Ida Z.
Anna Geyer
Introduction to Film Studies 70427-931
9 October 2021
Mise-en-scène Analysis
Our class learning objective in module 6.1, succinctly
described mise-en-scène as “how the staging, photography, framing, setting and
décor affect the aesthetics of a film… inform film genres and styles …[and]
affect the spectator and film experience.” I will apply the fifteen elements of
mise-en-scène to this shot from the film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,
Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017) keeping in mind the learning objectives of
this chapter.
3In keeping with one of the objectives of how the scene
can affect the spectator. This scene appears to me to have parallels to the
spectator experience of viewing The Scream (Edvard Munch, 1893). That’s
the end to where painting and film experience ends, in emoting feeling.
The shot of three billboards with the use of extremely
red color with black text letters appears to me to be like the red sky above
the man in The Scream expressing his feelings that are deeper than rage,
to the point of rage reaching insanity.
Mildred Hayes lost her daughter in the most brutal way
possible; she was raped while she was murdered. The unnatural advertising color
of red and black seem to be her screams articulated. Large in size and extreme
in color. The color and the words together express her rage materialized for
everyone, to see and hear if you read between the lines. As well as to
specifically cause a shock factor that will incite the police to take some
action on her murdered daughter’s case which has been ignored.
Despite the shocking red color of the signs, Mildred
Hayes is the dominant focus of the scene. My eyes and attention are attracted
to her first. Giannetti discusses positioning within the frame in greater
detail that helped me understand why Mildred Hayes was the dominant focus. He
says that “objects in the center tend to be visually undramatic” (Giannetti 54)
and that “the area near the top of the frame can suggest ideas dealing with
power, authority, and aspiration. A person placed here seems to control all the
visual elements below, and for this reason, authority figures are often
photographed in this manner. (Giannetti 55)
Mildred’s placement is high in the picture with her
head reaching the top middle of the billboards wielding power the way Giannetti
explains placement. The camera frame grid placement of her eyes is along the
top horizontal line of the frame, intersecting with the farthest right vertical
line. She is also in the foreground. It’s her hardened face that is most clear
and takes a while to analyze. A dark line under her eye, a sharp nose, clear
unromanticized eyes and firm tight lips. Is it despair? Is it anger? Is it
determination? I would say all three.
Giannetti mentions the importance of color. He says, “in
color films, the dominant is often achieved by having one color stand out from
the others.” (Giannetti 64) He continues saying that after the dominant, color
helps us then scan “the subsidiary contrasts that the artist has arranged to
act as counter balancing devices.” (Giannetti 64) Mildred Hayes has red
highlights in her face that are not from a feminine touch of rouge, but from a worker’s
sunburn across her nose and cheeks. The slight red highlights in her face, the
red shirt poking out from the workman’s overalls and the long red sleeve
carries the subsidiary areas of interest via color from one side of the frame
to the other and counter balances. Having the colors follow in the midground
and background also creates depth.
Due to the fact that we read left to right, I thought
that by looking at Mildred situated at the right, then the text situated on the
left. The scene setup was purposely disrupting our natural order of reading. In
the same sense that this scene is all about disruption and breaking the social
order of the town. Which I still think is a possible interpretation.
Officially though, Giannetti refers to German art
historian Heinrich Wolfflin who says as we scan pictures left to right, “the
image is often more heavily weighted on the left to counteract the intrinsic
heaviness of the right.” (Giannetti 64) That would make sense for the use of
the intense red billboards. They create depth with a midground billboard and
background billboard distributing the weight through the composition.
The tertiary focus is the road that holds the length
of the composition. It is a hard country road there are no pretty daisies
around. It is also the very part of the
road that her daughter took and got murdered. The billboards above could also
stand for her blood and her mom standing on the scene resolute that something
will be done.
The forest in the back if of less intrinsic value, but
offers important information about the setting of this film being rural.
The lighting used is natural light. I thought perhaps
it was enhanced, but I researched and found the cinematographer Ben Davis said
in an interview:
“I spent a lot of time at the film’s locations,
absorbing the terrain and geography. For me, it’s all about camera angles and
time of day, so I do a lot of prep. … We’d go out and sit at the locations and
I’d take a lot of photographs to find the best ways to capture that
environment. I became especially interested in the idea of one-drag towns and
how they’re photographed – and a lot of it was about choosing the right time of
day.” (Panavision)
This outdoor lighting provides high-key lighting. I
thought perhaps that there was some filter used to give it an extra bleached-out
look, but after the comment from the cinematographer, I think he just choose
his light very carefully. The light is bright and even. High-key lighting
doesn’t have obvious shadows. There is minimal shadow in this scene, but there
are some. We need some to get depth and texture. Mildred is filled out with the
shadowing in her outfit. There is a turned-up collar. A shadow down her back
leg and wrinkles in the clothes. There is some shadow to make texture. There are
also some shadows from the billboards but very slight.
