Mise-en-scene, Cinematography and Sound in the Film Leon (Luc Besson) 1994
In the opening sequence of Leon, Besson uses a travelling aerial shot
of a lake followed by a huge park, which is finally dominated by huge,
cosmopolitan skyscrapers. The camera rests here to show the contrast
in jungle and urban life. We then enter the urban city, where several
travelling shots going through the streets are used giving an apparent
sense of setting and location. The added use of non-diagetic sound
combined with many beautiful shots of New York's streets combine to
produce a very mysterious atmosphere. This mood is enhanced once we
zoom in to the dark open doorway of a small Italian restaurant.
The first image of Leon goes hand-in-hand with the first scene, as we
see him only in an extreme close-up of his eyes, which are concealed
beneath sunglasses. This image is shrouded in darkness and mystery. We
are also shown close ups of Leon's boss through the reflection of his
own sunglasses. This again adds to the mood. At this point in the
film, we see neither Leon nor his boss in full view, meaning that the
first character conveyed to us in the film is a photograph of a
victim. In this shot, the director is trying to establish that Leon is
a hitman. However, this is contradicted by the fact that, setting
aside all the mystery and dark atmosphere created throughout the
opening sequence, Leon is drinking milk. Here, Besson is conveying a
sarcastic, almost childlike side to the mysterious figure.
The sequence continues and the victim is known as the 'fat bastard'
and his bodyguards are introduced to us with a tracking shot from in
front of the subje...
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...go," intense and sinister
sound effects creep in and the mood transforms entirely, adding
tension and trepidation. However, this is only short lived, as Leon
only makes the victim say "I understand," which again adds humour.
Leon slips back into the shadows with ghostly and mystified sounds
following his exit. These sounds reinforce his sinister and mysterious
nature.
Although admittedly some scenes have a comical side to them, Besson's
fast paced action and gruesome images hold the tension and suspense
brilliantly. His use of close-ups and camera movements, especially the
subjective stance used by the victim, convey the feelings felt by the
characters and the way in which they behave. Sound plays a crucial
role in the opening sequence because, in my view, it is used to
control the level of suspense and intrigue.
The 2011 Spanish film, Even the Rain, attempts to tell the story of Columbus’s explorations of Latin America as well as parallel those events with the water crisis that Bolivia has faced due to the privatization of water. While the film remained relatively historically accurate on the pretense of Columbus, it became glaringly obvious that the amount of effort that went into being historically accurate on the Bolivian front was dramatically less. Furthermore, the film uses the water war of Cochabamba to further the plot of the movie while disregarding the majority of the facts regarding the real water crisis that occurred. Additionally, the neglection of these details provides the heavy implications that the indigenous peoples of Bolivia are still being taken advantage of to further the gains of Europeans.
There are still fairly serious discrepancies between Davis’s actual historical monograph and the depiction in the film. Most importantly, we see the trail in Toulouse in the film opened for the public while the fact is that “sixteenth-century criminal justice is always secret; there are no spectators until the sentence is read.” Moreover, the monograph positions Bertrande as being opposed to having an imposter for a husband as she openly rejected him as soon as she realised that he was not Martin Guerre. In the film, Bertrande likely already knew of the fake Martin Guerre and is collaborating with the imposter out of a dire need for a husband, and also out of love.
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People flock to horror movies each year. Usually to be scared. Another is to solve the question of Who done it? Unfortunately, a lot of these horror movies fail to scare people or make the killer so obvious the audience gets bored. Occasionally, there are a few horror movies that stick out. Scream, directed by Wes Craven, is one of them. Wes Craven is always toying with the viewer's fears. Always finding ways to scare the audience at every turn. He also plays with the viewer's head, and has them second guessing themselves. How does he do it? Well, as one of the characters in the movie exclaims, "There's a formula to it. A very simple formula. Everybody's a suspect!" This paper will discuss how Craven uses sound, camera shots, and mise en scene
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