Significance of Mise-En-Scene (Costume)

  Jacqueline Durran for "Atonement" -         

A lot can be said about this signature costume piece for the movie "Atonement". At first glance (outside of context) an audience may already be able to tell that it is an evening item of clothing through the material and overall cut of garment (length in particular). The aesthetic properties of the material immediately reveal that silk is the main component. As this is a fabric usually connotes to wealth and has expensive qualities, it can also reveal the wearer's social status to be associated with upper class . This probably is more evident within the context of the film, where the character of Cecilia who wears this garment, is filmed inside an expensive looking building. The hair and accessories of this character further support that "Atonement" is a period film; Cecilia wears a hairstyle called "finger weaving" which was extremely popular during the 1920's and 30's, particularly in evening wear. The waves appear sleek and precise also reflecting the evening attire, as opposed to being worn quite loose by Cecilia earlier on in the movie during "day" scenes. Lastly I'd like to mention the role of colour of the garment. According to an interview with Jacqueline Durran (costume designer for this movie) conducted by the magazine Harper's Bazaar, the brief given was "It has to be green and it has to be good". The reason for the colouring was to reflect the jealousy felt by another character for Cecilia. In my perspective "Atonement" is a very emotionally driven film, and jealousy is one of the key emotions that intertwines with the future of the characters. Therefore I can understand the choice of the representation of jealousy through this garment.

 The cut of the dress was  "designed to be a barely-there dress, with its bare back and thin straps" (to quote Jacqueline), this was for the purpose of being a metaphor of the "heat that physically and  psychologically dominates the film". 

                                                    

                                                                                           Deborah L. Scott for "Titanic"
This is one of the many outfits in Titanic that managed to win the designer- D.L. Scott awards for best costume. It provides us with a first impression of the character of Rose, which is a vital costume to get right in movie production, so I believe. The style of the outfit informs the audience that this is a period film, regardless of whether they can identify the exact time frame solely from the costume. The statement hat, fashionable suit and parasol support this in addition to Rose being an upper class character, also evident from the arrival in a car which was a luxury for those who could afford it at the time. The suit that Rose wears was the height of fashion at this period in time, when masculine clothing only just begun to seep through into women's wardrobe. The high waist line was also a trend, thus further informing the audience that Rose is a character who can afford to be fashionable. To go more in depth in reference to the choice of pattern, the stripes could be used to reflect one of the key aspects of the character. Stripes resemble bars of prison cells, thus reflecting this idea explored in the film, of Rose being trapped to lead a life she doesn't want for herself. Simultaneously the stripes and choice of colour for the outfit resemble nautical clothing, and at the time (1912) dressing for the occasion was another luxury and opportunity to flaunt wealth amongst the upper class society. 
                                                                                            

 Danilo Donati - "Romeo & Juliet" {1968}

Juliet appears in this crimson gown for the first time to be seen by Romeo, at the masked ball in the house of Capulet. This colour can cover most of the dominating emotions of Romeo & Juliet: It symbolises the future passion between R & J, the sacrifice of themselves to one another,the danger of their relationship to their own lives ans finally the hate of the two families. I think the most obvious connotation to this colour in this context is the foreshadowing of the love between Romeo & Juliet. Also Donati uses very rich fabrics for this costume thus informing us that the family of Capulet is of noble blood and wealthy. In terms of the importance of character I noticed that throughout the movie Juliet and Lady & Lord Capulet are really the only characters who wear a bold shade of red, which signifies that they are the main members of the Capulet family, some of the main characters in the movie and also directly related to each other. Whilst  Lady & Lord Capulet wear a deeper tone of red, Juliet is seen in this photo to be wearing a really bright shade, probably to reflect her youthful age and potential for love. Within the ballroom scene, Romeo wears a blue outfit. Later on in the movie during the marriage of the two lead roles, you may note the theme of the colour lilac in both their outfits. Despite the fact that it's not a deep shade of purple it's still within the hue, and can be perceived to reflect the union of R & J through marriage. Lastly I'd like to mention the significance of religion in Juliet's attire in this photo. Not only does the jewelled Christian cross she wears support her Christian faith, but again the crimson red also. According to Wikipedia "Red is the liturgical colour for the feast of martyrs, representing the blood of those who suffered death for their faith" which could possibly be echoed through Juliet's clothing to resemble the same blood suffered by her for her faith in her true love for Romeo.

  Kym Barrett - "Romeo & Juliet" (1996)  
In complete contrast to the representation of Juliet in the 1968 version, Kym Barrett dresses this version of Juliet in a white angel like costume as evident in the photo on the left, although the connotations to religion and faith are just as strong. I think in this 1996 representation, Juliet's innocence is highlighted through the angelic connotations of her costume. The colour not only depicts innocence and religious faith, but also vulnerability. In this sense vulnerability and innocence could be presented as reasons for her falling in love so quickly. Despite the different representations there are some similarities; for example the "halo" worn in this version as a hairstyle and in the previous version as a golden head piece adorned with small red crystals.Another similarity that both Juliet's share is the Christian cross worn as a necklace. Overall this costume depicts a young and innocent girl as opposed to the other representation of Juliet as the same young girl only less focused on her arguable innocence than her ability to love Romeo. Personally I find the 1968 version of Juliet most accurate through costume.                                                                 

The Creative Process - Production Day

For me, the creative process for this task began before this lesson- when we were asked to research the conventions of our given genre. I also began to recall any specific scenes from previous action films that I've watched to rein in on any reccuring conventions/ideas that may be useful.

