Musical Film | Film Critique - Mise En Scène

Identify what moments in the films we watched where the mise en scène helped you to understand the plot or the characterisation in the story. 

We watched all four films that we produced and each and every one of them is very unique. First, I would like to talk about Jamie's group's film. One of the most unforgettable moments for me is when the camera shot from a low angle, with Jamie looking down at the camera. I think that how they arranged Jamie to be in the middle of the frame and looking down is really clever as it shows how he is intimidating and seemingly more powerful than the other actor. At that moment, that arrangement made me thought that Jamie would win over Justin, however, it turns out to be the opposite, which was really surprising and unexpected. It definitely made the storyline a lot more interesting. Also, Justin was wearing a suit in the last scene when he confessed his love. By wearing a suit, it portrays how he has already grown older and become more mature. He was also holding a bunch of flowers, which effectively made the scene more realistic. Moreover, in the first scene of the film, the lighting was bright and it was focused on Yoonjin and Justin, which tells me that their relationship at that stage was developing well and that their moods were happy as they have become true friends - friends that can rely on each other. 

Secondly, another film that I would like to discuss about is “Cousin in Town”, which is produced by Kaia’s group. Chih Ning’s costume throughout the film was very effective in showing her personality / character. Her eye glasses shows her intelligence, yet at the same time, her pigtails depict how she is still very youthful  and innocent. In addition, in one of the scenes where Chih Ning goes to Kaia’s house to help her with her math, the lighting was very dim.

Last but not least, I would like to comment on the mise en scène of my group’s film, “Stay With Me”. I think the most significant features of our film would be the props / set dressing and the colors of the costumes. An example of the use of color and props / set dressing in our film would be in the scene where Jeremy is packing. He is wearing a green shirt, which not only matches with his bed, but also shows his optimism and happiness about leaving for boarding school as green is an emotionally positive color. Green also represents growth and it tells the audience that leaving to go to boarding school would help him become more mature and grow as an individual. One of the props that we used in this scene - the suits, have the same effect as well. 

All in all, all four films were enjoyable and the mise en scène in each of them has a great effect on the interpretation of the audience by giving hints about the plot and characterisation in the story.

Musical Film | Post Production: Editing

On Tuesday, we spent the class editing our film. Our film was nearly finished, but there were a lot of changes that we had to make after reviewing it with Ms. Rosati. First of all, our film was nearly 10 minutes long, so we may have to cut around 3 minutes of our film out. There were shots that were unnecessary, for example, there was a shot where the actor comes back from the mailbox and walks towards a chair. It was unnecessary to show the whole process of him walking. Secondly, some shots were not filmed continuously, therefore there were a few awkward cuts in our film. Unfortunately, we only filmed master shots for some scenes like the phone call scene. What we should have done is to film some close ups rather than just master shots, so that whenever there are shots that do not match perfectly, we can just easily insert a close up of the actor to show his reaction. For the phone call scene, what we did is we inserted the actress' reaction on the other side of the phone to fill in the tiny gap in between. Moreover, since there were a lot of awkward cuts, we decided to add a lot of effects like blurring and dissolving. However, Ms. Rosati reminded us that these effects were not needed and that just cutting to another shot without any effect is absolutely fine. Also, using "Fade to Black" in the end of each scene would be good. Last but not least, for one of the shots where we filmed on the bus, the Extra actor walks out of his seat in the background. However, the camera did not capture him leaving his seat as it was a bit too low and he was not included in the frame. I am glad with how our film turned out, even though there were both major and minor flaws. Improvements could be made such as the variety of camera shots used.

Musical Film | Production: Filming

After the actors finished with recording all the music, our group started to film at Jeremy's house. We spent a day and a half to finish all the scenes during the weekend. For all of the scenes that included music in them, we played the music while the actors lip-synced to it. We began with the scene where the actor packs for boarding school in his bedroom. We had to put props on his bed to help inform the audience that he is leaving for boarding school. Textbooks, a suitcase, clothes, acceptance letter, and even shoes were placed on his bed or in his room. However, for some shots, the camera was against the natural light, so the lighting was dark and we had to use lighting tools and also through editing to make the scene appear brighter. Also, we filmed from different angles so it was not a continuous shot. There was a minor problem in which the actor's actions in one shot do not match the next shot, so we had to film the actor doing other things to fill in the gap in between the two shots that did not match. 

