Mise-en-Scene

Definition

Mise-en-scene: A French phrase used by theatre directors that means 'putting into the scene'. Mise-en-scene includes set Design, props, costume, makeup, staging (blocking) and lighting. 

Example - Shadow (2018)

Mise-en-scene

2 character stands on 2 sides of yin yang (creates the contrast and showcase the difference between the 2 characters) - a clear example of binary opposite according to Straussian theory

• The dark side represents the weak
• He looks torn out, his clothes are torn up and generally looks weak - according to Barthes's theory, he might be poor
• Look particularly older
• He is holding a stick with a bended knee - connotates that he is unable to stand by himself and needs help 
• The outfit color is also black which complements the side of yin yang he is standing on
• The character's facial expression is scary - bringing a mysterious vibe to it
• The white side represents the strong
• The character wears a normal outfit in white but not torn out like the other character - Straussian theory of binary opposition
• Based on the outfit, he also looks younger and probably wealthier
• He is standing up straight with an umbrella in hand, which emphasizes that he is strong and able to care for himself
• His facial expression is normal and generally looks smart

Lighting

• The photo has generally low-key lighting with a few highlights on the white color part of it
• Since it is low-key lighting, the part of the photo with white stands out and contrasts with other parts of the photo, therefore attracting the audience

Camera

• The poster is taken in a wide shot, capturing fully the 2 characters' outfit and their surroundings
• However, due to the low-key lighting, the background is very hard to identify

Typography

• A big calligraphy of Chinese letters stands in the middle - punctuating the theme of the photo, a Chinese-related one
• The word 'shadow' is colored in red, standing out from all the monochromatic colors

Film Opening Analysis - Black Swan (2010)

Introduction

Genre: Drama / Thriller

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Producers: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Arnold Messer

Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Budget: $13,000,000

Worldwide box office: $329,400,000

Synopsis: Nina Sayers is a ballerina who got cast as Swan Queen in Tchaikovsky's, Swan Lake. The production requires the ballerina to play both innocent Odette (white swan) and dark Odile (black swan). Nina at first is unable to embody Odile, while her rival Lily is a perfect fit. Nina felt overwhelmed by the pressure that she had to deal with when competing for the role. This causes her to lose grip on reality and start descending into madness, fully transforming into black swan, Odile.

Film Opening Sequence

Black Swan (2010)

Clip duration: 03:24

Start Point: 00:00

End Point: 03:24

Genre Studies

"Black Swan" opening sequence is able to establish its genre as drama and thriller through the use of symbolic and technical codes. Despite the indents and typography of the sequence being easy to mistake for another genre, the 2-minute opening scene fully represents the drama and thriller genre. First of all, is the overall atmosphere created. By the use of 1 source lighting and dark surroundings with a monochrome color palette, "Black Swan" has a cold, lonely, and scary feel to it. 

While Nina is portrayed as an innocent ballerina, a dark character is introduced to provide a thrilling feeling when the audience first encounters him. This is a very common method used by a lot of thriller movies. The way Rothbart appears also builds up the emotions for the audience as he walks out from the dark and approaches Nina with a scary face. Jumpscare is a popular element used in almost all thriller movies and in the opening 3 minutes of Black Swan, the effect is used once when Rothbart suddenly turns into a nasty-looking owl and chases Nina. 

    

Music was also an important part that confirmed a genre. Even though the music used in the opening sequence is a classic song with instruments, it complements perfectly with the ballet scene and the dancing scene of Nina and Rothbart. As the scene progresses, the song changes and helps to alarm the audience about what is to come. In context to "Black Swan", it is the appearance of Rothbart and the tension between him and Nina. The use of sound in "Black Swan" does not only suit the genre but the theme of the movie as well.

Besides music, lighting was also a big part of the sequence. Drama is one of the "Black Swan" genres and the use of hard light in the opening 3-minute fully portrays the genre as it helps to bring in the dramatic effect for the scene. This is presented in the shot where Nina and Rothbart dance together but due to the addition of hard lighting and sound, it creates the effect of them fighting against each other.

