Mise-en-scene. The film I have chosen to analyse for this assignment is 'Shaun of the Dead', the 2004 summer blockbuster from Simon Pegg

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Assignment 1 – Mise-en-scene part 2

Mise-en-scene

The film I have chosen to analyse for this assignment is ‘Shaun of the Dead’, the 2004 summer blockbuster from Simon Pegg.  The film is basically a parody of George A. Romero’s cult horror ‘Dawn of the Dead’, described by its makers as a ‘Rom-Zom-Com’ which stands for Romantic Zombie Comedy.

The first scene I have chosen to analyse is where Shaun (Simon Pegg) is walking back from the shop with a Cornetto and a can of Diet Coke whilst blissfully unaware that he is surrounded by blood thirsty zombies in a street full of destruction.  It is 26 minutes and 5 seconds into the film.  I have chosen to look at colour, the camera frame and movements in this shot.

Colour stands out in this scene, especially around our leading man.  We see Shaun in the same work clothes as the previous day, his white shirt, black trousers, red tie and red badge.  We can see red ink on his shirt from a leaky pen yesterday morning, combine this with the red tie, red badge, the red packaging of a strawberry Cornetto and the clear red ‘Coke’ sign on the can and it is clear that he is surrounded by the colour.

As we know, red is a very powerful colour with several meanings, one could be to emphasis that he is key role in the love interest in the film.  It could be there to symbolise passion and love.  I feel however that he is portrayed in this way not because of passion or love but blood and death.

The use of the colour red here is to highlight his role as a leader and fighter.  It is there to symbolise blood as he will always have blood all over him throughout the film.  This certainly can lead the genre in two directions; it could draw upon the romantic side of the character and film, but mainly shows intent not to hide blood and guts.

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In this shot Shaun is in the centre of the screen which is highlighted by the lines in the road.  On either side of him we see female zombies, the one on the right is young (early/mid 20’s) and wearing a black trouser suit with a light grey top, the other is a middle aged woman wearing a grey cardigan, grey jogging pants and a black top.  Over Shaun’s shoulder we see another zombie, this time it’s an elderly gentleman wearing a dark green/brown cardigan done up half way, and a grey shirt buttoned to the neck.

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This is a very weak conclusion to an otherwise pretty good analysis of the way that elements of the mise en scene contribute to the audience's understanding of onscreen events. Though it's based on two quite good observations (it's true that the film-makers downplay the horror in order to accentuate the comedy; it's true that nearly everything in the film is a reference to another zombie film) the way that these two important facts is introduced is abrupt and lacking in further explanation. It would have been good if the author had told us at the beginning of the essay that these were the points they intended to argue; then we could have read the essay as proof of this hypothesis, and the conclusion could have offered some reflection upon why the film-makers chose this approach for instance... If this is an undergraduate essay, 2 stars because of the lack of theory reference, bibliography and proper use of the technical language of film. If this is an A level essay, 3 stars for the detail and insight of the analysis itself.