Today I have completed all 5 of my case studies with all the corrections, as I stated earlier
Hide and Seek
Mise en scene-The mise en scene is set in a dull park setting in a park. The emphasis on this scene is that of the winter and dull setting. There is binary opposition within what we are meant to infer from her outfit and the actual mise en scene. Her pink outfit establishes her gender and emphasises the innocence connoted with young
girls, and on the other hand the dull winter setting connotes the harshness of real life and is the hidden meaning that the adult or older teens are supposed to grasp. This coldness is reflected as the trees in the background have no leaves possibly foreshadowing death although this is unknown to the viewer at this point.In the first scene the audience can immediately recognise the representation of a mother who is coping or appears normal for example her white clothing in the first scene reflects this notion of purity and the trust a child upholds within a parent. On the other hand in the second scene you infer of a normal wholesome family home, but the mother character is dressed in all black clothing signifying death and impurity. It suggests a connection between the sadness reflected through the violins earlier and a possible saddens within her.
Sound- The film starts with suspenseful piano non-diegetic sound. The use of this suspenseful sound is subtly creating tension within the viewer as classical music can be interpreted in different ways: it can be seen as calming and happy or in this case it can be used to reflect a sad or untoward mood. To me the music reflects a lot of emotion, more so when you see the mother and child character together. The audience infer from this music alone a lot of expressions of love and emotion is going to be reflected in this narrative. But the introduction of the violin suggests sadness and loss.
Camera Angles -The medium long shot of the mother and child demonstrates the strong bond between mother and child that society has constructed. These two characters may leave the feeling uneasy as with the structure of any narrative there is always an equilibrium and disequilibrium. This possibly foreshadows binary opposition between the disequilibrium of the narrative and the innocence and assumed purity of the child.
Through the use of point of view shots we feel as though we are the child experiencing the delights of spinning around on a Mary-go sound. Such a innocence and balanced narrative structure is being represented through the use of this child character.
The director of this film has taken into consideration the methodology of Hitchcock films and placed the camera in a extreme- close up of the young girl’s eyes. This allows use to build a personal relationship (which is part of the uses and gratification theory which suggests that as viewers we gain four gratifications from a film.) with the character, emotion comes directly from the actors eyes. And so added with the fact that this character is a child we are reeled into the narrative and although we know something bad is going to happen to her, we don’t want it to because through this extreme- close up we have built a connection with this character.The medium long shot I explained earlier quickly changes to a long shot where a male character is seen overlooking because of the use of a long shot the audience infer that he is a stranger. We later realise that he is the child’s father; the director seems to purposely use a long shot to connote the distance in the family and also in the couples relationship. In the next scene a wide shot is used and through this we see binary opposition evident again of the medication and alcohol and the happy family. This wide shots links in with the long shot of the father; we infer that there is big distance into getting the once happy family in the picture into reality again. And that it is impossible for them to be happy again.
Editing During the first scene there are no jump cuts suggesting that the child character is content and fulfilled around her mother. Through this a element of trust is reflected and we as viewers our fooled into the notion that there is a strong bond between these too and nothing could break it. These kind of false clues and paths our typical of the thriller genre.
