Simply put, mise-en-scène refers to the amalgamation of on-screen elements that a viewer sees throughout the development of a film. This can range anywhere from the setting and lighting of the production, to the actors themselves, as well as their costumes and makeup, and this can be upheld as an exquisite art form of its own. This is so because an effective mise-en-scène necessitates that every single visible aspect present in a frame- be it big or nearly indiscernibly small- must be taken into account and serve a vital importance in the construction of a both aesthetically-pleasing and mentally-compelling film. This essay will focus on analyzing some particular choices of mise-en-scène in the film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring by Ki-Duk Kim, and thereby disclose how they are employed by the director to add to the overall quality of the film itself.   

In this film, which is a narrative string that follows the life of a Buddhist monk as the seasons change, and that spans from his childhood and ends when he is an old man, there are many pertinent decisions of mise-en-scène which result in a beautifully-intriguing, albeit incredibly slow-paced story. For instance, the most evident visual manifestation of mise-en-scène is that of the location in which the happenings of this movie transpire, which is a Buddhist monastery floating on a lake, amid a magnificent, untouched forest. Due to the fact that the vast majority of the events that pertain to the main character’s life occur at the monastery or in its close vicinity, the viewers are compelled to become entranced with the mystical surroundings of the film. There is often fog that passes atop the lake and that is seen amongst the trees, or there are particular instants in which the director draws attention to the more minute intricacies of nature, such as to the small, lurking creatures that inhabit it, and that the character eventually learns the true importance of. These aspects add to the incredibly peaceful nature of the film, as they likewise see to the incorporation of a lot of diegetic sound- which is sound that imparts the notion that it originates from the film’s world. That is why this movie has the forest and lake as an integral part of its creation, as it immerses the viewers in a sample of life that many will never in their lifetimes come to savour- being the complete unperturbed, serene life of an old man and his young disciple, in a hidden sector of South Korea’s secretive and under-appreciated forest land. To add on, since the movie revolves around the changing of the seasons, the natural surroundings are utilized as to be a perfect conveyor of the passing of time, which is evidenced by the fact that the leaves change colour and fall, the water freezes over, and eventually, life returns and flourishes through the reintroduction of flowers and other various forms of flora.  

Another element of mise-en- scène, which is of paramount importance within this film, are the many various allusions to Buddha. Throughout the development of the story at hand, the three main principles of Buddhism are repetitively alluded to- which are Samsara, attachment, and impermanence. In short, samsara is the cycle of life under which people are born, live, die, and are reborn, and which discloses the underlying belief that life never ends, but rather, prevails in different adopted forms. Furthermore, attachments are seen as the upheld beliefs and notions that pertain to our world and that gradually become known as ‘truths’, and impermanence is the conviction that everything is in a state of perpetual change. To illustrate this idea of the prevalence of the ideas of Buddhism in the film, the beginning of every new season sees to the introduction of a new animal at the temple. What is perhaps the most impactful and notable integrated element of this entire movie is how the old Buddhist allows the young boy to kill some of these animals, despite his wisdom on the value of life, in order for the young boy to learn important lessons. In one of the cases, for example, the naïve youngster takes pleasure in tying a string attached to a rock to a small frog, which ultimately is unable to swim to the surface of the water, and drowns because of the ignorance of the boy towards the detriment he induced on the creature’s wellbeing. Due to the fact that the master does not interfere, the boy subsequently becomes heavily burdened with feelings of overbearing guilt and grief towards the death he caused, showing that he suffers the consequences of his actions and thereby becomes more self-aware in the process, as he does not repeat his actions. There are also many other elements that allude to the teachings of Gautama Siddhartha, such as the doors. Every time the main character boats to shore, he passes through freestanding doors beside which there are no walls. As a result of the absence of constraints around the doors, it is evident that he can simply, pass around them, but he nevertheless chooses to pass beneath them. Resultantly, it is clear that the doors are symbolic of the characteristics of discipline and morality that are synonymous with Buddhism, as the act of complying with the unwritten rules that the doorframe inspires highlights how self-discipline and the adoption of  rules of composure are fundamental to the characters’ beliefs. 

To conclude, the director of the film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring utilizes elements of mise-en-scène in order to creative a visual masterpiece that is suggestive of the importance of nature and a strong belief system, among other things.  It is clear that the imagery that Ki-Duk Kim chose to incorporate into his production led to the creation of a distinguishably beautiful movie, both in terms of its underlying significance and visual appeal, and overall, this film is a perfect representative of an effective mise-en-scène.

This film was made in reaction to the very artificial, unfeeling and disassociated nature of previous Italian films (The Telefoni Bianchi) with regard to the experience of citizens in Italy.

