Chicken Run Essay

As Ginger makes a quick dart to the fence the tempo of the music quickens suggesting that she wants to get to the fence quickly. Mr Tweedy hears a noise making him think that something is up, he turns and shines his torch in Gingers direction, the music stops suddenly leaving the audience wondering what's going to happen next. The music carries on, building up the tension until the point where Gingers hiding behind the wall, she then signals to the other chickens to follow her. The music then softens more and the camera goes to a mid-angle shot of all the other chickens. This shows them all sticking together as one.

As the first chicken under the fence gets stuck, Ginger rolls her eyes suggesting that she's not happy. It also seems the chickens are incompetent and useless, its as if Ginger has to do everything for them. The music becomes louder again as the dogs race towards her, she becomes cornered and an extreme close up of the dogs faces, teeth bared shows the aggression they have towards her. As the dogs advance Ginger backs away, bumping into a garden gnome, which she lifts up in front of her as if to be used like a sword. The dog bites off the head of the gnome with great force, giving the impression it is not at all frightened. The sound effects used emphasis the dogs aggression as it crunches viciously. This leaves Ginger looking very vulnerable with no where to go.

The music then stops again as the door opens. The light glares out from behind Mrs Tweedy, everything goes silent the dogs whimpering and cower down, Ginger gasps and lifts her hand giving us the impression she's defending herself. A high angle shot is taken of ginger, the camera is looking down on her as she looks up. This makes Ginger look small, very isolated and alone. Then there is a low angle shot the camera looks up at Mrs Tweedy, this makes her look very powerful and superior. Mr Tweedy also seems frightened you can tell this by the look on his face. He's lost for words and seems afraid of Mrs Tweedy. At this moment there is a mid-angle shot, this is used to show the interaction of all the characters in the scene.

The way Mrs Tweedy looks and talks, she seems very domineering and over powering, together with the music suggests a parody of the character 'Norman Bates' from 'physco'.

As Mr Tweedy marches ginger to the coal shed, military music accompanies it. He lifts the lid of the coal shed throwing Ginger in and slamming it closed. From this point you begin to see that chicken run is a parody of 'The Great Escape'. Up to this point the audience has been lead to believe that this is a prison, it is only when Mr Tweedy says 'no one escapes from Tweedy's farm' that you realise that the chickens are on a farm. The camera then goes to an establishing shot of rows of numbered wooden huts with barbed wire fence surrounding them. Then 'The Great Escape' music cuts in at this point.

There are various attempts the chickens try to make to escape, including the attempt to dress up as Mrs Tweedy. Fair ground music is played giving the impression it is a light hearted attempt. Another time is when they tunnel underground, using the tapping noise to signal 'ready', this is also a very prominent point in the movie 'The Great Escape'. A full shot is kept all the way through this scene to show everything that is going on.

While the chickens are lined up, Mrs Tweedy walks back and forth as if she's inspecting the troops. An extreme close up of her Wellingtons, symbolise army boots marching up and down. They also use her rubber glove being stretched, as a signifier of a threat to hurt someone. An insert camera shot shows the ' egg production record' sheet being pursued by Mrs Tweedy. The tapping of her finger on the sheet lets the audience know she's found her offender.

A high angle shot of Edwina showing the fear in her eyes when she realises it is her. The music begins to get louder and more intense as Edwina is taken away.

An axe is used as a signifier to symbolise death, the shadow and sound effects also confirm this. A close up shot of a teary eyed Ginger sitting on the roof showing the emotion and the sadness she feels.

The sound of the geese and the V pattern symbolising flying home and freedom, make Ginger realise she has to make a great escape.

In conclusion the makers of Chicken Run were very successful in using mise en scene to show the good and evil between Mrs. Tweedy and Ginger.

Stephanie prosperino