Lone Survivor Mise en Scene Analysis

Peter Berg’s 2013 film, Lone Survivor, tells the true story of a SEAL team with the task of taking out an important Taliban leader, Ahmad Shah. The film follows the four SEALs, Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matthew Axelson (Ben Foster), as they fight for survival when their mission goes wrong.  In this particular scene Luttrell and Axelson are shown fighting for their lives while Murphy sacrifices himself to keep his comrades alive. Director Peter Berg does an incredible job of conveying a sense of chaos and fear in this very intense film, using different types of cinematography, editing and visual design.

Cinematography plays an important role in this scene especially, making the viewer more involved in the scene. One of the most important shots in giving the viewer this feeling is the point of view shot, which is used in this scene. We see this when Luttrell is firing at the Taliban fighters, we see through the scope of his rifle and then a close up of his face. This puts the viewer in the place of Luttrell, putting the viewer right in the action and feeling how the character feels. Special effects are also uses extensively in this scene to add a more realistic feel. The authentic appearance of gunshots and gore adds a lot of intensity and fear to this action packed scene.

In film, the editing sets the pace of the movie, and in this scene that becomes very apparent. At the beginning of this scene, shots are not more than a few seconds longs, creating a very fast paced and intense experience for the viewer. Near the end, the shots become longer, making the experience a more emotional one. Slow motion is used when Murphy is being shot, further adding to an emotional scene, but also making him appear more heroic.

Visual design is a huge part of any film, but in this scene it creates a very realistic feel. The scene was filmed at the Santa Fe National Forest which provided the rocky terrain that would be found in Afghanistan where the real mission took place.  Costuming and Makeup of the actors gives them the look of elite, but worn down and injured soldiers that is required for the scenes authenticity. Equipment and camouflage  of the SEALs is accurate for the 2005 time period where it takes place. Lighting is used to make Michael Murphy look very heroic when he makes the radio call, with the sun shining down on him.

Overall Peter Berg does an excellent job with this film, but especially this scene, giving the audience the sense of fear and intensity that goes along with war. Aspects of visual design, cinematography and editing are all used very carefully to create the authentic scene and give the viewer something to think about.

Django Unchained Visual Design

Django Unchained,  directed by Quentin Tarantino, is a highly stylized American Western set in the late 1850’s before the Civil War during the time of slavery. The film is about a former slave who begin collecting bounties after being freed by a wealthy German bounty hunter, while searching for his wife.  Dr. Schultz (played by Christoph Waltz) is a very well off and well educated German man who makes a living collecting the bounties of criminals throughout the South. Django (played by Jamie Foxx) is a former slave, determined to do whatever it takes to free his wife. Dr. Schultz frees Django from slavery, offering to help him find his wife as long as he collect bounties with him through the winter. In this scene, Dr. Schultz explains what he does to Django, very much surprising him. Visual design plays a very important role, creating a scene that gives the audience the atmosphere of the time period and highlighting the difference between social class.

One very important aspect of this scene is the setting. Since the film is a dramatized western, this scene is set in the 1850’s in a saloon. The saloon is dimly lit and dusty telling us that this is a rough time in history. Candles are seen throughout the saloon further establishing the time period. Social structure is also a factor in this scene and is apparent when Dr. Schultz who is well educated has to demonstrate proper manners to Django by making him take his hat off of the table and explain to him what a bounty is. A couple more subtle additions to the set include a Victorian style painting of a woman with her head hidden by shadows, making her appear dead, like her bounty has been collected. There is also a stuffed mountain lion at the top of the staircase, which is a predator just like Dr. Schultz.

Wardrobe is also essential to this scene, highlighting the time period and class of the film’s characters. Dr. Schultz is dressed in very nice clothes, wearing a grey coat and pants over a white shirt with a black vest. This tells the viewer that he is a man that has money. The golden chain from a pocket watch can also be seen on his vest, giving him the appearance of an educated man, which he certainly is. Django on the other hand, is wearing all clothing that had been taken from others, still stained red from blood, showing that he is of the lowest class of the time period having nothing of his own. A scar on Django’s forehead also further explains his background as a slave, telling the viewer he has been abused by his owners.

Quentin Tarantino payed very close attention to the color palette of this scene. The setting consists mostly of browns, making the place look rough and not very wealthy, but it also highlights a couple of other things. The browns cause the grey and white of Dr. Schultz's outfit to stand out showing the audience he is unlike most other people, in contrast to Django almost blending in the scene. The golden color of the beer he and Django drink together also stands out because this is something that Django has never had before as a slave, that he isn't part of this culture.

When color palette, wardrobe and an authentic setting all come together in this scene, it give the feeling of the 1850’s, a harsh world in the time of slavery, ruled by the ideas of social class that are demonstrated very well here. Quentin Tarantino certainly takes all of this into consideration to give the audience the most authentic experience possible.

On the surface, In the Heat of the Night seems like just another murder mystery with a few twists here and there, but when you look a little closer, Norman Jewison tells a story of racial prejudice in the deep south. The film begins with a murder in the town of Sparta, Mississippi, and the local police cheif, Gillespie played by Rod Steiger, must request help from a visiting detective from Philidelphia, Virgil Tibbs played by Sidney Poitier.  Throughout the film Virgil Tibbs is the target of great prejudice as he is an AfricanAmerican man from the north, but he also has prejudice of his own. Virgil and Gillespie both put their prejudice aside to solve the murder of a wealthy businessman.

One aspect of Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night that makes it such a great film is the well unified plot. Jewison using one central recurring element, that being the train station that shows up several time in the film, namely where we first see Mr. Tibbs and at the end of the film when Virgil leaves Sparta after the case is solved. The train represents the conflict within Virgil, whether he should leave or stay and prove that he is capable of solving this case. The train also represents the changes within Sheriff GIllespie, how he casts away his racial prejudice and comes to respect Virgil for the skilled detective that he is.

The most important aspect of the film is the way it portrays the racial prejudice against African Americans in the 60's.  This becomes very obvious in the second scene when Virgil Tibbs is taken into the police station as a suspect with no evidence against him, and when he is laughed at when he tells Gillespie that he is a well paid detective from Philadelphia. In my opinion, the most important scene is an example of racial tension, where Virgil TIbbs is hit by Endicott and Virgil slaps him right back. In the 1960's in the south an action like this by a black man was unheard of and he could have been killed for that action.

Overall, In the Heat of the Night is a fantastic movie that tells more then just a murder mystery, but a suspenseful film of racism and prejudices in the deep south. I would say this is a film that needs to be seen by everybody at least once.