Then, we filmed the first scene of the film, where the actor wakes up and takes his acceptance letter from the mailbox. As the camera operator, I had to hold the camera without the tripod for some shots as there was a lot of movement involved in the scene. The actor was lying down on his bed, then gets off and walks out of his room. Using a tripod would be inconvenient because we wanted the camera to be following him and we could not carry and move the tripod while filming. It was a bit difficult to steady the camera, but by making changes in my posture, even though it was not perfectly stable, I managed to reduce most of the shakiness. It was a tracking shot and it was something that I have not done much before. I did some research on how we could do a tracking shot and found out we could use dollies or it could be done hand held. Of course, doing it with a dolly would be much easier to control the shot and ensures that the shot is steady. In addition, there was a challenge for us when we filmed in the bathroom. Of course, there was a mirror in the bathroom, and we had to film the actor brushing his teeth in front of the mirror. We thought that we would be able to see the camera and tripod's reflection in the mirror in the shot, but it turns out that just by changing the position of the camera and tripod, we were able to successfully film that shot without seeing the camera and tripod's reflection in the mirror but have the actor's reflection at the same time. 

Afterwards, we filmed the Park scene. At first, we did the Park scene near CIS, but the sound quality was not really good because of the buses and cars passing by occasionally. The voices of the actors were often covered by the noises made by the vehicles. Also, I forgot to bring the earphones down to the park and without them, we couldn't hear if the sounds were being recorded or not. I had to run back up to the 9th floor (I originally intended to go to the 6th floor film lab, but Mr. Chiang was busy) to get the earphones. From this experience, I learnt to always check what to bring before filming. What I could have done is to make a detailed list of equipment that I need for shooting to ensure that I brought everything that we need. So instead we chose the park that is near Jeremy's house, which was a nice, quiet place, as the setting. I did an overhead shot as to introduce the actress coming in to the park. When we did some closer shots, unfortunately, there were some noises from the construction site nearby. Next, we filmed the second scene, where the actor took the letter and came back into his house to call his girlfriend. Since we filmed the Park scene in between this scene and the Park scene, the actor had to change his outfit. In the middle of filming this scene, I suddenly realised that the actor was not wearing the same outfit as he was in the first scene of the film, so the actor quickly went to change back into the same outfit and we continued to film without any major problems. The next day, we finished filming the last scene on a bus / at a bus terminus in Mei Foo. Originally, we wanted to film at the airport, but we would have to pay a high amount of money in order to film there. Thus, we then changed our location to the bus stop. I drew the scene in the storyboard to be set in the bus stop, which was what we intended to do, but we were able to film on a bus in the morning. We did not expect to be filming on a bus, so I made quick last-minute decisions about the angles, shot sizes, framing we would be using as well as what the sequences of the shots would be like.

When shooting, we did not follow all the shots indicated in the storyboard and shot list. The storyboard was just a guideline for us and it gives us a clearer view on what would be happening in the scene. The director gave me suggestions on how the shots should be like to achieve a better look in a limited amount of time. What I could have done more is to express my ideas or communicate more effectively with my group mates. In this unit, I was put in a group with people who I was not really familiar with. I did not feel 100% comfortable around them - sometimes feeling nervous to communicate, but as we filmed, I soon realised the need to express my ideas. Even though I was still a bit quiet, I learnt to share my opinions when needed. For example, I told the director that the actor was not wearing the same outfit as he was in the previous scene. Also, I would also like to put more close ups in our film to show more of the actors' emotions. In most of our film, we usually did not shot close ups but instead did medium close ups or long shots. I think that we could have filmed more close ups. Overall, it was a really great shooting experience. I got to experience with different shot sizes, angles and paid more attention to the mise en scène in this film. Compared to my last filming experience, even though we had less time and more shots in this unit, our group managed our time well by discussing when we will be filming in class and sending emails to one another to confirm the filming times. We got to finish filming all the scenes efficiently. As a camera operator, I have definitely become more familiar with controlling the camera and different shot sizes.

