During the process of envisioning and designing a film, the director, production designer, and art director (in collaboration with the cinematographer) are concerned with several major spatial and temporal elements. These design elements punctuate and underscore the movement of figures within the frame, including the following: setting, lighting, costuming, makeup, and hairstyles. Choose a scene from movieclips.com. In a three to five page paper, (excluding the cover and reference pages) analyze the mise-en-scène
I chose the movie clip entitled “King Kong”. It’s from the movie “Training Day” starting Denzel Washington. Training Day is a movie that comes straight from the streets it depicts a product of the match up between screenwriter David Ayer, who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and director Antoine Fuqua, who grew up on the rough side of Pittsburgh. Both men are intimately familiar with the daily, potentially explosive face-offs between cops and criminals in urban America.
The director Antoine Fuqua vision for this film was to bring the heat and intensity to the movie Training Day to the big screen. Fuqua wanted Training Day to look as authentic as possible, and he shot on location in some of the most infamous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He also wanted to show the audience what officers in the rough neighborhoods of Los Angeles experience on the outside and also on the inside as they grapple with an amoral world of drug dealers, murderers, rapists and thieves. Fuqua wanted to show the audience a rough, undaunted, fast moving style of life on the other side of the legal line. With this film he was able to capture the mean streets of Los Angeles in an honest and revealing way, but also with a visual style that makes every scene exciting, whether it’s a major action sequence or just two guys in a car talking.
The Essay on Belly Vs Training Day
... thoughts of today's youth, very much like Training Day, it reflected the streets of Los Angeles, people like Alonzo and Tommy do exist, ... blood to turn me off even more. The idea that Fuqua (the director) employed violence just for attention never crossed my mind, ... dirty, dark, sweaty, very much like the old African movies, and the movie was being narrated, witch added a little something to ...
Production Designer Naomi Shohan wanted the movie’s design to reflect the underlying relevance of the story because they filmed in all real locations. All the interiors done on stage were taken from the locations and researched in the neighborhoods with the help of the residents which also gave the film the authenticity of being in the “hood”. She became sort of an urban anthropologist, because everything the viewer sees is as it really is. The colors and textures used, change throughout the scene, but everything they used was taken directly from the neighborhood that you find yourself in throughout the clip.
Cinematographers and art directors play a very important and creative role in film production. They work closely with the director and give a film its unique visual look and identity. The art director, David Lazan and cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, shot the film almost entirely in sequence, following the clock from the crack of dawn to a very dark night of reckoning. Compressing intense action and emotion into a brief time frame became one of their key challenges. They had to make sure the film felt like it was one single day unfolding which became the single biggest challenge during the production.
Explain how the artists utilize lighting in the scene. How does the lighting affect our emotional understanding of certain characters? What sort of mood does the lighting evoke? How does lighting impact the overall story the filmmaker is attempting to tell? Describe the setting, including the time period, location, and culture in which the film takes place.
Light can make a scene look more realistic by creating shadows and highlights. Washington’s character, Alonzo, is displayed as a powerful, yet currupt police officer who believes that he is untouchable. The way Alonzo dresses shows a look of dominance. In the clip I chose Alonzo (Denzel Washington) is on the dark and dominant streets of L.A, surrounded by gangs and the people of the community that he very well is suppose to have been protecting and serving. Alonzo tries to keep the tough guy look for most of the part only showing one emotion. However at this point of the film, Alonzo does not have the tough guy look as he have had when no one helps him in time of need.
The Essay on The Cuban Missile Crisis in the Film “Thirteen Days”
The film Thirteen Days shows the viewer a “blockbuster” look at the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that challenged the Kennedy administration. It does a reasonable job of sifting through history and picking the pieces that allow the audience to understand the historical event and enjoy the movie without being overloaded with information. The character of the President's fiercely loyal aid, Kenneth ...
Explain what costuming can tell us about a character. In what ways can costuming be used to reflect elements of the film’s plot? Explain how hairstyle and makeup can help tell the story. What might hairstyle and makeup reveal about the characters? Discuss your opinion regarding the mise-en-scène. Do the elements appear to work together in a harmonious way? Does the scene seem discordant? Do you think the design elements are congruent with the filmmaker’s vision for the scene?
From the moment you set eyes on him you can relies that Alonzo is a feisty character, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Denzel’s performance is absolutely riveting. Every scene he’s in, he’s got the audience captivated with his dark costuming and the character’s dark and dominant personality. Ethan Hawke (Jake Hoyt) provides excellent backup. Jake is a bright eyed and innocent rokkie who reports to his training officer for his first day on the job in narcotics in the LAPD. He never could have fathomed just how much he would learn on that very first Training Day. Overall, Training Day proved to send a powerful message and gave us a small glimpse of what is truly happening in our society, the effect that the epidemic of drugs and violence are having in our cities and the corruption that is happening among our most trusted police officers.
Reference pages
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/training-day-20010917>.
“Training Day (2001) – Memorable Quotes.” The Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
Web. Feb. 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139654/quotes>.