Research Obtained

Sound
- Effects tend to be used excessively and dramatically during action films e.g. car engines, explosions, weapon sounds etc...
-The only basic non-diagetic sound is the music
- Music is quite a strong tool used to emphasize the pace of the action as well as emotions felt by character

Mise-En-Scene
- Lighting within an action film isn't a large convention as costume is
- Costumes tend to be smart dress (plot line usually involves business/money related problems)

Editing Pace
- This tends to be quite fast, however a slower editing pace can also be used to express characters feelings or for example due to a romance (e.g. romance scenes)

General Types of Shots used 
- Basic traditional shots : Wide Shot, Medium Shot, Two shot, Close up etc...
- Also shots that depict movement- Panning, POV shaky cam
- From my personal point of view- I remembered many high + low angle camera positions to portray power used in action films
-Establishing shots used to show damage/"action" scenes i.e. explosions/landscapes

After the researching stage, when we began to plan our storyboard; I think everyone began to contribute ideas based on things we have seen in action movies. Its safe to say, we did this pretty much the whole way through the planning stage- if we wouldn't expect to see it in an action film that we've seen- we didn't use it.
Whenever we had too many choices to chose from, we would stop and ask ourselves which would be the most realistic and appropriate. Initially, we asked everyone if they had any burning ideas that they had to put forward. After this- taking those ideas into account- we began to plan our story board. Sometimes we would come up with an idea that was further along the line of events, so we would draw that in and then get back to where we had gotten up to. Whilst we were planning, we remembered to consider what was already written into our script (which was pre-written for us)- such as the setting. In addition to this, each group was given a prop before hand that we had to incorporate into our film- ours was a gun. When we were approaching middle-to-end section of the script our group began to consider the shots we could use to show the weapon and how we would act around it. We also took into account outfits ( as we discovered this was a large part of action film) as we planned, lighting- and of course sound.
The official cast was decided at the very end of the storyboard planning (although I think we all mutually agreed as to who would play which role throughout planning- whilst thinking about certain scenes and how we would shoot them we automatically imagined certain people of our group for certain roles. Luckily the people who we imagined to be the characters in our heads were the same for everyone).

Production Day Reflection

During the production day we had an introduction into behind the scenes complications of making a film.
Most of the production day entailed a verbal introduction by a teacher who had a variety of experience in the film industry, for example working side by side the director as an assistant. I found

I think the thing that struck me the most after our first shooting session is how long it takes to shoot a film. We only managed to record one shot, which will last for a couple seconds in the movie. I found how difficult it is to get the shot you see so clearly in your head, without using professional equipment, at the same time as trying to progress as much as possible in shooting so we don't fall behind schedule. Manoeuvring the camera also wasn't easy, particularly because the shots we needed were close ups of feet walking up the stairs, I found getting camera at the correct angle took some time and practice. However as we've filmed more and more of our footage, I think we've all become more comfortable with controlling and using the camera, to channel our creative vision through this form of media.
Within this session we familiarised ourselves with each other creatively during the planning of the film when everyone was contributing ideas. This was difficult to go through at first. However we slowly began to listen to one another more and pick and choose realistically what would be possible to create, as we realised the pressure of time. Despite loosing extra filming time , I think it was really necessary to plan our film thoroughly  I found we referred to the story board more than I expected, it also helped us remember our initial ideas which was also important to ensure we are on task and aren't steering astray from our genre.

Going back to the introduction to filming, we were given a simple initial task putting the key aspects of gaining the attention of the audience into practice- these aspects are listed below. They are something we will consider when shooting our action film.

Key Terms

• Continuity (or Match-On-Action) 

-This is how the flow of the setting of the film is maintained

"This technique can preserve temporal continuity where there is a uniform, unrepeated physical motion or change within a passage. "
                                                                                              
  Attracting the attention of the audience
                                                                                                                                                  Set-Up 

• Focus
• Zoom
• Soft/Sharp         

I think to make further progress we need to listen to each other more and realize the conventions of an action film that we obtained during research. Also, judging by how long it took us to film the first shot- although perfectionism is something that I'm sure will pay off, in the future we need to find a balance between achieving what we planned to in a certain amount of time and ensuring it is of the quality we wanted. To achieve this I think planning in advance is something important, and ensuring that out of our group we chose the person who is most comfortable and confident with the scene to be filmed, to avoid numerous retakes. 

The Magic of The Creative Process- Mr.Boonstra

I was researching a very interesting Art Director named Ewoudt Boonstra (known as Mr.Boonstra) and in an interview I came across a question to which he answered about the creative process- which I thought was very interesting.

" What Fascinates You? " 

The magic of the creative process; One moment there is nothing, the next moment there is something. To make something grow from a thought to a concrete end product is the most fascinating ability of mankind. Whether its a a book, a film, a poster or an object. Being involved in such a process is magical. Unfortunately it can be pretty banal a points. "

-Excerpt from here >  http://www.amsterdamadblog.com/10-questions/ewoudt-boonstra/

Conventions

"...are a collection of basic characteristics of a specific genre"

-My definition of conventions