and lack of montage are linked to Bazin's belief that the interpretation of a film or scene should be left to the spectator. (2) What does the term Iconography mean in relation to film, and in particular, film genres Cinema appeals to the general public and tends to depend on familiar styles and structures, what people feel or idolize, and what is the trend. Tradition and culture also play a key role on the kind of genre that is in vogue, what is popular, and appeal to a larger audience. Box office appeals are influenced by idols of the masses, and this particular type of iconography maybe on the actors, the roles they play, the setting, the plot, what they wear, and the way the film is being shot. There are many ways to present iconography in films. Actors are idolized according to the role they play in movies. Sometimes typecasting is one. Teenage stars are seen on movies sometimes not because of the role they play but because they are simply teenage idols. But various factors influence the formation of a genre. Sometimes a genre just happen or evolve out of people's continuing viewing of almost similar kind of film setting or plot, with the same kind of actors. Variations occur only on how the director or film maker presents the films. For example, in the time of western movies, people had the appreciation of the Clint Eastwood films or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Then recently, there was this immergence of experimental films. Cinema is dependent therefore on established traditions that have evolved, or how people adore and fantasize scenes and icons or their favorite stars. This affects the choice of genre. Some form of genre may have evolved out of the people's preference. Still, the people's preference is influenced by many factors. There can be a positive interaction between the cinema or media and the general audience, the way people interact with each other on a particular time or period. Our culture often proclaims the human capacity to explore new realms, the desire to experience the unknown, and the drive to expand our knowledge. But we also have the tendency to stick or love something, or some intangible things. That's why we adore and idolize. In the movies, iconography is borne out of people's tendencies to hold on to something no matter what. Directors and film makers can do nothing but follow people's perception. But sometimes people's perception also are influenced by cinemas and other media. Hence, there is a mutual understanding, or interaction, i.e. people watch movies because of their idols, and they make icons of those movies. These icons are in the form of objects or actors or scenes and plots depicted in those movies, and made almost real by directors and film makers. Part B Provide a critical analysis of the significance of the historical movement Film Noir, in the history of cinema. Refer to at least two key films within the movement. What were the defining characteristics of the movement and how has the movement influenced contemporary cinema (i.e. choose two or three recent films that demonstrate a clear influence from the movement). The very best of American filmmaking could be an outcome of film noir. Film noir is not only the height of the mystery/suspense genre, it is a genre unto itself. Hitchcock presented a different kind of suspense thriller. He was the first to attract attention from French film critics. His films present the audience the flaws of the characters. He created the first psychological thrillers, one of them was Psycho. Hitchcock's genius showed in this film. Psycho, although released in the 1960s, is still considered film noir because of its being typical Hitchcock, the forerunner of film noir. The early forties saw the beginnings of a flood of European film talent into the American industry. What emerged from this influx was, among other things, a new type of mystery/suspense movie - the film noir. It was a hybrid of American pulp fiction street smarts and European expressionism. Film Noir was a style of black and white American films during the 1940s that became prominent in the post-war era. The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia. TOUCH OF EVIL The film Touch of Evil by Orson Welles is a classic example. Like Psycho, Touch of Evil also earned rave reviews because of its showing of unorthodox and bizarre scenes affronting 1950's sensibilities. The movie had mixed themes (drugs, sex, betrayal of friends, police corruption of power), its central character - a bloated police captain Hank Quinlan who handles the car bombing incident - had his own way of proving the guilt of criminals, planting evidence. Its other unusual characters include Vargas, an international narcotics officer who is honeymooning with his sexy wife Susan; a drug smuggler Grandhi; Quinlan's partner Sgt. Menzies; and a terrorizing gang of juvenile delinquents. The film opens in a Mexican border town, with the planting of an explosive in the trunk of a car, then to be driven by a wealthy American man with his mistress-girlfriend. The black-and-white scenes emphasize the seedy atmosphere and the moral decadence, decay, and nightmarish dirtiness of the setting - striking common features of the genre film noir. Mike Vargas and wife Susan are also on their way to the Mexican border, and while they are being questioned by the guard, the convertible, with the bomb arrives, and this is where the bomb explodes. The succeeding scenes show the investigation by Quinlan and Vargas of the car bombing. Quinlan's way is