Did You Mise-En-Scene?

If mise-en-scene frames the narrative of the film in a vacuum, then George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Deadencapsulates the tone and theme of it in the introductory scene of Barbra and Johnny visiting their father’s grave. Immediately, the audience arrives at a graveyard introducing the central motif of death. The two are alone yet not quite—assuming that the bodies around them count. Throughout the film, Romero teases the audience of solitude and desolation, only to be surprised that the characters are not so alone after all. The graveyard captures this recurrence—what is below and above ground is alive or dead

Mise en scene can be described as the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play /the setting or surroundings of an event/action. Referring to the way actors and scenery props are arranged; as its usage expanded into other narrative arts. These certain scene stood strong with a purpose and is used to put emphasis on certain parts of the play. Some choices they made were to have the house, graveyard , and nature relating to the current traditional lifestyle. The Film stages a narrative which mimics the countercultural social life within time of production, giving off a  massive horror-like, fear-inducing challenge to normal life in the form of an assault by the infected.

The most important stage was acquired in the early twentieth century. It becomes a kind of language with which the director speaks with the audience. Actors must stand on the stage in accordance with the scenery, as well as the plot, which at the moment should be played on the stage. In addition, theatrical lighting begins to play a role in staging. It contributes to the creation of a certain artistic effect, and also helps the actors to get used to the role and more realistically transmit the events of the dramatic work.

Lighting: Throughout the movie the lightning gives the zombies a low-key lighting that isn’t as intense and is sifter in order to make the zombies look darker and portrayed as negative and the true monster. Whenever another character was killed off, the lighting on them would also become softer and less intense with more shadows to represent that they transformed into a zombie.

Costumes: zombies wore raggedy clothes to represent how they had risen from the dead and the fact that they wore old corpses. Those who were alive wore clothes that represented middle class ordinary citizens.

Setting: The setting takes place in a cemetery which is where the dead arise from as well as a barn where the protagonists take shelter from the living dead.

Thus, the Mise-En-Scene is intended to serve as a connecting chain between the actors, the spectator and the plot of the production.

Great Movies with Mise-En-Scene

* Songs from the Second Floor (2000) – Roy Andersson

* Paths of Glory (1957) – Stanley Kubrick

* Ulysses’ Gaze (1995) – Theo Angelopoulos

* Tokyo Story (1953) – Yasujirō Ozu

* Playtime (1967) – Jacques Tati

* Throne of Blood (1957) – Akira Kurosawa

* The Conformist (1970) – Bernardo Bertolucci

* Rules of the Game (1939) – Jean Renoir

* Stalker (1979) – Andrei Tarkovsky

* Vertigo (1958) – Alfred Hitchcock

Three Sources:

1) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/magazine/jacques-audiard-french-scorsese-sisters-brothers.html (Links to an external site.)

2) http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Mise-en-sc-ne-ELEMENTS-OF-MISE-EN-SC-NE.html (Links to an external site.)

3) http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2018/10-great-movies-with-the-best-mise-en-scene/

http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-did-night-of-the-living-dead-create-the-idea-of-the-zombie-as-its-known (Links to an external site.)

https://brightlightsfilm.com/night-living-dead-reappraising-undead-classic/#.XT47V_JKjz0 (Links to an external site.)

https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4107&context=gradschool_theses (Links to an external site.)

 

 

Genre, Drama, Narrative, Performance]

 

The physical performance examines the horror genre overall. The members of the group run, hide, and battle with the living monsters while the living monsters pursue, kill, and eat the living people. These are a sharp difference between good and evil in physical performance.

The actors like Duane Jones who cast Ben is an unknown state actor while Judith O’Dea who cast in Barbra is a commercial and stage actress. Besides these two, most of the actors are non-professionals in this film. In this respect, Ben is depicted with a calm and brave performance while Barbra is depicted with dramatic stunts in emotional and physical movements. The whole performance is expected to be more ‘realistic’

The actress ‘body movements and some background music perfectly present the intense scene, the plot’s advancement and the character’s psychological changes. There was no line, but anyone could intuitively feel Barbara’s fear. The actors stars are unknown because of budget issues. But it’s an unknown actor who makes this movie a success. It’s easy for audiences to form fixed mindsets about famous actors, associating them with their most famous roles.

Three other sources:

Newby, Richard. “The Lingering Horror of ‘Night of the Living Dead’” Hollywoodreporter. Retrieved from

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-night-living-dead-is-more-relevant-ever-1145708 (Links to an external site.)

Thomas, Kristofer. Scene Dissection: Night of the Living Dead (1968, George A. Romero).

https://www.thefourohfive.com/film/article/scene-dissection-night-of-the-living-dead-1968-george-a-romero-145 (Links to an external site.)

