What is the importance of mise en scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating responses in the films you have studied?
In this essay I will discuss and explain the importance of sound and mise-en-scene in creating meaning and generating responses in the two principal films I have studied for my world cinema-Urban Stories topic. My first film is a French film set in the Banlieues -which are the estates or "slums" on the outskirts of Paris in France. “La Haine” was directed by the well-known director Mathieu Kassovitz in 1995 and will be one of the two films I will focus on in this essay. My second film is the Brazilian movie "City of God" or "Cidade de Deus" (original title) directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund in 2002. This film is set in the City of God, which is a slum district 20 miles outside of Brazil's largest city, Rio de Janeiro, and is an over populated, poverty stricken favela dominated by gang crime.
Both of these films use mise-en-scene and sound as key micro elements that are important in creating meaning and generating responses. It is very important for both directors that they used mise-en-scene that was relevant to the story, because both of these films are based on true events. As a consequence the directors had a tougher job than a lot of directors as they must ensure that the mise-en-scene authentically relates to the environment of the real life events. Both films were based on true events, but only "City of God" is based on a true story as "La Haine", although set around the riots, is a fictionalised version of incidents that occurred during the disturbances.
I will begin by discussing the key scenes and parts in the film "La Haine" (1995). This film is based on true events, the riots that occurred in parts of France (including Paris) in the mid 1990's. It follows three young men who all live in the slums that the film is set in and are all involved in the troubles in some way. The three men are of three different ethnic backgrounds which is important and was done purposely by the director as a hint of irony, Vinz (Vincent Cassel) is white and of Jewish/French origin, Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) who is of Arab ethnicity but still most likely a French citizen and Hubert (Hubert Koundé) who is black and also of French origin like Vinz. The film follows how they are treated during the riots by the authority (The police), other residents of the slums and people who are involved in the rioting. It was made, in my opinion, to draw attention to what was really happening during the riots and mainly how the police were really treating/bullying people rather than being made to solely entertain an audience.
The key mise-en-scene in this film are the weapons, now mainly in this film the only weapons are guns that are only really used by police and there is no other obvious signs of weapons being used by anyone else in the film apart from the most important gun which has fallen into the possession of the three friends, Vinz, Hubert and Said. This gun is an important piece of mise-en-scene because the whole story revolves around the revolver and this is why it so often dominates the central position in the framing. What would the situation be like if everybody possessed such a weapon? Would the situation in Paris develop into the 'war zone' that now dominates the favelas? The story of this gun is that during the riots there are rumours that a "police officer has lost his rod" (His gun) and they all want to be or know the person who finds it. Vinz finds the gun and in the first scene that we see it, he is showing it to Hubert and Said they are shocked and don't want him to have the gun, throughout the film he uses it as a object that gives him authority and power above the others by showing it off to people and pulling it out on people and threatening to shoot them. The film would obviously be very different without this prop. Another key element of mise-en-scene that is used in this film is the location, this is the most important thing within the film and makes it what is is, the setting shows how each of the main characters and other people live and also shows you their attitude towards society because of the way they treat it, especially during the riots. The sound in this film that is important in creating meaning and generating responses is the ticking sound which happens in most scenes throughout the film, the ticking is non diegetic sound that is played when a digital clock appears on screen, in white writing and with a black background, this clock stands out very well and is most likely used to keep the audience involved and to emphasise the fact that the whole film and everything that happens is set over one day. The ticking is there obviously because it relates to clocks and time but also because it highlights that the film is still going on and the action is still going like a ticking clock. Gunshots are also used to signal transitions in the film and emphasise the explosive nature of the situation. The diegetic sound in this film is mainly the dialogue which is in French, but a lot of the music also shows that these youths lives are dominated by 'western cultural' values. The sound and mis- en-scene are used a lot in "La Haine" and are important in creating meaning and generating responses because the director has focused on them so that he could make this film as emotive and realistic as possible.
My other film "City of God" (2002) also uses mise-en-scene a lot because it is based on true events, but this film is also based on a true story that is similar to the actual actors lives that are performing in the film. It is set in the slums (favelas) in Brazil and shows how two rival gangs start a war and equip the majority of the city, even children, with guns. It is set around several main characters, in the beginning there is a flashback to the 'Tender Trio' then later on Rocket, Lil dice/ze, benny, Tiago and 'the runts' as central characters. It shows audiences that this really happened and is still happening but still entertains people at the same time,which is where this film differs with "La Haine". This films use of mise-en-scene is similar to "La Haine" because once again the location is key and most important for this film to be accurate and as authentic as possible. The directors wanted this film to be as realistic as possible so they used locations that resemble 'the city of god', because is was too dangerous to enter the real location and they even used local people to act in the film, people who knew about the city but weren't involved in the events. The film uses the locations as a main way to show the audience what is like and how they feel about living there. Other key elements of mise-en-scene are the guns, this is also similar to "La Haine" but with a slight difference because there are a predominance of guns. The people in this film use guns, not as a way to show off, but also like toys, they don't treat death or guns seriously and will hand them out to everybody even children, it is more a way of life. This is different to "La Haine" where they treated guns more seriously and people would panic when the saw a gun. This film wouldn't be the same without the use of guns and the director was very accurate with the mise-en-scene in its relation to the realities of everyday life. I think that the biggest and most important sound/sounds in this film are the gun shots, like I just mentioned the guns are very important in this film and the gun sounds make the film more entertaining but also more shocking and realistic. The gun shots over power most other sounds in this film, (in the way that they are very loud and that there are a lot of them). Even diegetic dialogue is sometimes less important than the gun shots, emphasising the importance that they play in the characters lives.
The sounds and mise-en-scene in these films is essential for creating meaning and generating responses as they must truthfully recreate the environment so that there is greater impact on the audience.
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