not to seek the truth but to just pin down the suspect he feels was the perpetrator. His perception or intuition is what he follows, no matter if there is no evidence. Finding evidence is no problem. Planting evidence is his scheme. And this method is what he has been accustomed to, making his record of solving crimes extraordinary; extraordinary in the sense that he is able to "solve" them all. Mike Vargas, the all-true crime fighter who follows every step of solving crimes by the book, finds himself in a difficult situation. Will he or will he not follow Quinlan's way In a lengthy interrogation scene in the tiny, cramped "shoe-box size" apartment, the murder suspect, the nervous young boy is given the "third degree." Marcia, the suspect's girl, is permitted to leave with her expensive lawyer, but her boyfriend remains behind without benefit of counsel. Quinlan slaps Sanchez, to intimidate him. Vargas knocks an empty shoebox onto the floor. While the investigation and interrogation is carried on, Vargas walks across the street to phone his wife at the Mirador Motel to check on her condition. Soon after Vargas returns to Sanchez' apartment, Menzies (off-screen in the apartment's bathroom) proudly announces his discovery of the evidence linking Sanchez to the bombing - two sticks of dynamite found in the shoebox. Vargas now discovers that Quinlan planted evidence to pin Sanchez. Vargas threatens to expose Quinlan, who now finds reason to befriend Grandi. Meanwhile, at the Mirador Hotel where Susan is temporarily staying, she is being victimized by a gang of Grandi. They first harass her by playing a loud rock 'n' roll through the intercom on the wall so that she can't sleep. They take over the switchboard, cut off telephone lines and terrorize the attendant. Vargas explains to the chief of police and the district attorney how Quinlan can be responsible for criminal charges. He shows them the document that may incriminate Quinlan and prove that he planted the dynamite. Quinlan had purchased seventeen sticks of dynamite, the fifteen were to be used in his ranch, but the two sticks were to become evidence. The DA did not believe Vargas. Quinlan counters his accusation against Vargas - that Vargas uses his position to supply his wife with narcotics. Susan is now trapped in the hotel, the gang is successful in terrorizing her, kidnaps her, and let it appear that she was raped and high on drugs. Quinlan now asks the help of the vice lord Grandi to pin down Vargas. This is one of film noir themes - cops and robbers or vice lords joining forces. But something went wrong in the friendship. Quinlan now plans to kill Grandi - with Vargas' gun which was has been taken from Vargas' briefcase in Susan's motel room. Quinlan is successful in subduing Grandi in the motel where Susan has been held unconscious by the gang. He strangles Grandi with Susan's stocking, and Grandi falls on the bed frame immediately over Susan's face. Quinlan leaves the room but unmindfully leaving his cane in the scene of the crime. Susan revives and sees dead Grandi right over her, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. Naked she runs to the fire escape, and screams for help. Mike appears in his car frantically searching for Susan, but fails to see Susan on the fire escape high above the crowd gathered in the street outside the hotel. He searches for her in the saloon where he gets a fight with the gang. The police arrive and tell Vargas that his wife has been picked up and put to jail. She's been charged with murder. Menzies takes Vargas side, knowing that Susan is innocent. He shows Quinlan's cane, left in the hotel where Grandi was found dead. It implicates Quinlan in the murder. Vargas persuades Menzies to trap Quinlan - wiring him. Menzies agrees to lure Quinlan into confession. They walk in a section of canals in the town, with oil derricks. The conversation is heard through Vargas' receiver speaker. Quinlan accuses of Menzies of conniving with Vargas. He warns Menzies about the supposed crime of Vargas. Quinlan doesn't admit to framing his suspects, but he says that all his suspects in the crimes he investigated and handled were guilty. To him faking or planting evidence is also "aiding justice". Quinlan discovers the set-up trap when he hears the sound of the speaker echoing off the bridge. Learning of the betrayal, he finds the hidden microphone on Menzies. Menzies hands over Vargas' gun (heard on the recording apparatus' speaker) but Quinlan shoots his best friend Menzies with the gun. As Menzies sinks down onto the cold, dark street, Vargas comes into view behind him. Realizing he has Menzies' blood all over his hands, Quinlan dashes for the slimy gutter water to wash it off, and then falls back onto a heap of garbage. Vargas tells Quinlan he has finally been caught committing murder, but Quinlan expects to frame Vargas and blame him for Menzies' death. Then he accuses Vargas, saying the people, or the authorities, always believed him. As Quinlan turns his gun on Vargas and is about to kill him as a suspected murderer, Menzies who is still alive but mortally wounded, fires a fatal shot that hits Quinlan. The recorder is played with Quinlan admitting that he faked evidence to aid justice. And he did it to all of his cases. But Quinlan is still alive, and shoots Menzies. Sanchez was framed by Quinlan, although the latter's intuition was right. Quinlan was still a lousy cop - he served as judge, jury and executioner. PSYCHO Characteristic pattern in Hitchcock's style is seen in