Musical Film | Pre-Production

The musical film is due next week, therefore we do not have much time left for filming and editing. Our script has been finished by one of our group members on Celtx while the lyrics for the songs that we are using are re-written (due to copyright issues) by the rest of the group. Locations have also been picked - however, there was a problem at first. Originally, one of the scenes in our film was set at the airport, but unfortunately, it is required to pay a high cost to film at the Hong Kong International Airport. We had to think of another location to film that scene, where the male character leaves the female character to go to boarding school. This indicates that the location has to be a place where someone would travel from. At last, we chose to shoot at a bus terminus.

As the camera operator of both Unit 1 and Unit 2 films, I was responsible for the storyboards as well as shot lists. I was in a hurry to start the storyboards and compared to my last film for Unit 1 (Westerns), the storyboarding part for Unit 2's film took much longer as the script this time was longer as well. I have storyboarded all the shots and using a table, I wrote a brief description of the action and shot and recorded the actors and locations of each shot. The storyboard and shot list are shown below. 

However, I am a bit worried about how our film's mise en scène will turn out to be like because there are not many specific characteristics (costumes, props that represent musicals) of musicals apart from the fact that the actors will be singing. Therefore, I would like to try and focus more on the lighting, using it to convey the mood and emotions of the actors to the audience. Across the Universe, a film that we watched in class, used lighting to show the mood of the actors. The time period of our film is the 21st century. We can use costumes and props to show the time period of the film like in Across the Universe. For example, new technology devices will be part of our props. The colours of costumes can also tell the audience how the actors feel, too. Bright colours can represent happiness, excitement or even anger. On the other hand, dim colours can be representing misery or loneliness. This applies to lighting as well. I hope that our group will be able to achieve these effects - conveying messages / hints about the actor's mood or any information about the story through the mise en scène. 

We are planning shoot during this weekend. Originally, we were going to shoot during Thursday's class, but the actress forgot to bring her costume, therefore, we planned to shoot during the weekends instead as in the scene that we were going to shoot, all of the shots includes the actress in them. Plus, the locations for the other scenes are not in school area. 

Here is the storyboard of our musical film, "Stay With Me".

 

Here is a shot list that gives more information about the storyboard: 

Across the Universe: Mise En Scene

How does the mise en scene give you clues about what will be happening next in the film Across the Universe?

We continued watching Across the Universe in this lesson, starting with the "I Want You" scene.  In this scene, Max is wearing black and this is implying that he will soon be joining the U.S. army to fight in the Vietnam war. The film did not use dialogue to tell us that Max is joining the army, but instead the audience could tell through the set dressing and costumes. You can see a large amount of soldiers and Max is being carried into a 'room' which has the words "United States Army". Moreover, another clue is the costume of the guy on the poster. He wears the colours red, blue and white - which represents the United States, and that particular part of him is shot from a low angle, suggesting that he is powerful and Max is forced to obey and be controlled by him (the U.S. government). Max and the other chosen men are carrying the Statue of Liberty as giants and stamping into a tropical forest with tiny palm trees (one of Vietnam's geographical feature). The difference between the size of the Americans the the Vietnam palm trees portrays that the Americans are proud about themselves, however they are treated as slaves as they are only wearing their underwear. This again indicates the the U.S. will soon be having a war with Vietnam, and Max would be part of the U.S. army. 

Another scene that I would like to talk about is "Strawberry Fields Forever"- one of the most memorable and impressive scenes in the movie. The colour and lighting used in this scenes give us clues about what might be happening next. There is light on only half of Jude's face, telling the audience that we don't fully know about him and something bad associated with him is likely to occur. We can see him expressing his emotions - anger through the color (Red) of the strawberries. Red in this scene is also representing blood and violence - which is what is occurring in the Vietnam war. Color and lighting is excellently used in this scene to tell the audience the emotions of the characters and what is happening in the film. 