The Telefoni Bianchi are defined as films that, “tended to be socially conservative, promoting family values, respect for authority, a rigid class hierarchy, and country life, all stances perfectly in line with the ideology of the fascist regime.”

Rather, The Bicycle Thief set out to disclose the everyday Italian life, in the context of a poor man trying to get by in a post-World War 2 Italy.

I really liked the way this film was made, as it showed the various struggles associated with life at the time, and in other words, it was very realistic in the images it showcased and the messages it conveyed. Due to the fact that my grandparents lived in Italy at the time of this movie, I have a particular respect for it, as it also gives me some insight into the societal context in which they lived. Moreover, since I speak Italian, I can appreciate the true dialogue of the film, which is not nearly as powerful when read through the subtitles, as many of the terms lose their impact when translated to English.

In my opinion, the director created such an amiable character- an individual who is a wholesome, family man with a very discernible attachment to his family, that when his bicycle is stolen, the audience is compelled to feel incredible feelings of anger and resentment towards the robber. This goes to show that we are manipulated as to sympathize with the main character on such a personal level, despite the fact that what was done to him is incomparable to many other movie tragedies, and I believe that this is the mark of a really well-executed film.

To add on, the bicycle is the symbol of paramount importance in this cinematographic work, as not only did the main character work very hard for it and take enormous pride in his ownership of it, but it was also the determining factor of the ease of his livelihood, and on a larger scale, of justice, or the lack thereof, in society. Overall, this film speaks volumes on the topic of fundamental human nature, especially in a time that was riddled with the fear of others and the unknowingness of people’s true intentions.

This film was incredibly compelling. I really did not know what to expect while watching it, and yet, everything that the director chose to incorporate seemed to flow so naturally as the film progressed. My favourite choice that was made was that the creators of the film chose to omit certain details and explanations, and rather, allowed the viewers to come to their own conclusions with regard to the ambiguous happenings. For example, we are not initially told why the man was murdering innocent people and draining them of their blood. This act, which is blatantly unusual and powerfully disturbing, sparks an inner-dialogue within the viewer and initiates the act of putting pieces together. Throughout the development of the movie, we are then given more clues- we are introduced to the little girl, ghastly in appearance, who is outside without a jacket, seemingly-impervious to the frigid weather.

More and more details become incorporated until finally, we are fully aware of Eli’s condition- and this knowledge in itself makes us even more confused as to the nature of this film. Why is she a vampire? Why is the man willing to devote his life to helping preserve hers? Why is she so intrigued and fond of the little boy, when he is prey that she could effortlessly devour? These are the questions that arise within us, and they reverberate in the viewers’ mind until the very ending of the film. That is why I believe that the director did such an effective job in constructing a disturbing, albeit incredibly fascinating movie, as the viewership is compelled to want to know more, and thereby never stops pondering the elements of the storyline. It is also a very realistic film, despite starring a girl who plays a vampire, as it has both intense and normal elements in it. For instance, the majority of the sound in this film is diegetic, making for a very real and submersive experience. There is particular emphasis placed on the sound of breathing and footsteps, and resultantly, we are drawn to the more minute details of the production- like of imprints in snow, or the haziness of windows.

This was my first experience watching a film of this nature. Right from the get-go, the pace of the visual narrative is incredibly slow and calculated- in that it emphasizes upon the utter mundanity of the hikikomori’s life, while simultaneously placing particular emphasis on various pertinent elements that ornament the film. For instance, the camera pans to a wall of the house, which is brimful with pizza boxes, arranged in an articulate manner, and stacked one on top of another. This symbol, which is perhaps the most notable of the entire film, is employed as to denote two powerful messages-

1) It shows how orderly his life is, down to the smallest detail. The boxes impart the notion that he has feelings of insufferable trepidation at the mere prospect of a change in his life. This is why he has to have control over everything in his surroundings, and by constructing his house in this manner, he creates an artificial feeling of security and comfort, which thereby foster feelings of power and control for him. Since these are things that he felt he never had while in the proximity of city life and people, he finds meaning in his isolation and learns to thrive in it, whereas it would drive others to a state of complete catatonia.

2) It tells us, in a direct manner, the extent of his isolation. By seeing these boxes, a viewer is flooded with an overwhelming sense that he has spent years upon years alone. What’s more, since someone has to deliver the pizzas, they are allotted with the importance of symbolizing his sole contact with the outside world, of which he is so afraid. Therefore, the pizza boxes are indicative of the fact that his life is like a science experiment- incredibly fragile, where factors must be calculated and introduced in an incredibly careful manner, like adding a solution to a petri dish. Once there is an earthquake, however, the entirety of the experiment is squandered, and he must throw it away to create something new.

