Film Studies Assignment 2

Mise En Scene

Mise En Scene means “placing on stage” in French, it is a very important element for filming. Mise En Scene included everything that appears in front of the camera, which are the settings and props,lighting, costume and makeup, and also the actors’ behavior and performance.
In order to make the seriousness of the interrogation, we found anempty place with only a table and some chairs to simplify the scene. We used the phone’s torch light as the only light source. We lit it from a high angle and focused it on the characters to give emphasis on the characters’ expression.To make our story more understandable, we added some flashbacks to reveal the truth of the case. Since the Samyang was stolen in the hostel, we went to a hostel to shoot the scene of flashback. We used the light source from the room to make it more natural.
We didn’t do makeup as the characters we were acting as were students. However,the interrogator wore a proper suit to make it more sensible while the other characters only wore casuals.
For the actor’s behavior and performance, we designed different personalities for them. Firstly, we have Edrean, who is a serious and bad-tempered person. He spoke in very serious way. His voice went louder when he was being questioned by the interrogator several times.
The second suspect, Ray, is a timid person. He was too afraid of being questioned so he spoke in a low voice. He was afraid of looking at the interrogators’ face, so he always looked downwards.
The third suspect is Ricky. He is a person who is very impatient and doesn’t want to cooperate. He spoke very hastily and when the interrogator questioned him, he feels like he doesn’t want to talk much.
For the owner of Samyang, he was very angry and wanted to find out the thief as soon as possible. When Ricky said something suspicious, he stood up immediately, hit the table angrily and questioned Ricky loudly.
Lastly, we have Daniel, the owner’s friend and also the one who stole the Samyang. During the interrogation, Daniel acted like he was trying to help the owner so that he won’t be suspected. In the flashback, he showed a cunning smile to show that he is the one who stole the Samyang.

Mise-en-shot

Although staging is important, ways to shoot the scene are also crucial to narrate a scene. They are called mise-en-shot also known as cinematography. For our video, it starts off with a high angle shot of Edrean with only one light source shining above him. This shot was meant to create a sense of vulnerability and weakness making it seem like Edrean is guilty of something.

The scene then cuts to a long shot of Edrean isolated within two silhouettes of the interrogators opposite him. This is a buildup shot to convey to the audience that Edreanis actually being interrogated. The shot was taken closer to the two silhouettes,making them overpower Edrean and enhance his venerability.

During a flashback, there is a close-up shot of tissues and a crumpled tissue being placed at the left side of the vertical line on the rules of thirds grid, while placing Ricky at the right, then slowly zooming in towards both tissues. This conveys that there is something important about those tissues. Shooting the tissues with a close up shot and having Ricky in the background slowly emerging the foreground creates a sense of negative space to the positive which enhances the importance of the tissues.

Besides that, there is a scenes where Yhie Hong scolds Ricky thinking Ricky is the thief. To enhance Yhie Hong's rage, the shots were taken from a low angle with the camera slightly angled and the tissue placed at the left corner of the screen, applying rules of thirds. The shot with Yhie Hong pointing at Ricky was taken in a way so his hand would be at the bottom left corner of the rules of thirds gridto elicit the audience’s focus on where he is pointing towards while yelling.

There was also a use of changing focuses in the scene where Yhie Hong grew suspicious towards Daniel.  This scene was a close up shot of Yhie Hong as the foreground, placed on the right side of the vertical line on the rules of thirds grid and the door way of the toilet as the background.  The focus of the camera lens was then switched from focusing on Yhie Hong to focusing the toilet doorway. This is called the Rack focus where the focus point interchanges from one to another. This focus shot was to make the audience shift their focus from Yhie Hong to the door way as a sign of creating suspicion towards Daniel.

Lighting

Lighting is one of the film techniques which takes an integral and important part of cinematography. It helps to define the mood and genre of a film and enhance how the audience feels towards particular film.

Our video is a comedy but starts off with an extremely tense and nervous interrogation scene to mislead and raise the audiences’ curiosity so that when the truth behind was revealed, the greater impact will be created. Low key lighting was used for the interrogation scenes. Low key lighting creates dark surroundings which has less light and more shadow. Through this, the characters are highlighted and focused on. Therefore, we chose low key lighting so the shadowy effect would help to create a mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere for the video.

Besides, we also used hard lighting in our video. We purposely chose a small light source which was hard and focused to create obvious and harsh shadows in the interrogation scene. This would draw the audiences’ attention to the focused characters and area. It creates a focused light area on the background to create frame within a frame composition in order to lead the audiences focus on the character trapped inside the lighting area. It was also meant to make the characters seem trapped inside a smaller frame to represent that they were being stressed as they were suspected.

The lighting used in the flashback scenes was soft light.The scenes were shot under a large light source, so the shadow was less hard and obvious. Higher key lighting was also used compared to the other scenes to create contrast between them to emphasize the dramatic emotion after the stealing incident happened. Therefore, the key lighting used in the flashback scenes was higher and the light was softer to give the incident after that an extra push.