Psycho, something known as black humor. He uses this in Norman Bates, the character played by Perkins. Bates hobby is taxidermy. He likes to stuff things, from animals to little things, but most of all, his 'mother'. The immortal but controversial shower scene in Psycho: A woman unrobes, steps into the bathtub, draws the shower curtain closed, and turns on the shower. As she is showering, the door opens, a shadowy figure slowly approaches, and a hand swiftly throws open the curtain. A shadowy figure of a woman appears from behind the curtain, raises her hand with a large bread knife and stabs the naked woman several times. She screams but the attack is relentless. The scene is intensified by a searing background music of a violin that seems to slash and scream. The woman lays lifeless, half of her body hanging on the tub. Hitchcock has very shrewdly interwoven crime, sex and suspense, also blending the real and the unreal in fascinating proportions and punctuating this with several quick, grisly and unnerving surprises. We can see at the start of the movie the use of shadows and windows. Marion and Sam peer out of the window through the blinds. Some other props used are stuffed bird's shadows as they loom over Marion as she eats, and the perpetrator of the killing - the 'mother' - is seen in only shadows. Mirrors also are used, reflecting character Marion as she packs, later her face in the policeman's sunglasses, and her hands she counts out the money. Janet Leigh's character Marion Crane is an effectively realized character, one who shares similarities with Norman. Both are on the run - she, literally, from her past, and Norman from the present and future - and both have secrets. The film was shown in black and white, typical of a film noir. If it had been shown in Technicolor, it could have a different outcome. The woman in the shower with a 'colored' blood is a different scene. Flow of the plot A show of quality storytelling in film noir by the genius is how the plot flows from the time Marion and Sam are in the motel, to Marion's murder. The story starts in the simple county of Phoenix (this is symbolical, Phoenix is a mythical bird). The couple lies half naked in a motel. The setting is the 60's, and to show this particular scene was a first in American movies: Marion just wearing white bra, with boyfriend Sam by her side. This is a simple storyline beginning. It becomes complicated when Marion plans to ran with a big amount, $40,000, which she is to deposit out of a real estate sale from the office she is working. Slowly, she slips and her feet lead her to the Bates Hotel. She is the only customer of Norman Bates who then invites her to a dinner. She gives in, and the scene leads to a semi-climax. Semi-climax because it is not yet the beginning of the end of the story, but the start of another killing, and the killer is still to be known. Sam and Marion's sister, Lila, tipped by Detective Arbogast before his demise, are suspicious of Norman and his 'mother'. They investigate and decide to check into the Bates Motel, to search for proof of Marion, where they find evidence: a paper with the sum of $40,000 written on it. Lila sneaks into the house while Sam confronts Norman at the office, where they have a heated argument, and this quickly escalates to violence. Norman knocks Sam unconscious and flees to the house. Meanwhile, Lila slips into the basement to discover the semi-preserved corpse of Norman's mother just as Norman enters to find her. She now discovers that Norman is the disguised mother, cross-dressed in his mother's clothing, complete with wig, the real perpetrator of the crime. Norman wields the deadly butcher's knife, preparing to kill Lila. Sam reappears just in time to wrestle the knife away from Norman and rescue Lila. In the last portion of the film, a forensic psychiatrist explains the motives behind Norman's behavior. The doctor explains to Lila, Sam and the authorities that Bate's mother, though dead, lives on in Norman's personality. He killed her when she remarried, but became guilt-ridden that he tried to erase the crime from his mind by bringing his mother back to life. He did this by exhuming her corpse and preserving it with taxidermy skills. Norman acts as he believes she would, talks as she would, and even dresses as she would, in an attempt to erase her absence and the guilt. Because Norman was so very jealous of his mother while she lived, his split personality is equally jealous of any woman to whom Norman might be attracted. Psycho is important in the film history, and in the formative years of film noir. It was filmed with a small budget, but it earned millions, and for Hitchcock it made him one of the most influential film makers of horror/thrillers and the mystery/suspense genre. Influence of Film Noir on current films: Twelve Monkeys Twelve Monkeys is a futuristic film that also deals with film noir's drugs, sex, crimes, and also time travel. The story begins with James Cole (Bruce Willis), a convict being sent back in time (1990 - 1996) to find the source of the virus which exterminated most of humanity. The disease is believed to have arisen as act of bioterrorism by a mysterious group called "The Army of the Twelve Monkeys." The scientists wish to study the virus in its unmutated form to enable them to produce a cure. Cole meets Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), a deranged animal rights activist. Cole warns psychiatrist Railly (Stowe) and the doctors of the impending catastrophe, and inquires about the