Stage 1 English
Responding To Texts: Film Study
How do the cinematic techniques (mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound design) work together in the selected scene or sequence to develop the film’s central characters and themes?
Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (2014) follows Andrew Neiman, a fame-driven drummer joins the studio band at a prestigious music school, Shaffer Conservatory where he is acquainted with the manipulative and vigorous Terence Fletcher who pushes him to his limits. The salient themes of volatile and manipulative student-teacher relationship, overcoming adversity and relentless pursuit of perfection are accentuated through cinematic techniques such as mise-en-scène, cinematography, and sound design and editing. The scene which exemplifies these themes are when Andrew Neiman is competing against two drummers, Ryan Connolly and Carl Tanner, to “earn the part” of becoming the main drummer of a jazz composition called Caravan (1936) composed by Duke Ellington.
Chazelle’s usage of mise-en- scène is used to demonstrate the important theme of volatile and manipulative student-teacher relationship. The dimly-lit room is representative of Fletchers’ personality, throughout the film Fletcher is portrayed as a manipulative teacher who would go out to any means to get what he desires. The costumes used in this scene are vital to express the volatile relationship between Fletcher and his students. During this scene, Connolly is the only drummer to be
The term Mise-en-Scene is used to signify the director’s control over what happens in the film frame. In English the phrase literally translates to “putting in the scene” (Bordwell, 2010a). ‘Night of the Hunter’ (Charles Laughton, 1955) is a prime example of a film that uses aspects of Mise-en-Scene to sway the audience’s opinions of characters and their understanding of narrative themes and to create a certain atmosphere in the film. “Although the fundamental aspects of Mise-en-Scene in both theatre and cinema are those of lighting, blocking and production design (costume, props and sets),
The term “mise en scene” carries the original meaning of “putting into scene” and was a term that signifies the director’s control of visuals and events in the frame. There are several aspects in mise en scene. Aspect such as setting, lighting, costume and behavior of figures were controlled to allow the director to stage the event and create the overall effect within the frame.
Paul Haggis directed an Oscar winning film in 2004 called “Crash”, this movie basically talks about racism and the impact it has on the lives of people in Los Angeles. This movie got a good response from the viewers, as it concentrated on some real harsh realities of racism and asked some hard questions which are generally avoided in movies. This movie clearly promotes the a very delicate issue, and hence requires some detailed assessment. I personally feel the movie was good and it portrayed some very common events of racism, I think “Crash” shows realities, but in a not-so-realistic way.
A variety of camera techniques are used throughout the beginning sequence to enhance the mood and involve the audience. Camera techniques are harmonized with lighting effects to culminate this dramatic scene. I will begin by discussing examples of this. In the village, many close-ups and long shots are used to enhance facial expression and to set the sombre mood.
The creation and consumption of films are a common favorite pastime for many people and have been for hundreds of years, but while some films can seem deceptively simple, many elements go into creating a scene, much less an entire movie. Directors use these elements which include, but are not limited to style, mood, composition and special effects to create a product that we often don’t acknowledge without looking deeper into the film. These components together are called Mise en Scène (Ebert). Of course, film can be enjoyed leisurely but there are so many more aspects of film to be explored and analyzed such as the composition of camera movement, lighting, color, sounds and music. In this case, I chose to analyze the “Redrum” scene from the renowned film, The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick. In this scene, Danny Torrence, a five year old boy wanders around his mother’s room with a knife in hand, muttering the word “Redrum” over and over again before scrawling it across the door. I feel that a lot of this scene’s mood and style relies heavily on the camera work of the scene, the lighting and colors, and the music incorporated into the segment.
Mise en Scene are used in every aspects of filmmaking. The term refers to the overall look and feel of
Citizen Kane uses mise-en-scene is multiple scenes to help tell the narrative. A perfect example is when the parents
Damien Chazelle’s critically acclaimed American drama film Whiplash (2014), presents a thought-provoking and confronting depiction of volatile and manipulative relationships, in which Andrew Niemen, a young ambitious jazz drummer is pushed to the brink of his ability and sanity by his ruthless teacher, Terence Fletcher. Nieman’s passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into an obsession. Whiplash proving highly popular with audiences utilizes cinematography to explore the central themes, the battle between being a good person and being remembered and the effects of a volatile and manipulative student-teacher relationship. Whiplash utilizes conventions and ideas from the drama genre to communicate these central themes and film
There are various elements that contribute to the significance of a film. Cinematography, is one important element in which the camera is used to capture visual images through a number of other controllable elements such as; camera lens, framing, scale, movement etc. Editing is another fundamental component of film studies in which different shots are put together in a coherent sequence in order to make meaning of a film.
The first category of mise-en-scene is setting and props. The first component of this category is setting, which is the location or time of a film’s action. The creation of a film’s setting, is done very deliberately by the filmmaker; everything that is in the frame is
If Jo Jones never threw a cymbal at Charlie Parker’s head, would he have ever become Birdman? Similarly, if Terence Fletcher never pushed Andrew Neiman beyond his breaking point in Damien Chazelle’s breakthrough film, Whiplash, would Neiman have been able to rip an awe-inspiring, fully improvised five minute drum solo that rivals the works of Buddy Rich himself at the end of the song “Caravan,” that he performs at the conclusion of the movie? Questions such as these form the fundamental basis of Chazelle’s first big screen, block-buster success. Throughout the film, the young and passionate protagonist, Andrew Neiman, shows an uninhibited sense of determination and ambition as a first year music student at the Shaffer Conservatory, a fictional
Whip Whitaker in “Flight” was a complex character. He had some issues, but ultimately I think he had good intentions. According to Aristotle’s criteria in Virtue Theory, I do not think Whip was a virtuous person. His actions did not display his ability to find the mean between vices when he faced a challenge in life.
John Gibbs mentions mise-en-scene to be contents within a frame and the way they are organized (Gibbs, 2002). Settings and sets are the most fundamental features of mise-en-scene (Corrigan, 2004). Tim Corrigan describes the term setting as a fictional or real place in which the action of the scene takes place and defines sets as a setting of a studio sound stage. He also mentions that both these components can be a product of a combination of elements that are natural and constructed. David Bordwell, mentions that settings can play a more vital role with respect to the narrative, rather than just fulfilling their primary function of being a platform for human events to occur (Bordwell, 1979). The books provide a breakdown
Therefore, throughout Damien Chazelle's Whiplash, it can be determined that Terence Fletcher's teaching methods hinder Andrew Neiman's ambitions in being the best jazz drummer possible because it results in obsessive compulsive disorder and he's led to believe that he must forego personal relationships to achieve greatness
To the unknown eye, an actor has the ability to appear effortless in his performance, and yet there exist many tools one actor can equip to better embody his character in a film or play. To the audience, not all tools present themselves clearly in a blatant manner, but if the audience member were to pay closer attention to the actor playing the character, he or she could note the tools utilized. An actor, through his experience, develops his mastery of various tools of the craft of Acting and ultimately employs the tools to portray his character in the best possible method. Miles Teller portrays Andrew Neiman in the movie Whiplash and through the use of tools such as: extreme physical and environmental conditions, sending and receiving, emotional life, heightened language, private moment and his character’s center of pain, then we see the complexity of the character Teller plays.