Theory Meaning

Mise en Scene and Character Design

Certain colours are used in mise en scene due to their connotations eg. Red and black = Evil, Green = good etc.

Hidden faces on characters connote evil for instance Darth Vader and Michael Myres due to the ominous and mysterious nature. Villains in films often have negative links with appearance, looking back at

Darth Vader his helmet is incredibly similar to those worn by Nazi soldiers (left) which is naturally a negative link. Dehumanisation is often used to create a villain which is also present with Darth Vader as when we see

him without his helmet off his does not look at all human making him appear more evil.

While Darth Vader’s appearance is linked to Nazi attire the Jedi’s (specifically Obi Wan) is very reminiscent of a monk and or other holy figures (As can be seen to the left), Star Wars was originally released in 1977 and at this

time religion was much more common in Western culture meaning that holy imagery was more commonly associated with positivity than today.

Binary Opposition

Binary opposition is the connotations and use of colours to create conflict in media, examples includes: Red and Blue and White and Black. The examples I listed are only somewhat applicable to western society as different colours carry different connotations in other countries, red and blue are seen as patriotic colours with the UK and US flag while countries that are

somewhat anti-American may see these colours as evil.

Digesis

This focuses on sound, specifically the two types of sound that are diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sounds are those realistically heard by characters portrayed in a film such as voices, footsteps etc. while non-diegetic is those only heard by the audience such as soundtracks, sound effects etc.

Iconography

This follows clichés and gimmicks seen in films for instance sci-fi films often concern futuristic themes and space settings and Horrors often follow killers, gore etc.

Narrative

Narratives are the stories behind films, there are two different types of narrative which are Linear (straight forward Beginning, Middle and End) and Non Linear (jumps around in time with things such as flashbacks).

Sherlock Clip

We watched a clip from the TV show Sherlock and made notes on: Costume, Dialogue, Props, Lighting, Camerawork, Editing, Music and Colour. The following are my notes from the clip.

-In the first portion of the clip women are seen as mesmerising to the men however there is a shift of power mid clip and thus this mesmerisation switches

-The main room in the clip is incredibly open and well lit to symbolise the openness and confidence of the woman when taunting Sherlock and “revealing all” this is also present with her lack of clothes

-During the woman’s dominance of the clip we hear an incredibly playful and light-hearted soundtrack to signify her clumsiness figuratively speaking. When Sherlock dominates the scene we see a sudden shift in the tone of the music as it becomes much more sober and serious which links to the no nonsense personality of him.

-Low angles are used to represent power

- Long and drawn out shot during woman’s dominance and fast paced during mans.