George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Retrieved from

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565

 

Genre, Drama, Story & Performance

The Night Of The Living Dead is a  can be seen as Horror. This is evident as the characters are being attacked by zombies creating an intense feeling of fear and shock , expression(s) shown throughout the entire entourage. The Story has a specific plot, as the base characters get a inital glimpse of the upcoming issue.  The characters then come together, attempting to rid of the issue. Finally the issue gets a hold of the characters, ultimately making the characters zombies. Its told this way and not in another way, because this plot creates the most suspense, making the viewer thirsty for what comes next. It supports the horror genre as fear is displayed throughout the entire plot.

All performances are suited to give the viewer a horror or fear type feeling. The performers act on different roles as Barbra is seen as the initial main, then Ben takes immediate command of almost every decision, displaying how the story creates an emergence of any character to take leadership regardless of fear, to take down the antagonist(s) (Zombies).

The most important character is Ben, an unknown actor. Barbra was also apart of her first major film. I feel as if they chose these characters due to them being new in the movie scenery. Creating the basis and start of something special to come.

Each actor matched their role; Ben being the leader and the rest being back seat drivers, ultimately assisting the leader to the destruction of the enemy. The plot can be deemed as unrealistic due to the viewer never being exposed to real torture or gore or death (camera doesn’t catch actual moment of impact). This isn’t a bad thing because at the time of production of this film, this was acceptable and doesn’t take away from the overall plot: Zombies ( Horror) .

 

More specifically, Todorov define it as a “marvelous” horror film, being explained as “the bizarre events of the story can only be explained by reference to another level of reality. First of all, this film is a black and white film style. The contrast between black and white highlights the mysterious and horrible atmosphere of this film. Second, the movie is full of scary elements. People are always afraid of the dead and the grave, and this film starts from the cemetery, with the dead as one of the main characters. The film also shows a lot of bloody horror scenes, such as the zombie cannibalism, the end, the little girl cannibalism and other scenes. This story is told in a nonlinear narrating way. As noted in Film Art, “nonlinear systems, permit random access to the entire store of footage” (68). Bit by bit, the film has to give information about the origin of the living dead. The actress ‘body movements and some background music perfectly present the intense scene, the plot’s advancement and the character’s psychological changes. There was no line, but anyone could intuitively feel Barbara’s fear. The actors stars are unknown because of budget issues. But it’s an unknown actor who makes this movie a success. It’s easy for audiences to form fixed mindsets about famous actors, associating them with their most famous roles.

https://brightlightsfilm.com/night-living-dead-reappraising-undead-classic/#.XTUvzxT7SUl (Links to an external site.)

https://film.avclub.com/night-of-the-living-dead-millennium-edition-dvd-1798197510 (Links to an external site.)

https://ew.com/article/2005/04/11/rating-versions-night-living-dead-we-wade-through-various-dvd-editions-and-pick/ (Links to an external site.)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/reviews?ref_=tt_urv

 

Segmentation

 

The Night Of The Living Dead is a suspenseful movie, including multiple major segments. The first most important segment would be “They’re Coming to get you”. As Barbra and her Brother Johnny are at a graveyard, Johnny begins to joke around ” They’re Coming to get you” he says multiple times.  As Barbra tells johnny to knock off the obnoxious jokes, she runs into an actual zombie. She then screams for johnny’s’ assistance. As he attempts to rescue his sister, he is ultimately knocked unconscious  and Barbra is left to defend for herself.  Another important segment is when everyone is stationed at the safe house, As Harry, Tom, Ben, and Barbra. They all are informed of the situation and have a better understanding. Two attempt to flee in a vehicle but die, due to engine flames. Everyone are ultimately bit and turned into zombies. These segments are situated this way to create the most suspense as possible, keeping the viewer waiting for scenes to come.

 

There are three segments of the movie. In the first part, Barbara and her brother encounter a zombie, and her brother dies of a virus. The second part is that she meets Ben, who is also hiding from the zombies, and other people in the house. The third part is the ending part. Cooper who loves his daughter is eaten by his zombie daughter. The other is stabbed to death by her daughter. Barbara is captured by her brother Johnny, and Ben is shot dead after being mistaken for a zombie. These parts are the main plot turning points. This way adds to the drama of the movie and renders the atmosphere of terror. Whenever the audience watches the film in a way, the director immediately gives an unexpected reversal, which surprises the audience. When I was watching the movie, I thought that Ben should be the final winner, but Ben was shot.

 

Source

https://brightlightsfilm.com/night-living-dead-reappraising-undead-classic/#.XTUvzxT7SUl (Links to an external site.)

https://film.avclub.com/night-of-the-living-dead-millennium-edition-dvd-1798197510 (Links to an external site.)

https://ew.com/article/2005/04/11/rating-versions-night-living-dead-we-wade-through-various-dvd-editions-and-pick/ (Links to an external site.)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/reviews?ref_=tt_urv