I especially enjoyed the scene where he left his house for the first time. Despite being such an ordinary thing, the degree of his detachment from society makes it so that it is the hardest fathomable thing he can bring himself to do. He appears incredibly fearful and self-questioning, and weighs his decision very heavily when considering whether or not to pursue the delivery woman he is entranced by. Moreover, I think that the most impressive element of this film is the fact that the director filmed it in a seemingly-desolate Tokyo. This city in the movie, which is usually boisterous, and which can never realistically convey an appearance of emptiness, further conveys the detriment that isolation can induce on people. It highlights the distance between the character and the rest of the world, while likewise being an impressive feat of editing in itself, as this is a scene that will never be seen in real life.

-Illusion and magic propelled the early silent films of America, created through multiple shots that were cut and edited together, rather than long, continuous shots

-Invisible editing -> the editing should not draw attention to itself (it was necessary to make sure that no one noticed the cuts between shots)

-Montage -> one thing/shot following another

-The soviets created finding meaning in film purely through the cutting (ex/ a shot can draw an audience’s emotions solely from the shot that came before it), energy is created in a movie from quickly cutting from one shot to another (known as non-linear editing)

-The introduction of sound to film led to a much more restricted form of editing (they had to be more cautious of the shots they could take, with regards to how the dialogue/background noise/music would come across on screen)

One of the most obvious choices that the director had made in terms of the mise-en-scene of this film were the two instances in which the characters occupying the screen appeared to be moving in slow motion, while everything in their surroundings moved in a much quicker pace. This gave the audience a sense of the power of an instant in time, and gave us some insight, in my opinion, into how the characters at hand felt at that given moment. It shows how time tends to feel perpetual when we are not in our best state of minds, say we are sad or angry, and this device was thereby utilized to indicate that as a result of the reluctance of time to pass when we are feeling down, they have to wallow in their sorrows for what feels to them as a very long time. I feel that this manipulation of perspective that was employed in these scenes perfectly matched the fundamental feelings of the film, especially towards the beginning, as desperation and desolation seem to engulf the characters in all that they do.

 

After life by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Something notable that contributed to what appears on screen would have to be the illusion of time that is undeniably present within this film. In every scene, the director uses little-to-no shot cuts but rather, a continuous shot that spans for longer than what a Western audience, in particular, is used to. In American movies, we expect to see a multitude of jump-cuts and a very fast-paced story line that is jam-packed with action, comedy, and brutality. In this Japanese film, however, everything that happens does so in an incredibly slow and peaceful manner. The creators don’t rush things, out of fear of having an uninterested viewership, but rather, take their time on conveying the intricacy of a moment, or the fundamental importance of a feeling. They filmed rather mundane scenes at times, such as mellow conversations between elders in which there were long, silent pauses. There were also scenes that merely focused on how natural events transpire, like petals falling from a cherry blossom tree in the Spring, which overall created a very peaceful state, for both those involved in the movie, and those watching it. I believe that this prolongation of time is something that should be more commonly integrated into North American films, as it is a foreign approach to watching and appreciating a film. It allows us to focus more of our attention on the minuscule details that would otherwise, be overlooked, and gives us a greater sense of respect for the production as a work of art.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this film as much as I did. Upon hearing that it was low-budget , I anticipated a poorly-produced, badly-acted movie with relatively unskilled-actors vocalizing a pitifully-worded script. What I witnessed, however, was everything of the contrary. It looked both professional and home-made, which gave to it an authentic and original feel that I cannot truthfully proclaim I’ve seen in many films I’ve watched. I especially appreciated the various filming techniques that were utilized by the director, like the close-up shots to capture their strong, albeit unspoken sentiments, or the wide shots that were aimed at capturing the extent to which their day-to-day existences were plagued by poverty, crime, and prejudice. Something that I also found very interesting was the constant juxtaposition of the rich and the poor, as throughout the development of the movie, there was an overwhelming feeling that pointed towards things being out of place; of not belonging. For instance, we can see the Eiffel tower, a blatant symbol of wealth and prosperity, constantly lurking over the dirty, run-down ghettos of Paris, and this illusion is likewise created when the main characters enter the art exhibition, only to be looked down upon by everyone there. Moreover, I think that my favorite element of the production of this film was the constant ticking of time. It had us anticipating something, although we were unaware of what that something might possibly entail, which ultimately led to two of the three main characters being murdered, and no problems getting fixed in the process. This was an incredibly powerful shock factor, because as viewers, we expect for movies to end happily, or in the least, in a better state than where they had initially began. It was because of this brutal ending scene, however, that the viewers are made fully able to grasp the state of the society in which the characters unfortunately lived, proving that the creators were successful in transmitting the underlying themes of inequality and hardship to the viewers in an unquestionably impactful way.