Boyz 'N the Hood: analysis of the first five minutes
Genre: crime fiction, teen film, coming of age, drama
Mise en Scène:
Setting and props: South Central, Los Angeles 1984
Costume, hair and make up: jumpers and smart shirts for boys, skirts and cardigans for girls, all quite stereotypical clothing for black school children who do not have to wear compulsory uniform. Short hair for boys and hair tied up for girls, nothing unusual or special. No particular make-up.
Facial expressions and body language: shocked when they see the blood, laughing in class at Trey's jokes and when the boys fights.
Positioning of characters/objects within the frame: characters are always placed quite central within the frame, they are all important. When Trey is walking along the path, the guys beating another guy are up positioned to the left of the frame, we are suppose to be watching them.
Lighting and colour: daylight, so high key lighting and nice blue colours, nothing unusual is happening at the moment.
Sound and editing:
Off screen diegetic sound at the beginning of taboo language. Textual editing, the facts are going to teach us something. Flash on gunshot and zoom into stop sign is symbolic, stop the crime? Gun shots and zoom/flash onto the Presidents face, this is important to show the problems Los Angeles had at the time. Low base boom sounds, tragic event has happened (someone died.) Off scene then on scene diegetic sound of teacher talking. Whispy music when they begin to fight, tension is building. Off scene diegetic sound, conversation between teacher and mum, the teacher is being patronising and borderline racist.
Memorable camera shots:
Tracking level shot when the kids are walking to school because we can see the type of place they live in as well, e.g. broken windows, stray dogs eating out of bins.
Long wide shot of Trey walking along but we can only focus on guys beating up another guy in the left of the shot, catches our attention to again show the type of place they live in.
Medium four shot of them all behind the 'do not cross' line, curious kids who find the death of someone totally normal and not shocking at all, again relates back to the type of place they live in.
The Little Mermaid 2: analysis of the first five minutes
Genre: animated musical, children's fantasy
Mise en Scène:
Setting and props: set mainly on the boat and in the sea, also underneath the sea at times.
Costume, hair and make up: classy dresses for the women and sailor outfits for the men, or mermaid/mermen outfits for the people in the sea. Hair slicked back neatly for men and neatly tied up for women, this all shows it is a special occasion. Animated make-up.
Facial expressions and body language: happy and excited at the beginning for the child's introduction to King Triton and then shocked and sad when Ursula's evil sister tries to kidnap Melody, the body language all images this.
Positioning of characters/objects within the frame: the boat is the main focus of most of the extreme wide shots or features of the boat for example the anchor and chains. The characters are all positioned in the middle of the frame except from Ursula's evil sister, she is less important.
Lighting and colour: sunny blue skies when the child is being introduced to King Triton and then grey, black skies when the kidnapping is taking place, foreshadowing something bad.
Sound and editing:
Sweet soft lullaby music at the beginning when Ariel is singing to her child, she is clearly excited for what is about to happen. Cheery, bubbly singing from her husband Prince Eric who is trying to be patient with her but is telling her to hurry along. King Triton has a very soft dialogue, this represents he is friendly and approachable as King. Ursula's sister has a croaky mean dialogue, this represents she is evil and bad. As it is an animation all of the sound we hear in non-diegetic as everything has to be put in afterwards. Sound effects have been used such as the seagull skwaking or the 'dun dun' of the shark where he is trying to be intimidating.
Memorable camera shots:
Level long shot of Ariel cradling and singing to Melody at the beginning, her child means a lot to her and she wants to protect her from all evil.
Close up of King Triton when he rises out of the water, he is powerful with the Triton in his hand yet he is rising up to his daughter, he respects her a lot and will do anything to protect her.
Level long shot of Ursula's sister when she is bouncing Melody up and down on one of her tentacles, this shows that she is careless but powerful and will do anything to get what she wants, she is fearless.
Les Mis: analysis of the first five minutes
Genre: historical fiction, epic
Mise en Scène:
Setting and props: France 1815.
Costume, hair and make up: the more powerful people are wearing police outfits e.g neat blue pinafores and hats, their job makes them wealthy. The prisoners are all wearing dirty, tattered brown uniforms, they are treated badly. Most of the prisoners heads are shaven but most have long scraggly beards that are clearly not kept in a tidy condition. The police are wearing hats with neat hair. The prisoners have make up to make them look tired and angered and the police are made to look stern and powerful.
Facial expressions and body language: the prisoners look tired and angered they are kept in such terrible conditions and that they are there in the first place. There body language shows they are trying to be strong by pulling the boat in but deep down feel drained. The police look smug and are placed higher then the prisoners, so they are looking down on them- they have the power.
Positioning of characters/objects within the frame: the main police guy is placed in the middle of the part of the boat he is standing on, he is important and powerful. There are many close ups of the prisoners faces, they are all placed to the side of the frame, they are unimportant.
Lighting and colour: it is dark and misty, this reflects the moods of the prisoners. There is only sunlight when it is behind Javert, he is the 'chosen' guard for them and has the power to be nice or nasty.
Sound and editing:
There is silence at the start, we should be reading the facts. A big boom of music, the ship is extremely important, this is the thing that separates the prisoners from being weak or strong. The prisoners are all singing but with harsh sounds, they are singing it through gritted teeth, there are annoyed and bitter. Javert has a very patronising dialogue, he is in charge and he knows it. There is an uplifting sound of music when Val Jean retrieves the flag, nobody expected him to be strong and do it, this shows he is a strong character and may come out on top?
Memorable camera shots:
Extreme wide shot of the police man standing on top of the boat in the middle. He is higher up then them all looking down, he is powerful and thinks that all the prisoners deserve to be there.
Close up of one of the prisoners. He looks angry and resentful of the man above him, he holds a grudge and wishes to perhaps get his revenge.
Extreme wide shot of all of the prisoners working together. They are in a team against the police even though they do not know anything about each other, the one thing they have in common is hatred.