Saruman the bringer of Mise En Scene

Betrayal of a friend is the worst, especially when they're joining your worst enemy. In The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Saruman betrays Gandalf and makes the quest way more difficult for everyone. Peter Jackson applies his knowledge of everything he is in control of, Mise En Scene, in order to create the effect of us feeling the betrayal of Saruman as much as Gandalf is.

The first part of Mise en Scene that is utilized is visual design. The look of mostly the latter part of this scene is very deliberate and specific, and it really helps create a good effect. Firstly, there is no red. Everything is either black, white, or blue. Having only cool colors creates a calming effect, but one that is changed to sinister when Saruman makes known his betrayal. All the black walls, black stone floors, sharp points jutting out of the walls, makes the case for this tower being a dangerous place. The costuming aspect of visual design is also apparent here. Gandalf is wearing tattered gray clothing, and his staff is wooden and raw. Saruman’s costuming is much more smooth. His hair is straightened, and his staff is made of stone or metal with a perfect sphere in its tip. The contrast between the two costumes allows you to get a sense of the personality of the two characters, even if this is the only scene you’ve seen.

Cinematography in this scene is also top-notch. Easily seen are rules being both followed and broken. The rule that is followed the most is the Rule of Thirds. It is hard to find a shot of Gandalf or Saruman that is not off-center, especially so when they are conversing. The Rule of Thirds is a rule that simply says that subjects that are closest to a third of the way from an edge of the screen look better than subjects that aren’t. The scene looks really good because of this. Visual effects are also really good in this scene. There are no mystical particles or flying water effects here, only force-like tossing that looks very realistic. The reason it looks realistic is because there is no item that has been created specifically for the magic to look like magic. It simply happens. For this reason, the film won the oscar for Best Visual Effects. And for this reason, it’s possible to believe for a moment that Christopher Lee is actually doing these things to Ian McKellan, making the audience feel for the defeated Gandalf more and be scared of Saruman.

The editing of this film did not win award, but it is still very valid to talk about. The editing is done very well. The first few shots are an example of an Outside-In Establishing sequence, showing us the entire tower before showing Gandalf arrive at the tower. Later in the scene, within the tower, a static shot becomes rare. Most of the shots are moving somehow- first tracking into the small room where Gandalf and Saruman are conversing, panning from the orb, to Gandalf, to Gandalf putting the towel on the orb. Notably, at that moment, there is a cutaway to the Eye of Sauron, for a moment. This lets the audience know of the presence of this Great Eye that Gandalf is scared of, and first creates the feeling that something is really not right here. All the motion I mentioned more subconsciously creates the effect of uneasiness, perhaps being ever so slightly nauseating, like you’re on a ship that is rocking all the time in strange directions. All of the editing in this film improves the suspense and overall effect of the audience feeling what Gandalf does.

An entire scene has been created here, and a single effect has been created using at least 3 parts of Mise en Scene very well. Visual design is important, and done well, the shots are well-composed, and it is cut together masterfully. There's a reason this film won two oscars and was nominated for best picture, and that's because these parts of Mise en Scene were done extremely well.The scene where Saruman betrays Gandalf is a fantastic scene that employs all of these at once. Peter Jackson is good at his job.

Visual Design in Mad Max: Fury Road

His name is Max. His world is fire and blood. And by that he means everything is orange; the ground, all the buildings, everything. So why is this scene from Mad Max: Fury Road completely blue? George Miller knew what he was doing when he made this movie. There's a reason why it swept half of the Academy Awards this year. Best costume design, best film editing, best production design, all for Mad Max. Why did it get so many awards like these? Because the visual design of Mad Mad: Fury Road is really good. There is no scene better to highlight the visual design than this one. Why is everything in this scene blue, when the rest of the movie is almost entirely orange, dusty, and hot?

