Party Scene Deconstructions

                                           

Party Scene 1

Screen Shot 1:

Screen Shot 2:

This short scene in ‘Misfits’ is good inspiration for our scene. As it is set in a club, the mise en scene, sound, editing techniques and camera angles would be very useful.

Camera Angles

• In both screen shots, we can see that it is a close up of the protagonists face.We can clearly see her facial expressions which suggest that she is enjoying where she is and what she is doing.
• The camera is facing directly in front of the protagonists face at eye level as if we are with her at the party too.
• The camera angle also suggests that we are with her suggesting that we are invited to the party too.

Mise en scene

• Also, the protagonist is wearing a bright pink, leopard print, low cut top. Pink is a very sexual, sensual, femininity, passion and even innocence. A scene of innocence is quite ironic in this scene but would be a good connotation to show the audience in our film opening as it would also be ironic.
• The connotations of leopard print suggest that it to be sexy, bold, and make the protagonist look like a ‘confident diva’. It could also suggest that the protagonist is normally referred to as an ‘animal’ and ‘looking for her prey’.
• The lighting is very vivid as half of the characters face is sharply shaded but overall the whole profile of this character is shown with light which contrasts to the background and extras in the scene. This makes the main character stand out more and make her the centre of attention as if the other surrounding people don’t matter except for her.

Sound

• A non-diegetic soundtrack is used as the protagonist walks in slow motion through the crowd.
• The soundtrack consists of an electric guitar, a drum beat and a distinctive bass.
• It has a pop/rock edgy feel to it so is something everyone would dance to so it fits in perfectly with the scene.

Editing

• The editing in this scene is the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards to show what will happen after this scene (flash-forwards) and what caused it to happen (flashbacks). This would be useful for our opening scene as it is very similar to our idea of using flashbacks to go back to the night before.

Party Scene 2

This scene is also from another 'Misfits' episode. I thought this was a good scene to deconstruct as it includes a party scene where the female protagonist has drunk a drink that has been spiked. She ends up feeling dizzy and everything changes from a matter of minutes. It would be a good inspiration for our opening scene.

Camera Angles

• In the picture on the left, the man is drinking vodka. The camera angle is shot at eye level as if we are there with him and watching him. It is shot so that the vodka bottle he is drinking from is in the centre of the screen, making the vodka the centre of attention to both the audience and the characters.
• It could also suggest that the vodka is the main source for problems occurring during and after the party and that it will cause the most affect on the characters drinking it.

  

The camera angles used are mostly close ups of the protagonists face to show all her different facial expressions and emotions the main character is going through during the party, it also emphasises when she is drinking.

Even extreme close ups (beyond what they eye can see at once) are used for example it is used to focus on the protagonists eyes as the audience can ‘see it in her eyes’ that something is wrong and that the character is suddenly changing and switching moods.

Mise en Scene

• The protagonist is wearing a gold, sparkly dress. The connotations of gold include wealth, good health, success and enjoyment. These connotations are ironic because even though she was enjoying herself at the party, it doesn’t end very well so it is in complete opposite.
• Although, Gold suggests that her personality within is bright and that she is optimistic, courageous and she has willpower.
• The lighting changes according to how she feels. When she is light-headed, we see people in her eyes that, at first, they are bright and we can see their facial features, then it dulls down and then eventually blacks out so we can only see their silhouettes. This puts emphasis on how much she had drunk and how strong it was. It can also relate to some people who are watching it as they may have been in this situation before.

Editing

• Slow motion is used when protagonist is weak, drunk, and light-headed. Everyone else around her are also dancing in slow motion which makes the audience see what the protagonist to see and have a sense of how she feels at this point.
• Match-on-action is also used for when the protagonist is getting weaker and that flashes of lights, blurred out faces (oblique), and the protagonists face itself are included in the sequence to add to the effect of everything is messed around and not right.

Eventually, everything becomes blurry in the eyes of the protagonist which makes the audience see when the character sees and how she is weakening. Everything is blurry but the protagonists face itself which adds emphasis on that the other characters, and the audience can see perfectly fine, it is only in the protagonists perspective that everything changes to dull and blurry (oblique).

Oblique (blurring) of the background but not the protagonist adds emphasis on when she is drinking before she feels light-headed. She is drinking on her own at the time, giving the sense of isolation to the audience.

Match-on-action is used again when, in the protagonists perspective, can see the first stage where we can see people dancing and we can easily see their facial features, to the next stage that we can still see the people dancing but it is dulling down and the lighting decreases, to the third and final stage of everyone being blacked out so we can only see their silhouettes. These screen shots are shown below:

Match On Action Shots from light to dark:

Stage 1: Stage 2: 

Stage 3.

Sound

• Upbeat, non-diegetic music. The music is funky, techno and includes bass which is a good piece to use for a party scene as it fits in with the mood.

• The music soon slows down and also produced echoes when the protagonist drinks a lot and feels light-headed.

• She looks down for a while but when she sharply looks upwards, a sort of lightening bolt sound erupts as her eyes are sharply the centre of attention to the camera and audience. This noise indicates that something is changing and that something bad is about to happen (as lightening bolts are associated with bad and evil.

• When the other female character touches her skin around the face, ‘sizzling’ sounds can be heard, as if it was an electric current or shock wave running through her body telling her that something is wrong. It could also mean that she is heating up, which could also by why the protagonist eventually says ‘I need some air’.

• ‘Booms’ are heard when light beams from spot lights sharply appear on screen when they become brighter and more intense, as if, in the characters eyes, the lights are more powerful and bright in her weakened eyes and that maybe she could have a sense that the lights are actually ‘hitting her’. The noise emphasises this even more.

• The other female character says ‘Are you alright?’ This is one of the main dialogue heard in the part of the scene. Her voice becomes out of sync and echoes as if we are in the same position/situation as the protagonist. For our scene, we are likely to involve another male character who also asks the protagonist 'Are you alright?' which is similar to this scene which we can take inspirational notes from.