Aurelia Thomas - Location Scouting | Across the Universe - Location

Aurelia Thomas, the location manager of one of the most well-known movies of all time - Harry Potter, came to our school this week and gave us a talk about her location scouting experience. The location manager mentioned that she needed to go to a lot of locations and took many images before choosing one that best fits the film and meets what the director asked for. When I heard that she spent 2 months to scout locations for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I was very surprised that location scouting actually requires such a great amount of time. I was also shocked that the high cost of the locations. Moreover, when choosing the best location, a lot of details need to be considered, such as cost, logistics convenience and weather conditions. Once the best location is found, the location scout crew would also need to find a backup location just in case of any unexpected situations. This reminded me of what happened during the Westerns units. My group had to find another location immediately because the auditorium (the original location) was occupied. If we had found a backup location in advance, we wouldn't be in such a rush. Another thing that Aurelia Thomas mentioned is that one scene may actually be filmed in several different locations, but the audience wouldn't be able to tell because different camera angles were applied. 

We spent the other half of the class watching the film Across the Universe and when watching, I often wonder whether the scene was filmed in a studio set or live location. In the "Come Together" scene of Across the Universe, Jojo, the guitar player, walks on the street. From what I observed, I think that this scene is filmed in an actual location, since there are so many shops on the street and also graffiti painted on the walls. It would simply be impossible for the film crew to build such a huge but detailed set as it would cost way too much and take too much time. There were also buildings in this scene, so it is definitely filmed in an actual location. In fact, I have done some research and the scene is actually filmed on streets in Manhattan and there is an actual cafe named "Cafe Huh?", the place where Jojo finds his work in the film.

After Aurelia Thomas' talk, I understood that it is definitely not an easy task to produce films professionally - even location scouting takes a lot of time and effort. Her talk made me appreciate films even more. 

Across the Universe Screening

Our second unit of Year 9 focuses on Musicals. Musicals are films that involve singing, usually accompanied by dancing as well. Music plays a very important role in musicals, as they help with developing the story of the film. Lyrics in songs support the storyline of the film and gives the audience information. Some popular and well-known musical films include The Sound of Music (1965), Les Misérables (2012) and numerous Disney films such as The Lion King (1994) and The Little Mermaid (1989).

Across the Universe (2007) - directed by Julie Taymor 

Q. How does the mise en scene indicate the time period in the film? Give specific examples.

During class, our teacher showed us the first half of "Across the Universe", a musical film produced in 2007 and directed by Julie Taymor. One of the most significant features of "Across the Universe" is the powerful effect of its mise en scène. The costumes, props and setting gives the audience information about the time period in the film in an indirect way.

I would like to first talk about the the second scene, in which cross-cutting, an editing technique is applied, showing and comparing two couples dancing in two different locations. From observing what the first couple in a senior prom is wearing - the girl wearing a frilly, spaghetti-strap formal dress and white gloves, similar to what other girls in the area are wearing, and the guy wearing a tuxedo, the audience can tell that the film is set in the 1960s since the costumes that the girls are wearing were fashionable during that period of time. The film then moves to another location - an underground club, where the second couple is dancing. Again the costume of the girl gives us a clue about the time period. She is wearing a leopard-print top and in the 1960s, animal prints were popular for women. Another element in this scene tells us that the film is set in the 1960s as well - the props. The 1960s were considered to be the start of the muscle cars era, and in the film, the US couple leaves the prom and travels home in a muscle car.

The next scene that I would like to talk about is the cheerleading scene, where a girl is singing to express her feelings towards the head cheerleader. Her costume tells the audience that the film is situated in the 1960s as well. She is wearing a knee-length skirt and a long sleeve sweater which has the school letter "W" placed in the centre. We know that the letter placed in the centre is the school letter because in one of the shots, it shows the word "Wildcats" in the background. This was what the cheerleading uniforms were like in the 1960s. Shorter skirts became popular at that time, replacing the overly long skirts worn before for moving more easily.

Last but not least, in the scene where a bunch of guys are hanging out in the dorm, the set dressing gives a huge clue about the time period of the film as well. For example, there was a picture of Brigitte Bardot hung on the wall in the background. Brigitte Bardot was one of the most well-known sex symbols of the 1960s. With a picture of her in the background, it is very obvious that the film is set in the 1960s. 

In Across the Universe, each and every detail in the film gives information about the film. Some may not be very noticeable, but by paying close attention, the audience would be able to tell the time period of the film easily.