Mise En Scene In Coraline

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The 2005 stop-motion animated film Coraline by Harry Selick, adapted from Neil Gaiman's book of the same title, tells the story of a young girl, named Coraline who moves to new town. Coraline is less than thrilled about this move and tries to find some excitement to make things less boring. After receiving a ragdoll that eerily resembles her, she takes the doll exploring with her around her new home. It is this exploration that she encounters a door that allows her to venture into an alternate world that seems perfect but has many dark secrets, while she sleeps. Selick uses of mise-en-scene, editing, narrative and camera movement to allow viewers to realistically see Coraline’s worlds. The opening scene (0:45 – 12:30) starts with sinister looking claw hands creating a doll that looks exactly like Coraline; insinuating that control will play a large role in the film. The film then progresses to the establishing shot; of the …show more content…

Initially there is no indication of who this person or thing might be. There are many instances where the doll watching her. In the scene where Coraline is outside playing with Wybie, the doll is shown watching her from the window; through the use of graphic match, Coraline’s face dissolves into the doll’s. These tilted angles are associated with the doll, and, the Other Mother, who is able to watch Coraline through the doll. When Coraline finds the secret world behind the door, a canted frame is used. Coraline is levelled, but the room appears tilted. Coraline tilts her head when she first sees the door in an effort to decipher it. In contrast, when Coraline goes to the Other World in the daytime, there is no canted frame in use. It is when she is returns to the Other World to confront the Other Mother, that the canted frames become common. The Other World is shifting to a more frightening space, where everything is continuously getting out of

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