Mise-En-Scene Personal Favorite

1. Mise-en-Scene and Visual Analysis.

The textbook explains mise-en-scene as every element in the frame that contributes to the overall look of the film. The author says that its quite literally everything “set design, costume, hair, make-up, color scheme, framing, composition, lighting… Basically, if you can see it, it contributes to the mise-en–scène.” (3). A good example that is used in the textbook are the films of Wes Anderson which are known to be kind of “every frame a painting” kind of films that are dripping in atmosphere and motif. You know when you are seeing a Wes Anderson film because of his intense detail in setting, lighting, color, and composition. Here is a fun little youtube video by GripUp about Mise-en-Scene (Understanding Mise-en-scene (Links to an external site.)) 

Some typical and extreme elements of the mise-en-scene in Blade Runner 2049 are the use of orange and blue lighting and composition juxtaposed with the dirty brown and metallic city setting. The post apocalyptic California and Nevada settings take places we know as familiar and turn them into a hellscape that is near unrecognizable. The costumes and make up pay a lot of homage to the original film. The staging often time shows K as diminutive or set apart from his superiors and co workers showing that he is not seen as an equal. The film uses a lot of typical sci-fi framing tropes.  

2. Performances

The author speaks about how a character can inhabit a performance and how we as the audience can “examine the physical design” of performance or character. The performances in Blade Runner 2049 are heavily stylized. Ryan Goslings performance as K is noir and subdues showing him as an outcast and someone who doesn’t have a place in society outside of his function. That changes when he starts to believe that he may have been born vs made and Gosling is able to show some emotional range. Harrison Ford as Deckard gives a standout performance as a man also living on the outskirts of society. His performance is subdued, and he shows us the weight of the burden he has been carrying in subtle but fantastic ways.  

3. Cinematography

The cinematography in the film is outstanding giving us a mixture of these giant sweeping shots of the city versus more close ups of the characters. The movie is dark and mysterious and fraught with intrigue. Some of the static shots like the early scene where K is interrogating Sapper Morton played by Dave Bautista have so much anxious pent-up energy in them. We as the audience are really put on the edge of our seats by shots like those.    

4. Special Effects

The special effects in the movie are excellent, one really innovative and interesting affect comes when Joi, K’s virtual girlfriend, hires a real girl played by Mackenzie Davis to make love to K. The film overlaps Jois face onto the human Davis and blends the two in a really new and never before seen way. Another cool effect is when K’s car is shot down and we see a kite gun attract lightning to short circuit the car.  

5. Functions

The elements at play in Blade Runner 2049 like mise-en-scene, lighting, performance, cinematography, and FX make the world feel inhabited but alien. They advance the story and force the audience to ask and examine a lot of tough philosophical questions