First, a quick synopsis of the film. Mad Max, played by Tom Hardy, is taken prisoner in the middle of the desert. He's brought to a community run by one crazy guy who has a lot of women in his back room that he can do what he wants with. So, with the help of some of these women, Max escapes and helps the women get to their old home on the other side of the desert. The Blue Scene is in the middle of this journey, when their Rig (A mismatch of vehicles all cobbled together, much like the rest of the vehicles in the film) gets stuck in the mud. Since there is an enemy tank car thing coming up upon them, they must move quickly to get out of the mud and moving again.

Before we talk blue, there are other aspects of visual design that George Miller puts to use. The first is the incredible bleakness of this setting. The main characters are in a massive desert of pure mud, with only one plot-important tree, that goes on for at least 15 miles in each direction from them. The mud is there to hinder the heroes and allow for the danger of the car-tank to be an actual threat. The flatness does something else, though. Having such a flat place when a chase is happening is scary. There is nowhere to hide in a flat land like this. This is something the viewers feel along with the characters and it does a great job at building suspense in this scene.

The film stock in Mad Max is surprisingly smooth, given the gritty and rough conditions of the film. Usually action films use a rough-grain film stock, to hide some action and make it look more gritty. But, Mad Mad doesn't do this. Why? The answer is pretty simple- it makes it seem more real to the viewers. You can see all the details. If something looks fake, it really looks fake. There were points earlier in the film where I could see enough detail to tell that something like a crane arm wasn't actually made out of the metal it is designed to look like. But in most other scenes, the production design is so good that everything does actually look real. Because of the smooth-grain film stock combined with high quality sets and props, verisimilitude is held up very strongly.

And now it is time to talk blue. Why is this scene blue, when all others are not? The first reason is pure, unadulterated, visual impact. Since it is literally the opposite of the rest of the film, its contrast brings attention to the scene. It tells the audience that something is different. In this case, the fact that it is night is the main difference highlighted by the color choice.  The second reason for Blue is quite interesting. It keeps the scene in low-key night light while still letting the audience see everything in it. Usually a director would use shadows to their advantage, completely covering aspects of shots to hide them. Low-key lighting is used here, but we can still see everything. This weird combination is to show us that the characters cannot see much going on far away from them, but they are still in the open and exposed. That feeling, the feeling of being exposed and vulnerable, is a common theme throughout the entire movie, and it is very apparent in this scene.

Mad Mad: Fury Road is a real pleasure to look at, throughout its entire run-time. It won so many Oscars because of its look, feel, and visual design. The Blue Scene is one of the best examples of good use of visual design from this decade. The setting, film stock, and color palette all contribute to the emotions viewers get just by looking at the screen. 

Why The Shawshank Redemption should be appreciated

Morgan Freeman. Yeah, I knew that would get your attention. Morgan Freeman is in only one of the movies we have watched this trimester, and that movie is The Shawshank Redemption. Directed by Frank Darabont, this film is the one that I believe deserves the most praise out of the ones we've seen. This is due to many reasons- the first being Morgan Freeman, of course. It also has beautiful music, to accentuate the most dramatic scenes in it, and carries with it a very powerful message about hope that resonates with people of all generations.

As mentioned earlier, Morgan Freeman. The character portrayed by him has a lot of lines, and a lot of voiceovers. Morgan Freeman, with the incredible voice he has, nails them all. But Morgan Freeman isn't the only good actor in this movie. Tim Robbins, playing the rather odd character Andy Dufresne, portrays the character rather perfectly. In the book, Dufresne is said to have a very odd walk, one that makes it seem like he doesn't care that he's in prison. Tim Robbins has this gait, in the film, which perfectly portrays the book's description of him. All the actors in this film do a really great job being their characters, and Morgan Freeman's Oscar nomination for this film tells me that I am not the only one who thinks that.

The music in this film, composed by Thomas Newman, was also nominated for an oscar, and with good reason. Thomas Newman has composed music for many great films, including The Green Mile, Wall-E, and Skyfall. He can't have gotten so many composing jobs without being good at it, and his work in the Shawshank Redemption is some of his best. One part of the soundtrack in particular I believe to be his best, and that part is the track Brooks Was Here.