Analysis

Idents   

The opening consists of 4 different idents. "Fox Searchlight Pictures" appears first as the distributor in association with "Cross Creek Pictures". Followed by "Protozoa Pictures" and "Phoenix Pictures" as the production companies. Lastly, the name of the movie: "Black Swan" is revealed. The way the credits appear is similar to each other, they slowly fade in and out in order. The font that is used is "Trajan Regular", which is considered very elegant and suitable for fancy movies. The color of them is pure white which contrasts with the black background, giving it a mysterious feel. Regarding the music used while showing the credit, a song started to play at a low volume. The song is modulated as it gradually gets bigger when the title is seen on screen and builds up the emotion when the black screen slowly reveals Nina (in the role of Odette), this helps to set the theme of the movie as classical sophisticated themed and prepare the audience for the upcoming scenes.

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Typography

In the first 3 minutes of the film, only one title is seen, which is the name of the film: "Black Swan". The font that is applied for the typography is called "Trajan Regular" and it is an elegant and fancy font, normally used in royal-related movies. The genre of Black Swan is thriller and drama, hence the use of the font doesn't complement the genre. However, the theme of the movie is related to ballet, which is considered the most graceful dance form and in that case, the font used for the title is suitable. Overall, based on Black Swan, despite the font of the title not complementing the genre, it is easy for viewers to understand that they are about to watch a film with an elegant theme. Moreover, the contrast between the color white of the title and the black dark background could partly show that the film might not be fully bright and innocent. 

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Connotations

As the opening sequence only shows the scene of a ballerina dancing to a classic song, the connotations revolve around her and what appears on screen. Ballet is the prioritized image in the sequence and this denotation connotates movement and beauty. In the scene, Nina is seen wearing a gorgeous white leotard and dancing on her pointed shoes, looking absolutely stunning. It is hard to deny that the denotation of Nina being a ballerina is the perfect example of movement and beauty. A dark ballerina later appears, in the context of the movie and Tchaikovsky's, Swan Lake, the male ballerina is Rothbart, an owl who came to put a curse on Nina, turning her into a white swan. Based on Roland Barthes's theory of semiotic codes, dark colors connotate the evil side and by the grumpy look on his face, we can confirm that he is not a good guy. Besides Nina and Rothbart, their surrounding environment also follows Barthes's theory. The darkness around Nina could symbolize loneliness and the lack of freedom. This representation could further be understood when the audience continues to watch the movie. 

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Mise-en-scene

The sequence starts with an image of a ballerina, Nina, performing. The scene was probably taken indoors, in a dark room with a light turned on. The 3-minute sequence mostly uses chiaroscuro lighting to create the contrast between Nina and the dark background. The audience could confirm that Nina was alone in the room as we followed her footsteps when she performed and no one was seen around. Later on, Rothbart appears from the dark and begins to torture Nina. Rothbart is the 2nd character that appears on the screen but later disappears, leaving behind no clue about him. Nina was captured as the main character and was always centered on the screen. Since she was the main focus, her outfit was specifically shown with a simple and elegant white leotard. When Nina turned into a white swan, her leotard became more complicated with feathers, and her hair was also styled with a feathered headpiece. The atmosphere created by the mise-en-scene was very mysterious and scary as it is dark and not much of the surroundings was revealed.

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Camera techniques

The scene begins with a wide shot of a completely dark environment and a spark of light, showing a ballerina, Nina. The camera then cuts into a close-up shot of Nina's pointed shoes and her dancing to the music. The camera movement went with the moves of Nina, creating a lively dancing scene. The scene then cuts into a medium-wide shot, capturing Nina in her white leotard with her hair put in a bin and a satisfied smile.

A high-angle shot is then used when Nina is seen sitting down on the ground, with a source of light coming from above. Due to the shot, Nina looks small and weak compared to her dark surroundings. It is later revealed that Rothbart is walking towards her, looking down from above. This could represent that Rothbart is much more powerful than Nina as the high-angle shot diminishes her power. As Rothbart slowly steps into the spotlight with Nina, the camera cuts to a medium shot. From here, Nina faces her back to Rothbart while Rothbart continuously tries to grab her. These actions are all portrayed by a medium shot, which is able to capture all the actions of the 2 characters but also their changes in emotions. Moreover, the camera movement in these shots is specifically faster and more intense compared to the beginning shots.