Twelve Monkeys. Between 1990 and 1996, Dr. Railly has taken an interest in the Cassandra Syndrome. She publishes a book on the topic, citing examples of unheeded prophecies of doom dating back to the 14th century. Railly continues to believe that Cole is delusional. Cole uses his photographic memory of the pictures he was shown by the scientists to locate the office of a group of animal rights activists. Cole is sure he has found the source of the outbreak, not only because Goines is in charge of the organization but also because Goines' father is a famous virologist with access to deadly biological agents. Goines quit the group to work at his father's lab. Finally, Cole is informed by Goines that he is the source of the pandemic when he originally broached the idea at a psychiatric facility in 1990. Now Cole believes he is really delusional. After returning to the future, the scientists congratulate him, believing that he found the source of the virus. Now here's the connection or influence of film noir in this film. Cole and Railly, in one scene, watched Hitchcock's Vertigo. The scene was about Scottie and Madeleine in Big Basin Redwoods State Park where Madeleine looks at the growth rings of a felled redwood and traces back events in her past life. This is the influence of film noir in current films. The music from Vertigo is also played here, where Cole and Railly have a similar conversation. La Jetee also inspired Twelve Monkeys. La Jetee has some connection with Vertigo. Vertigo is one of Hitchcock's most powerful, deep, and stunningly beautiful films, a film noir. It is an intense psychological study of a desperate, insecure man's twisted psyche and loss of equilibrium. It follows the troubled man's obsessive search to end his vertigo and becomes a masterful study of romantic longing, identity, voyeurism, treachery and death, female victimization and degrading manipulation, the feminine "ideal," and fatal sexual obsession for a cool-blonde heroine. Hitchcock's Psycho (as analyzed above) also deals with psychiatric problem in the person of Norman Bates, who also resorted to voyeurism. One of the film's posters featured an abstract vertigo effect - a spiraling shape with the figures of a man and a woman falling into its center. On the other hand, La Jetee (or The Jetty, 1962) is a short black-and-white science fiction film by Chris Marker. Like Twelve Monkeys, it is a futuristic film, and tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of optically-printed photomontage. (Jetee is derived from the feminine past participle of the verb jeter, meaning "to throw".) Like the movie Twelve Monkeys, the movie is about the time after World War III, and the survivors research time travel, to send someone back in time, hoping to recover food, medicine, or energy. La Jete's prologue depicts a young boy watching passenger jets take off from the jetty at Orly Airport. There is a commotion and he sees a man fall to the ground, shot and killed. A woman also witnesses the scene. Then, flash forward to the future, Paris in ruins. The main character is made to test a new-time travel technique. In the past, he discovers he was the little boy. The protagonist has grown up with the image of her face and her vulnerability, and also falls in love with her. He meets her in his time travel. Then he returns to his time, but the scientists send him to the future. There he is given a power supply to reignite the world's supply. After this, he is supposed to be liquidated because he is of no use anymore, but those from the future communicate to him and asks him to be with them. He refuses but instead asks them to transport him once again to peacetime Paris and the woman who awaits him. They grant his wish. Finally, he gets killed by an assassin at the jetty of Orly airport, the way he witnessed the scene as a child, while the woman watches the murder. Sellars says that La Jete's virtue is its immediate, haunting ability to evoke the emotions of love and desire; its use of photomontage poignantly conjures up the frozen moments that constitute memory. References: Andre Bazin, can be found on line at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Bazin Answers.com, http://www.answers.com/Iconography, retrieved 2007-06-09. Film Noir, can be found on line at: http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir4.html GigNews.com, Designers by Siena, can be found on line http://www.gignews.com/mise_en_scene.htm, retrieved 2007-06-11 Iconography, can be found on line at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconography, retrieved 2007-06-11 La Jetee Script, can be found on line at: http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/lajette.txt, retrieved 2007-06-12 Mise en scne, definition, Answers.com, can be found on line at: http://www.answers.com/mise-en-scene Psycho Screenplay, can be found online at: http://www.paradiselost.org/psycho.html, retrieved 2007-06-07. Psycho, can be found on line at: http://hitchcock.tv/mov/psycho/psycho.html, retrieved 2007-06-06 Touch of Evil, can be found on line at: http://www.filmsite.org/touc3.html Twelve Monkeys, can be found on line at: http://www.filmsite.org/vert.html Vertigo, 1958, can be found on line at: http://www.filmsite.org/vert.html Film Genres: Meeting and Challenging Audience Expectations, can be found on line at: http://web.missouri.edu/umcasfilmstud/courses/ger131/Genre%20Western.htm Other websites used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_sc%C3%A8ne http://www.filmsite.org/chin.html Read More