micro elements essay finishes

The movie clip I am doing my microanalysis on is Spiderman festival scene, the microelements I have chosen to do are mise-en-scene and sound. I am going to analysis this clip the meaning both elements give to the audience. The film was written by Stan lee and Sam ditko and directed by Sam raimi, the film was released in 2002. The scene I have chosen includes both of the main characters (hero and villain).

The location of this scene is set in America, New York. This setting place holds connotations of drama and action, known as the city that ‘never sleeps.’ Throughout the scene skyscrapers surround Spiderman and Green Goblin, which make the scene, seem dramatic and also supernatural because it is out of the publics eye view so the public have no idea what could be up there or what is up there. Spiderman climbs up vertical building, which bring out even more of the supernatural feel to the scene.

The opening clip is set at the time of a celebration fair.  There are large balloons and floats in the air making the green goblin have to dodge around them while he glides through the air. This confuses the audience as they wonder if the Green Goblin is a ‘real’ character or part of the display. Furthermore, the fact that the Green Goblin glides out from behind the large TV screens on the sky-scrapers communicates to the audience that he is some kind of fictional character.

The status of the characters in the opening scene is clearly communicated to the audience through the location. The main characters are separated from the crowd below by standing on a high up balcony of a tall building.

Spiderman is dressed in a bright red and blue outfit, these colours are bright and vibrant which highlights him as being the hero of the scene. The audience expects the hero to where vibrant colour likes red and blue .The colour blue connotes to masculinity and the red connotes to energy and both of these relate to Spiderman and his motives this matches the audiences expectations of Spiderman, and the audience expect villains to wear dark, dull colours which have no relevance to the villains character. The Green goblin wears a metallic green suit making the audience view him as not being human.

His mask that shows off his personality as being evil. His mask mimics that of a fly with large orange raised pieces for eyes, that does not move and are expressionless. This carry’s connotations of a kind of evil insect that people associate with unpleasantness and want to avoid their ‘sting’.

Before all of the chaos happened Spiderman was dressed in a suit, which shows to the audience that he is still a normal person but with a superpower, which changes his look and effects his actions. In the scene the audience also see him revealing his outfit to the citizens in New York and this is the first time this happens.

Spiderman and the Green goblin aren’t the only characters with an interesting outfit on, in this scene there is a Female love interest, Mary Jane Watson, who is shown wearing red lipstick and a red Chinese traditional dress. Her traditional dress could connote her traditional outlooks in life and her traditional role as the damsel in distress.

The colour red connotes love which suggests to the audience she may be in love with one of the main characters and danger also because when you think of red you automatically think of blood and this could suggest to the audience that something bad or dangerous might happen to her love interest communicating to the audience that see might have an impact on something bad or even devastating to the things around her see loves including this mysterious love interest

Spiderman’s mask covers his whole face so the audience can’t tell what his facial expressions and emotions are like this can cause they audience to become more intrigued with the character and want to learn more about what’s underneath the mask. Spiderman’s mask is effective in contrast with the green goblins mask because he has a facial expression which is a grin this tells the audience that no matter how destructive he is he always has a smile which may mean he enjoys violence, the audience may then think he is quite psychotic and has no control over his actions.

Green goblins glider is the main prop in this clips because it’s his main mode of transport and his main source of weaponry, the gliders is also easily identifiable because it’s the same colour as the green goblins suit, the look of the glider has a menacing look because of it slick look and sharp edges which has the same design as the green goblins mask, this will create a lot of suspense and distress amongst the audience because they are scared for Spiderman safety. There are some other props in this clip but that don’t play as big part compared to the glider, these props are he huge parade balloons that Spiderman bounces on and off of to escape from the green goblin but also uses them to reach Mary Jane Watson who is helpless and trapped on a falling balcony.

The scene opens with non-diegetic sound of tension music. This connotes meaning to the audience of action and drama.

As Green Goblin flies over the crowd on his ‘glider’ the diegetic sound of the crowd screaming warns the audience that the character of green goblin is one to be feared. The Green Goblin’s laugh is low pitched and sinister sounding, allowing the audience to easily recognize that he is the bad character. Further into the clip you can help loud screams from the public but mainly from the character Mary Jane Watson, this connotes to the audience that she’s in fear and scared for her life. In the scene it also shows a young child screaming whilst hanging onto a platform, which is slowly falling. The sound of the balcony collapsing and the explosions are heightened to make the audience feel a sense of panic.

The sound of the public shouting and screaming in fear as soon as they see the green goblin fly in but even more so when the hear the explosion, this communicates to the audience that the green goblin is someone to be feared.

The diegetic sound of Spiderman’s webs projecting from his wrists are made considerably made louder than the background sound of chaos. This communicates a sense of importance drawing the audience’s attention to his super powers.

My chosen micro elements are mise-en-scene and sound. In my film clip the two elements communicate irony and chaos.  The mise-en-scene mainly consists of a festival scene with bright balloons and a happy crowd of people contrasting with sounds of chaos and crashing buildings. The costumes allow the audience to recognize the genre.