What is the importance of mise-en-scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied? [35]
Level 4:
A sound appreciation of the films studied with an ability to make detailed and to make close reference to film techniques in the context of understanding the urban experience.
A detailed and sophisticated knowledge and understanding of what is the importance of mise-en-scene/sound in the films studied - particularly in their creating meaning and generating a response
An ability to discuss the impact made by specific techniques within the overall impact of films - by reference to film detail
(The very best candidates) may suggest that other factors besides film technique are of as great or greater significance, for example performance and/or narrative devices.
Through the use of mise-en-scene and sound in the films City of God and La Haine the audience is subject to particular messages and responses encoded within the text by the producers. Power, poverty and conflict are the main themes that run throughout this film and the mise-en-scene enforces this, the sound simply enhances this message.
The scene in which Lil’ Zé approaches a group of youths discussing how they are going to run their crime business. We see a mid shot tracking Lil’ Zé and his crew walking through the slums, cattle can also be seen walking through the favelas alongside the crew. This is significant as it represents the mirror image between the cattle and the people of Rio de Janeiro, telling us they are just like cattle, herded in the masses and trapped in a pen. This is relative to contextual information about the film because it tells us how these people are trapped in the favelas as if it is a pen, they don’t know anything outside of it. It is significant that canted shots are used so frequently in this scene because it connotes corruption within the scene and we relate this to the social context; the corruption of the favelas as a whole.
Straight cuts between the gang of youths and Lil’ Zé’s gang are of significance because it tells the audience the two groups are alike. The contextual knowledge behind this information is the cycle of the crimes repeating themselves; the youths are behaving like the gangs they see because they aspire to be like them. They want the power and the respect the older gangs have so they aspire to be like them.
In a canted establishing shot of the slums, we can see the mountains of Rio in the distance, this is important to note as it conveys the significance of how far away this world is from the characters in the slums. Representing the fact the characters in the slums only know the favelas, they know nothing outside of this world they are stuck in. We can take this information from a documentary about the slums called City of God - 10 Years Later. We know that the youths in the favelas look up to the older gang members with the most respect and power i their gangs. This is what gets them the things they want and the women they want, but most importantly their escape from the slums which is what they desire most. This scene is littered with canted angle shots, mainly from a distance to ensure the whole scene appears corrupted, even down to the location the characters are in.
To add to the verisimilitude in the film, the child actors were showing real emotions toward Lil’ Zé and his gang. The children were made to fear the character as if he was real. In an interview with the child actor who was shot in the foot, he was unable to talk about the event; he tells us that “whatever happens to you as a child will stick with you for life.” This is a significant point relating to City of God because it shows us the cultivation of the children in these slums is a significant factor changing how they behave when they grow up.