Giannetti also describes the connection between
density of texture and light on a subject matter. “Density of texture refers to
the amount of visual detail in a picture…Most movies are moderately textured,
depending on the amount of light thrown on the subject matter.” (Giannetti 73)
I debated about the shot type either being a medium
long shot or a deep-focus shot. On a deep-focus shot all the planes are sharp
and clear to see, as in this scene. The
reason why I believe it is a medium long shot is because this is a medium shot
of her. In a medium shot, the person is shot from the knees up. I believe the implied proximity to the camera
is from medium distance at eye level.
The question I still had was why was there so much
clarity in her face? I did some research on medium long shots and found this
quote: “medium long shots are close enough that the audience can see a
character’s emotions through their facial expressions.” (Deguzman)
Paraphrasing from the same source, they say that a
filmmaker would choose a medium long shot “to capture both a character and
their setting.” Also, “medium long shots are close enough to capture the
emotion of a character while also capturing their context.” (Deguzman)
In an interesting note the article says that a medium
long shot can frame multiple characters. (Deguzman) True, as the billboards
themselves have top billing as characters. They come to life, are burned and
resuscitated.
The most interesting note was that the medium long
shot can also be termed a ‘cowboy shot’.
Filmmakers needed to find a way to frame a cowboy in a medium shot “to
capture their intense facial expressions as well as their gun holster at their
waist.” (Deguzman) We see Mildred’s face; she is ready for battle. Although
that red sleeve is not a gun, it is probably where a gun would go on a cowboy. Mildred
Hayes is coming into to town to fight against everyone by herself – alone.
That led me to think about her body position, which
was also not clear cut. Her face looks in profile, not facing us. The bottom
half of her body is in a three-quarter turn. With her shoulder and back to us
her feet are facing away. I came to this
conclusion after researching body positions and found a reference material that
said the body position is indicated by the position of the feet. (Orange) I
decided it’s a combination profile and three-quarter turn position.
Giannetti provided good information on why I felt the
face and top of the torso were in profile:
“The profile position catches characters
unaware as they face each other or look off frame left
or right. We’re allowed unimpeded freedom to stare, to analyze. Less intimate
than the full-front or quarter-turn position, the profit view is also less
emotionally involving. We view the character from a detached, neutral
perspective.” (Giannetti 77)
This is very important to one of my most important
points in which why I chose Mildred Hayes as the dominant. I said, ‘It’s her
hardened face that is most clear and takes a while to analyze.’ With her face
in profile position, we have the unimpeded ability to stare and analyze.
There is a lot of symmetry in the composition of this
shot due to the billboards. The billboards are messages in big frames with
black outlines, then on vertical posts. They create a lot of vertical lines and
symmetry in this shot. Our Monahan text discusses that symmetry can –
“depending on the context in which it is used – convey a rigid order,
ostentations ritual, or formal elegance.” (Monahan 173) There is absolute
rigidity in this shot. It is very serious. There has been a murder. It is a
well composed shot to ‘convey a rigid order’, her game plan. She is screaming
out that, ‘I am making you look and listen police officers.’ ‘I am screaming’.
The composition has so much control that I see the
framing as tightly framed. Medium shots are usually tightly framed and this is
a medium long shot. There is a lot of room for people to move freely, yet
intentionally everyone is left out of the shot but Mildred Hayes and those
tight vertical posts which are made professionally made straight by the
billboard company. The lines evenly placed in the midground and background make
a rigid design like barriers, it is her area.
Which brings me to my last element, open and closed
form. In keeping with the ideology of tight framing, I say that it is a
proscenium arch. Which Giannetti explains it is when the visual elements are
carefully arranged and held in balance, therefore the form is closed.
In regards to the original learning outcomes and analysis
of the shot. I have analyzed the fifteen points of mise-en-scène and described
why I have chosen Mildred Hayes, the person focused yet enraged to almost
madness, the dominant contrast.
Works
Cited
Deguzman, Kyle. “What is a Medium Long Shot (aka
Medium Full Shot)?” studiobinder.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-medium-long-shot-in-film/
Giannetti, Louis D. Understanding Movies. 14th
ed., Pearson, 2018.
McDonagh, Martin. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,
Missouri. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2017.
Monahan, Dave. Looking at Movies: An
Introduction to Film. 6th ed., Norton, 2019.
Munch, Edvard. The Scream. 1893.
Orange Public Schools. “Body Positions.ppt.” Orange
Public Schools.
https://www.orange.k12.nj.us/cms/lib/NJ01000601/Centricity/Domain/1112
/5%20Body%20Positions.ppt
Panavision. "Independent Filmmakers Discuss How
Panavision Supports their Creative Vision:
Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." Panavision.
https://www.panavision.com/independent-filmmakers-discuss-how-panavision-
supports-their-creative-vision-three-billboards.
No comments:
Post a Comment