AS Media-Tia Weeks

Mise en scene Ressearch

MEDIA TEXT – product which has been produced by a media institution e.g. films, trailers, T.V programmes, music videos, magazines, radio broadcasts, websites, apps and vlogs.
TEXTUAL ANALYSIS – analysis and deconstruction of media texts to understand the messages they contain.
MISE EN SCÈNE – a French term which means ‘what is the frame?’ or ‘what is in the (camera) shot?’. Mise en Scène helps to construct meaning.
Mise en Scène is very important to all representations by showing:
What a character wears
Where the scene is taking place and how it appears
Props signifying information about characters/situation
Lighting connotes certain meanings about characters/situations they are in

KEY:
ICONOGRAPHY – any logos or signage within a camera shot e.g. police officers badge, Starbucks symbol.
KINESICS – movement of a character within a camera frame as a form of non-verbal communication e.g. gestures, movement of a burglar or Gollum.
PROXEMICS – where a character/s is positioned in a camera shot e.g. men placed higher than women, Vine Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in The Break-up.
SETTINGS – place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place e.g. castle, dark, country yard.
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS – form of non-verbal communication e.g. tough, firm, angry, soft, plain, blank, upset, fearful.
COSTUME – a set of clothes in a style typical of a certain country, culture, event or historical period e.g. knight in armour, bright patterns, leather jackets and white t-shirts, old rags/robes.
LIGHTING – equipment in a room, building or street used to produce lighting e.g. high-key, natural, dark/low-key, reds and orange hues.
COLOUR – reds and oranges/autumn, blacks and greys/dark, pastels, bright/neon, dull/browns
LOCATION – place or position where the scene takes place or where a character is e.g. busy town, dark throne room.
PROPS – objects used in the scene to create setting/use for character
MAKE-UP – cosmetics used to enhance/alter appearance e.g. lipstick, powder, disguise, tan, contact lenses.
Game of Thrones (clip extract)
Q: How is power represented in both scenes?
A: King Joffrey is more powerful than Paul Henry. You can tell this because King Joffrey is wearing a gold, silk outfit which signifies wealth. Also, he wears a crown which suggests a high status and authority. In contrast, Paul Henry is in ordinary modern-day clothes and is sat in a plane room with little belongings of great value which shows that he is a normal person and lacks any significant power. Additionally, King Joffrey is also sitting on a throne which represents an authoritative figure whereas Paul is sitting on a plain, faded, white bed. Furthermore, King Joffrey has a firm facial expression that demands submission from others in comparison to Paul who has a much softer, gentle expression and a slight smile on his face which confirms that he is friendly, approachable and a well-grounded individual that is not in a position of such power and snobbery as King Joffrey.

Improvements on First Draft

In our first draft, there is a lot of shots where the audience can we see that the camera is shaking. We can see this especially when the girl is waking up also when you see the creature behind her. To solve this we need to trim the beginning and ends to parts so, we cannot see the camera shaking. Also, by trimming the shots we are preventing the audience from hearing the camera from when it stops and starts.

Another problem in our opening title is that we an hear the wind an passing cars. This is very distracting and the audience may find it difficult to focus on the opening line. To prevent this we may have to mute the clip but, to make the opening effective, we would add music or sound effects such as dialogue to create a tense atmosphere.

Another thing that we need to improve on, is that in our first draft there is no opening credits. So, at this moment it just looks like clip from a movie, not a opening title. So we will be adding opening credits.

The production has no title so, the audience does not know what the name of the production. Therefore, it is hard to identify the clip to a movie opening.

Another limitation of our opening sequence is that it is too long. The average opening sequence last from a minute to a minute and a half. Our opening is two minutes and eight seconds therefore we need to shorten it by trimming and cutting scenes.

Production Drafting

For our opening scene, we struggled to decide on an ending. Although both options end on a cliffhanger, one version is full of action and the other is more focused on enigma codes.

Option 1 is the more action packed ending with a longer film duration, focusing on the wound and the shadow being evidently present in her room.

Option 2 involves less action however, focusing on enigma codes as you don't see as much after Jenna wakes up - it leaves the audience with a choice to make their own decisions about the fate of the protagonist/story based on what they have just watched.

We took a vote from 20 year 12 and 13 students. 14 out of 20 voted for option 2 but only 6 voted for option 1. Based on the vote we decided to use option 2 as our ending.

Title Font-Vote

We asked 20 people to vote on their preferred title font and colours.

Although you cannot see the colours of the generated titles, we chose/offered the options; red, white and black - colours with different connotations... opposites/fight between good and evil (i.e. white & black), blood, innocence, violence, ghosts, demons and death.

Considering voters opinions, we decided to use the most chosen title - option 3 (bottom left) - as it also incorporates all 3 colours that we want to use.