Currently, most films tend to have different themes within the narrative. These themes usually change based on the audience’s interpretation of the films. Despite being for entertainment purposes, most of these films have elements that allow viewers to figure out the moral and meaning seen on the screens. Mise-en-scene remain one of the cinematic techniques for any work of film production. It is a catch-all phrase on how film scenes align together to create a meaning or tell a story. Mise-en-scene involves the director narrating the film’s storyline by what the audience sees and not what is being said through elements such as settings, props, lighting, and actor blocking. This essay analyses the use of film’s mise-en-scene elements in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock released in 1958 and The Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola (1999) to communicate explicit meaning to the audience.
What makes Vertigo film unique and special is how Hitchcock uses the mise-en-scene concept. Vertigo is one of the psychological thrillers that uses concepts such as visual effects, a telling title, and an original idea to influence the understanding of the core theme of the file. The mise-en-scene in Vertigo is portrayed through the role of cinematography and lighting used, and how Hitchcock highlights the theme of being seen vs. seeing, change of pictures, light, and colour, different visual effects, and camera zoom are the key mise-en-scene techniques that assist the audience in understanding the intended purpose communicated in the film. In Vertigo, there are several scenes where some props are used to create meaning by making them either darker or lighter. For instance, in the scene when Madeleine visits a restaurant to trap Scottie and the guests. The restaurant wall in this scene is made brighter and red compared to other objects in the room that represent the impending danger.
The first scenes of Vertigo program the viewers to anticipate crime in this film and also establish the expository background of Scottie and his psychological challenges. This scene displays scenic realism as it creates a truthful picture of Scottie and his dimension of life. The most scene in the film shows the challenges faces after he retires from being a detective. This is also seen through Judy’s incident and how to overcome the fear. The film starts with imagery before showing Scottie’s close-up. The scene emphasizes the realism that highlights Scottie’s fear and highlights that viewers should expect more life-and-death events further in the film. In addition, the mise-en-scene choices in this part have been enhanced by visual effects because the setting takes place on a night dark rooftop. The night dark rooftop promotes the haunting feeling of unease among audiences. The rooftop setting portrays the impending danger and the trauma.
One of the important and subtle dimensions of mise-en-scene used in Vertigo is lighting which allows viewers to understand the settings and observe the actions by drawing the props and actors. For instance, brighter light in different scenes highlights the moment and the blurred red restaurant wall becomes more visible. The bright nature of the wall offers a visual uplift of the scene. In other words, the background effect improves the emotional high point of where the scene is leading. This is similar to how Hitchcock uses mirrors throughout the film to capture key actors’ emotions. Images produced by the mirror usually make sense of subconscious and conscious thoughts. In the first scene of the film, Madlyn’s face is not shown from a camera perspective but from a mirror perspective. This allows the audience to see Madlyn’s sense of identity that is skewed.
The Virgin Suicide also used the mise-en-scene elements such as actors and lighting to communicate important themes to the audience. The film follows the mysterious suicides of Lisbon girls that are narrated to the audience by a boy. The boy plays the role of a group of boys who seem to have wondered at, revered, and loved the five girls. The boy’s interest in the five girls displays his admiration as a sign of pureness and femininity. The boy’s main goal was to explore the real cause of death, which eventually led to fall in love with the elusive five girls. Coppola uses mise-en-scene through the actor blocking through the boy’s gestures and expression to create a dreamy, romantic, and beautiful atmosphere of eternal and ephemeral youth. This has been achieved by the use of a pastel colour palette, natural and soft lighting, and filters to create an atmosphere of beauty that seems to vanish. Coppola chose very simple lighting for these scenes. The director uses dim lights or fluorescent lights that seem merely static and average. Through this style of lighting, Coppola (17: 28) creates an unworldly feeling that the five girls do not fit into the normal world as they are balancing on the edge between death and life. The film portrays the five girls as beautiful creatures through the soft pastel colours of their clothes that highlight their innocence. In addition, the girls are shown to always curling, hugging together and staying relatively close to each other. These scenes in The Virgin Suicides tell a story or create a feeling that the five girls are one individual who is isolated, feels lonely, and unable to grow up but strives to face real adult life.
Mise-en-scene used in most films influences audiences’ experience and has explicit world portrayed. A good use of mise-en-scene constantly creates or communicates a concept to the audience concerning the world or environment and characters with their inner traits. Mise-en-scene has ensured that the setting becomes a new character in the films. Unlike theatres, I believe mise-en-scene has made films have settings with no people but still will evocatively tell the film’s story. In addition, mise-en-scene on-location settings are currently essential in creating a sense of realism.
Filmography
Vertigo. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. United States, 1958.
The Virgin Suicide. Dir. Sofia Coppola. United States, 1999.
Unforgiven. Dir. Clint Eastwood. United States, 1992.
Bibliography
Coppola, Sofia. “The Virgin Suicides.” Microsoft, 1999, www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-virgin-suicides/8d6kgwzl5hvt.
Corrigan, Timothy, and Patricia White. The film experience: An introduction. Macmillan, 2012.
Hitchcock, Alfred. “Vertigo”. Fmoviesz.to, 1958, fmoviesz.to/movie/vertigo-ojpy/1-1.
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