Urban Stories: Power Poverty and Conflict

Essay Example

Question

What is the importance of mise en scene and / or sound in creating meaning and

generating response in the films you have studied?

Highlight the key words so that you are able to use them in your answer to the question. This will make sure that you are sticking to the question asked and

not moving off on a descriptive trail

What is the importance of mise en scene and / or soundsound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

Highlight the key words so that you are able to use them in your answer to the question. This will make sure that you are sticking to the question asked and

not moving off on a descriptive trail

What is the importance of mise en scene and / or soundsound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

Re word the title of the question into a quick sentence of intent to get you focussed on the

essay that you will write

Re word the title of the question into a quick sentence of intent to get you focussed on the

essay that you will write

Sound and mise en scene is used to great affect in many of the films that have been studied. They are often used to complement the narrative generating further emotional response and meaning.

Note down some points that you will raise when answering this question

You should spend about 5 minutes doing this.

Note down some points that you will raise when answering this question

You should spend about 5 minutes doing this

• Music

• Sound effects

• Dialogue

• Mise en scene contrasts

• Mise en scene messages

Write your answer...

• Go through each point and cross them off as you go• Give an example or two for each point and possibly one

which is the exception to the rule• Try to refer to specific scenes / quotations from the films • Do not tell the stories / describe the films in too much

detail• Explain how your examples prove your points and

answer the question (using words from the question)• Ensure that you are sticking to the correct time limit

Sound• MUSIC

• The music that is used in the films has been well chosen to have a great impact on the meaning and response within the films, linking in to the social and historical context as well as informing the audience about the characters

• Within Tsotsi, Kwaito music is consistently used within the film: this is a South African comparison to hip hop presenting ideas of poverty and repression. It is often the music of a particular artist and star named Zola who is within the film playing the character of Fela, an established gangster within the Soweto slum where the film is based. The music to the film is perfectly pitched throughout. The car chase sequences are master-classes in how sound can be used for maximum dramatic effect; exactly mirroring the action taking place on screen. During the car chases, the music is almost deafening when the action is inside the car adding to the overall confusion. When the exterior of the car is shown, the music is then muffled with the sound of the engine being the dominating noise. Combine this variation in the sound with very quickly edited shots, and the result is an exhilarating, fast moving sequence.

Sound• SOUND EFFECTS

• Sound effects are continually used to generate meaning and response in the films that have been studied, these are varied in nature but all point to underlying messages and values as well as the historical and social context in which the films have been found.

• At the beginning of City of God we hear a knife being sharpened which separates the sound of people drinking, dancing and laughing. This is illustrative of the mixture of danger within the celebrative place that Brazil is with its carnivals and tropical weather. Noise of drums and rattling often accompanies Tsotsi at times of great tension in the film having connotations of dangerous rattle snakes as well as the association of tribal drums rooting the film in its historical context, although there is the diegetic sounds of thunder revealing a pathetic fallacy of the tempestuous times ahead after they have killed the man in the underground.

• As you can see sound is used in a number of different ways throughout the films studied in order to provoke a whole range of meanings and responses

• .

Dialogue• The dialogue spoken within the films clearly is very important for the meaning

and response of an audience, without it films would often be rendered meaningless. However, there are times when a phrase of dialogue can help to cast meaning over the entire films and sum up a directors intentions within the film whether it the central messages of the essence of a character.

• Rocket’s line of, “we were a long way from the picture postcard image of Rio de Janeiro”, illustrates a point of the film which is to highlight a true representation of a country and its difficulties. Boston’s phrase of, “Decency”, is more to do with the films topic of change and Tsotsi’s journey to find his own decency which does however, show to us how people can become fighters and criminals in a place where they are not valued. It also goes some way to question our own decency and the same of a society that allows such extremes of poverty and wealth.

• Dialogue then is very important in creating meaning and response but also in summarising the message and intentions of a film

Mise en Scene – in contrast• Continuing the above statement of contrasts, this is also illustrated in the mise

en scene to be found within a film.• The film City of God, begins with optimism presented in the wide open spaces and

the light colours as families are moving in to the favella to begin their lives together. This is then replaced ten years on by grey metallic colours and corrugated iron as the film shows how the area has deteriorated when more people arrived and little left. The characters in Tsotsi travel to the centre of Johannesburg to see the bustling city but bizarrely enough, they do not need to travel this far to see such extremes as they only have to walk over the landfill site to reach gated houses and electrified fences of the wealthy.

• Under greater examination we can see the truth in a lot of these cases when looking at the countries through Google earth. The contrasts are literally a stones throw away.

Mise en Scene and Messages• As well as realism the mise en scene within the films often convey to us with

messages and values subtly weaved in to the film.• Meaning is conveyed in a contrast of Tsotsi’s shack with Miriams. His is small and

dark and uncared for whereas her is so light and bright and full of expressions of art and thought. Both shacks mimic their personalities and further illustrate a premise of the film of moving from the dark into the light to gain happiness in the life that you have.

• Mise en Scene then can contain messages and values and portray the country in which it is set along with the individual characters of the film.