Editing

Editing, in essence, can be described as how shots are arranged. Even though mise en sense and mise en shot can basically set the mood for the footage taken, editing is the process where it can fully determine the entire feel and atmosphere of a film. Here it can be observed that several basics techniques are utilized such as fade in, fade out, dissolve, wipe and cut. There are four primary areas of control which are graphic relations, rhythmic relations, spatial relations and temporal relations.

When editors were editing videos in the 1910s, they attempted to coordinate the shots such that the story is told clearly. This forms a narrative continuity. It then becomes the most basic editing technique applied in the current industry. Management of perception of spatial and temporal ellipsis is crucial in continuity editing. 180º system is a type of spatial continuity where an imaginary line cuts along the axis of action. The camera then can be placed anywhere within the half-circle radius and never go across it to avoid confusion. Likewise, temporal continuity means that the shots are arranged in a chronological order.

Besides continuity editing, there are also discontinuity editing. Discontinuity editing also have spatial and temporal types. Spatial discontinuity typically ignores the 180º system and shows the space in an ambiguous way. Temporal discontinuity is when the linear timeline is disrupted with jumps of shots either took part in the past or the future.

In our video, we mostly used cuts between shots in the interrogation scene. When transitioning to a flashback we used a quick dissolve to alternate between that and the interrogation. Fade in and fade outs are applied during the build up moment in the beginning of the later half. There are also uses of montage in the end of the video as well.

In terms of continuity editing, the video follows the 180º system where the axis of action is never crossed. The movement of the Samyang owner walking towards the toilet also provides clarity to the audience of the layout of the scene, showing it in different angles and positions. The same is applied in the full flashback where the layout of the house is shown using the same method. However, there are both temporal continuity and discontinuity in the video. The interrogation scene is in a chronological order, but it is disrupted with several flashbacks.

Sound

Most of what has been discussed so far falls under the visual component. While it is important for a film to have good imagery, it is just as important the sound quality to match. When sound production is done right, it often is not noticed at all. Rather than giving it attention, the audience feels it and is fully immersed in the world of the film. Sound can be used to set the tone of a scene, build suspense, or even elicit specific emotions from the audience. This can all be achieved through the proper use of sound.

The importance of music in films can lean towards enhancing the storytelling or towards the more emotional side of the film. Music can be used to set the atmosphere or tone of the film. Just by the first score that plays in the film, we can get a rough idea of what to expect from it. In order to create and uneasy feeling, we used the music to balance tension and revulsion.

At the start of our video, the music starts off with high pitched tones and ominous sounds created by strings and synthesisers that generates a suspenseful and rather uncomfortable feeling. Even after the high-pitched noises fade away, the synthesizer music continues playing as the interrogation is going. Synthesiser music sounds hasan artificial and creepy feeling to it and achieves sounds that most other instruments can’t. The notes can also be dragged on for longer than any human could hold which is good for building tension. It helps the audience empathize with how suspects feel and sets the unpleasant atmosphere.

Right before the revulsion scene, the aural tone changes. This is the build-upfor the reveal of the true culprit. The use of synthetic music is present just as it was before, but not exactly the same. Unlike the music before which was dragged out and slower in pace, the music is now faster and has more percussions, from the synthesiser and additional sound effects added to emulate a heartbeat. This was meant to create a suffocating and anxious feeling, similar to that of someone sitting still with a pacing heart. Right before the big reveal, the audio cuts off completely for a brief moment. This stylized break creates a moment that draws the audience into the scene, making the reveal all the more intense.

Synthesised music is commonly used to generate tension before the revulsion in thriller movies, horror movies and other movies genres that requires build up. We took notice of those recurring sounds and implemented them into our video which somewhat falls into that category.

References

Adroma Learning Center. (2018, May 30). Retrieved from Basic Cinematography Lighting Techniques: https://www.adorama.com/alc/basic-cinematography-lighting-techniques

Aldredge, J. (2017, October 23). Learn the 5 Fundamental Ways of Using Sound in Your Film. Retrieved from No Film School: https://nofilmschool.com/2017/10/learn-5-fundamental-ways-use-sound-your-film

David Bordwell, K. T.(2010). Film Art: An Introduction. New York City: McGraw-Hill.

Joseph P. Magliano, J. M. (2011). The Impact of Continuity Editing in Narrative Film on Event Segmentation. Cognitive Science: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 3.

Yan, J. (n.d.). Composition, shots and frames. Film Studies , 1-23.


Video:

Group Members:
Chin Xin Tong 1704092
Daniel Yeoh Guan Soon 1701329
Edrean Ee Rei Shawn 1704173

Foo Jia Qi 1803806

Liang Yhie Hong 1803247
Ricky Ken Vasco 1802890