What is the importance of mise-en-scène and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

Like majority of films the mise-en-scene is vital as it creates meaning and generates response. With the films I have studied the mise-en-scene is key when creating meaning and understanding to the narrative of the three films.

 Kassovitz's (director of La Haine) use of mise-en-scene throughout the film allows the audience to generate a personal response to the film as a whole and each individual scene. The scene which takes place is Hubert's bedroom the mise-en-scene shows a lot about the character of Hubert solely through the use of props and setting. The room itself appears to be small and cramped which could represent how Hubert feels about his life in the projects, closed in and trapped, unable to escape the sad life he is living during the time of riots. The start of this scene has Hubert prepping some sort of drug to sell in order to get money, which is something his family seem to be struggling with; the fact that Hubert has resorted to selling drugs and having to prep them in his bedroom in his family home speaks masses about the severity of the situation during this time in the projects, as from this happening you are made aware of the length youths have to go to just to ensure they and their families have a roof over their heads. The close up of Hubert's hands with the pocket knife and lighter puts focus on what is happening at this point which contrasts to other parts of the film, as it is made known that drugs play a part in the lives of the youths in the projects, like in the scene where Hubert, Saïd and Vinz are sat down doing nothing and there are dirty needles on the floor, however the drug use is never a focal point of any part of La Haine. Thus the close up emphasises that, for Hubert, this is the last resort to help his family. This makes me sympathise for Hubert at this point of the film as he has to go to drastic lengths to make sure his family and live somewhat comfortably. During this scene you see Hubert's bedroom, which in all films being in a character's bedroom can reveal about said character and it's no exception for Hubert in La Haine. In the room you can see a pair of boxing gloves and some dumbbells, which display Hubert as a person who has great strength and reflects the first time you see Hubert, which was in a gym punching at a punching bag. Also a poster from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City of Tommie Smith and John Carlos showing the black power salute as a silent protest during the medal ceremony against racial discrimination, as this is on the wall of Hubert's bedroom, his personal space shows that he proud of his race and how far its come since the worst days. The diegetic sound during this scene is very soulful and meaningful, and this creates an atmosphere for the audience to feel while watching this scene, as its so mellow and soothing it allows those watching to share the same relaxed mood as Hubert, even though his is drug induced.

Another scene from La Haine that demonstrates Kassovitz’s use of mise-en-scene to create meaning is the scene when Hubert, Saïd and Vinz go to Paris to see Astérix to get Saïd’s money. The first shot you see of Astérix’s apartment there is an obvious different between the Parisian flats in comparison to the flats in the projects. The diegetic music portrays a clear division between life in the city and life on the edge. In Paris opera music is played which is often associated with the higher classes and being cultured, yet in the projects the music is westernised rap music, which shows no links or ties to French culture. The difference in the genre of music in the two places also shows the class gap between life in Paris and life in the projects just outside of Paris. On the wall in Asterix's apartment there is a poster of the never-ending staircase illusion which represents well that the issues that thee people live in are never ending and keeping going round in circles. That there is no end to the riots in sight. This poster in Asterix's flat shows the problems of those in the projects in a subtle and artistic way. Asterix offers the boys a line of coke that he has already out on the table; the fact that Asterix has cocaine shows the difference in lifestyles and the amount of money each lifestyle has. The difference in class of drugs highlights the difference in social class, as the drugs in Paris are more expensive than the drugs used in the projects such as weed and heroin.

Fernando Meirelles' City of God also creates meaning and response through it's use of mise-en-scene throughout the film, however I believe that the montage scene of 'The Story of the Apartment' creates strong meaning as well as generating response through Meirelles' use of mise-en-scene throughout the scene. The scene starts with a dissolve that establishes that the next piece of footage is a flashback that tells the story of the appartment that is used throughout the film. The start of the flash back the apartment is lit with high key lighting that sets the feeling of a warm and homely environment which is what the apartments was although it was being used as a drug den it was so that Dona Zelia could support her family.  As the narrative darkens so does the lighting and the appearance of the apartment; as the cross dissolve from it being Dona Zelia's apartment to Big Boy taking control of it the mise-en-scene changes to a more dangerous, and illegal looking place to be, when Big Boy pulls Dona Zelia out of the apartment she grabs onto the table cloth pulling it off the table and all the items falling to the ground showing that being in the drug business won't turn out well, your whole world will come crashing down, Meirelles (director) took this concept and made it real through her trying to hold onto what she has before it all falls within a matter of seconds. This part of the montage shoes how little the men of the favelas think of the women, as although it is Dona Zelia's apartment Big Boy just takes advantage of her and takes over her home; however in the 10 years alter documentary it stated that although there  hasn't been a massive amount of progress in the situation of life in the favelas women are becoming to get stronger and starting to gain more rights/respect than what they had in 2002 when City of God was made  As the scene progresses the mise-en-scene changes the audiences perception of what is happening, because as Big Boy takes over, the apartment loses its homely look and starts to look like an empty shell of a home; which, in my eyes, is what happens when drugs become a big part of somebody's life, they begin to lose sight on everything that is truly important and only focus on the drugs that are taking over they lives. The knife that is lodged into the table, I feel, shows this point well as its unsafe to have a sharp object half stuck into a table, in a home like when the apartment belonged to Dona Zelia that would never have happened due to it being her and her daughters' home, however when Big Boy throws her out and it is no longer hers, there is no need for it to be a safe environment because they are using the apartment as their den for their drug business which is also shown in this part of the montage as when Carrot hands drugs over to one of the neighbourhood kids they use as dealers. The whole of this scene shows through the cross dissolves of the mise-en-scene changing as drugs take over family life and life in general.

The second scene I feel uses mise-en-scene to create meaning and response is the scene where Lil Zé makes Steak and Fries shoot one of the runt as it creates such a strong response because the setting of the scene is obviously a real favela like the whole film so it attracts the audiences ethos to be touched by the reality they’re shown through this film. Also the two runts being backed into the corner shows that there is no escaping people like Lil Zé’s gang while living in the favelas and they were to be feared, in the 10 years later documentary the younger of the two runts revealed that while filming City of God he was made to fear Leandro Firmino (Lil Zé) as a person rather than his character, so while shooting this scene the younger runts fear would have been real not acting, this brings a feel of verisimilitude to this scene; this being what creates a strong response from the audience as knowing the child is really in fear while filming brings out an emotional attachment to the character and in a woman’s case her motherly instincts would kick in and would be hit hard emotionally by this scene and want to protect the child in the film. Also this scene has a shallow depth of focus making the gun in Lil Zé’s hand the focal point of this scene, hinting that this scene will not end well because the gun is the main focus. Not only does this scene generate a response for the audience but also the actors, as after being in this emotionally heavy scene Darlan Cunha (Steak and Fries) couldn’t talk about being in this film when asked about it in the 10 years later documentary because it was too real for him.