9/19/16 Blog - Michelle Cella

9/19/16

In class today, Mr. Rivers had us divided up into six groups of three, where we presented a total of three slides from our mise-en-scene projects. For instance, my mise-en-scene group project mainly focused on The Martian. I discussed and analyzed the following slides - dominant feature, lighting key, and shot angle. My other group members, Michaela K and Mike R, analyzed their projects. Michaela presented Wolf on Wall Street, and Mike R presented Room. After each person in class presented their three slides, Mr. Rivers pulled the class into a group discussion/analysis of different scenes from the show, Breaking Bad, and the movie blockbuster Star Wars. Mr. Rivers used a screenshot from the Breaking Bad baseline (shown below), where the class analyzed what elements were occurring within the shot. I mentioned the juxtaposition between the lighting and the character, Walter White, (who is pants less and holding a loaded gun). This scene exemplifies juxtaposition because, the lighting is cheery and bright, and then Walter is standing in the middle of the road waiting to commit murder. We also discussed how it may look like Walter might not belong in the scene, but he actually does. This is where color value played a significant role in the scene. His green shirt aligns with the grass, his white/blue underwear aligns with the sky, and his skin color aligns with the sand on the ground. The class moved on to dissecting two scenes from the opening of Star Wars (shown below). The first scene demonstrated depth of field, this particular scene was in shallow focus. This means only two planes are in focus, i.e., the Earth, and the little space ship. The second scene demonstrated dominant feature, because now the only thing the audience is drawn to is this huge space ship. This class period focused on establishing a better understanding of film analysis and how it applies to the scene that's given to the class/student.

Breaking Bad

Star Wars - first scene

Star Wars - second scene