My Mise-En-Scene Analysis: American Beauty

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My Mise-en-scene analysis is on American Beauty on page 217: number 1(The dinner scene). The frame itself is a very closed, tight shot; there is no way for the characters to escape and they're left with only confronting each other in this very little space. The shot of the camera isn't necessarily far away or close either. It's neutral, and we can see the full action of the family's dinner conversation happening right in front of us. My eyes were immediately attracted to the bright, white table and then my eyes focused on the faces of the family. The scene's texture is slightly fuzzy, and is not very detailed. But the character's faces are still recognizable. The foreground of this scene is the table with the man and woman sitting at each end; the middle is the girl-who is …show more content…

The background is covered in dim shadows. It could also be symbolic that they're in a dark place in their life at the moment. The scene has two planes: one focuses on the table and couple and the other focuses on the girl and the background. The heads of the family create a perfect triangle and another triangle is the girl in the middle with the two candles on each side. It creates a triangle within a triangle. The scene is a combination of high key and low key lighting.The high key lighting is primarily focused on surface of the cloth and the candles; it's very bright and the candles bring some light to all three of the character's faces. The characters are then washed with some light shadows on their clothing and the rest of the shadows stick to the background. The colors are generally made up of blue and neutral colors. The walls are blue and the windows are neutral; the man is wearing a blue shirt while the girl is wearing a gray one. The woman is wearing pink and the table is white; it contrasts against them. The colors and dim lighting set the mood to be tense and/or stressful. The left third is the woman, and she seems more

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