 Brooks Was Here actually plays twice in the film, once during a very emotional scene near the middle of the film, and once again when the same situation befalls Morgan Freeman's character. The first time, the scene ends in the death of the character being followed, and having that same scene happen, and having the exact same music play, heightens the audience's emotional connection with what's happening. Repeating a track like this can also build tension without the movie doing so, and Brooks Was Here does. Because of the bad ending to the first scene it plays in, the audience is unconsciously thinking that the same thing is going to happen to Morgan Freeeman's character, and his is the one the audience has been following the most often, and the one they have the most emotional connection to. Thomas Newman is able to play with the audience's emotions only by writing really good music.

The message of The Shawshank Redemption is one that resonates with people of all ages and demographics. It is said in the last line of the film: "I hope.". The hope depicted by the entire story as a whole is real-feeling, and tangible. The movie states this outright many times, most noteably at the end, but throughout the movie, all of the characters at one point or another show a hope that they would like to get out of prison. The efforts gone to by Andy Dufresne to do just that inspire many audience members watching him do it.

The Shawshank Redemption is one of the best films I have seen in quite some time. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. All the acting and directing is superb, the music is something I would put on an iPod, and the overarching message of hope is one that will be heard and repeated for a very long time.

Suspense methods in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

If you're afraid of spiders, then you probably should not watch The Lord Of The Rings, directed by Peter Jackson. In the final installment of the trilogy, a giant spider is the thing in the way of our main character, a hobbit named Frodo Baggins. Arachnophobia may be enough to terrify some people, but Peter Jackson made sure everyone watching would be on the edge of their seat. He did this using suspense building techniques known and used by all great filmmakers. 

Please watch until 1:10 into this video.

This scene in particular utilizes common suspense building techniques. The first to highlight is Dramatic Irony. You will notice that the one human-looking character on screen, Frodo Baggins, never sees the dangerous and terrifying giant spider. When an audience knows something a character does not, this is called Dramatic Irony, and it builds suspense. It builds suspense by letting us know a character is in danger, but by making sure the on-screen character does not know of it, it nearly ensures the danger will strike- unless it decides not to. In this situation, it does. Some camera shots help this method work. The first begins at 0:23, and places the camera very low. The camera is directly under our protagonist, and the enemy is directly on top of him. This shot gives the illusion that the enemy is looming over the protagonist. In this case, the spider is doing this literally, but the low angle shot can be used to create this effect in many situations, even when the antagonist is shorter than the protagonist. The shot three shots later is also important in making this effect work. It is a Point of View shot, showing us the world through the eyes of Frodo Baggins as he looks from side to side trying to pinpoint the noise he heard. The fact that the spider does not show up in this shot lets us know that Frodo cannot see the spider that we know is directly above him. And thus, dramatic irony is created and suspense is built.

The second method to highlight is the Deliberate Approach. The Deliberate Approach is meant to slowly increase suspense throughout its use, by using very few quick, short, camera shots. The use of long shots allows the audience to think and process everything that is happening on screen. In this scene, it works because the spider is slowly approaching Frodo. It waits for the exact right time to strike, and we are kept waiting as long as Frodo is. Dramatic Irony ties in with this, because we know of the danger that could strike an unknowing individual at any time. The audience prepares for the attack, the jumpscare that they know is coming, by building tension within themselves- perhaps so they don't jump as high when the scare comes. The longer an audience prepares, the tenser they get. If the deliberate approach is used correctly, an audience will give up on a scare happening and relax just before a scare happens. 

A deliberate approach works when there are few long shots used in the scene. You may feel the effects of quick shots at 0:46, but there are in fact no shots shorter than 2 seconds in this scene. The shot at 0:46 is a POV shot, that moves quickly and simulates three small shots, but it is all a full 3 second shot.

To make The Lord of the Rings into a good film series, Peter Jackson would need to use suspense techniques in order to make the picture more interesting, or else he would have made a 12 hour long boring-fest. He used them everywhere, and they are very apparent in the scene with the giant spider and Frodo Baggins. Dramatic irony and the deliberate approach are two great ways to make a scene suspenseful.Peter Jackson knows how to use them.