When Nina transforms into a white swan, a close-up shot is used to clearly show her changes, especially since the top of her leotard has feathers attached to it and a headpiece was also added to her white swan transformation. After that, a close-up is remained to capture her changes in emotion and facial expressions. In the end, the camera slowly cuts into a wide shot of Nina dancing and the screen fades out.

    

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Sound*

The sound used for the opening sequence is a song called "Nina's Dream" and is the official soundtrack of the movie. The name of the song fully describes what happens in the sequence as it is just a dream of Nina's. However, as the audience watches the film, they are unable to know the name of the song and focus more on the rhythm and how well it suits the image on screen. Since Nina is performing, the song is likely a dietetic sound but because it is a dream, it might be considered an internal dietetic sound as well. 

    

At first, the song is soft with the soothing sound of instruments that make the audience feel calm and relaxed. Slowly, as Rothbart starts to approach Nina, the song gets a bit more intense and loud. Some non-diegetic sound of wind that might be caused by the camera movement is also heard. This could be added to show that Rothbart is chasing Nina, trying to cast a spell on her. Just then, the song gets more and more intense and when Rothbart turns to become an owl, 2 different sounds are layered onto each other, both are diegetic, one is the sound of the wings being flapped and one is the sound of excitement that Rothbart made when he was about to cast a spell on Nina. When he jumps out of frame, leaving Nina desperately wanting to run away, a non-diegetic sound is applied for the action of the jump. This addition helps Rothbart to become more mythical and stronger. In contrast to Rothbart, Nina was also heard sighing during that moment which shows her disappointment and weakness that she was unable to escape from Rothbart.

After transforming, the song is modulated and gradually gets louder until it finally reaches its peak when Nina turns into a white swan. At that moment, "Nina's Dream" changes from a soothing song to a strong, powerful song but doesn't last for too long as it slowly fades out, together with the light.

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Lighting*

As seen in the 3-minute sequence, only one source of light is used which creates hard lighting on the 2 characters, Nina and Rothbart. The use of hard light helps to bring in contrasts to the character and the background. Moreover, it also adds in dramatic effect to the scene. Even though there is only one source of light throughout the sequence, the beginning of it doesn't show a lot of contrast as only part of Nina's leg and pointed shoes are shown. In the later minutes when Rothbart appears and the face of Nina is seen on screen, the low-key lighting is shown very clearly. This specific part of the sequence is also the part that raises the audience's emotions the most with the intense music and camera techniques, together with the lighting that creates a dramatic image of the dance between Nina and Rothbart.

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Enigma

Throughout the 3-minute opening sequence, 

the film triggers the audience’s curiosity by provoking numerous questions: Why is the ballerina dancing in the dark? Why is no one watching her? Who is the male ballerina that approached her? Why did she change her outfit? Why is the ballerina wearing white while the movie title is "Black Swan"? All of these questions are questions that I had before watching the film and the answers are slowly unveiled as the film progresses. So, in order to fully understand the enigma that is raised in the opening sequence, the audience must continue the film to find out. 

Sound Design: Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sounds

Definitions

Diegetic sound: Sound that can be heard by the character inside the story world

Non-diegetic sound: Sound that comes from a source outside of the story world and cannot be heard by the character

Example - Saw 0.5 (2003)

    The sound is being used to set the mood for the scene. In context to Saw, sound creates a thrilling and scary feel to the film.

    Immediately after playing the film, the sound of machines, weird signals, and unidentified sound effects confirm the film genre to be thriller and horror. In the first few seconds, the sound is diegetic when 2 characters are having a dialogue. Then the scene switches to the non-diegetic sound of an upbeat song when the character is wearing his jacket and walking out of a room. When walking upon the elevator, it changes into a diegetic sound when it is revealed that the song is coming out of the character's headphones. This is a connotation showing his rebellious personality as he is listening to a rock song whilst smoking in a hospital. The upbeat song contrasts with the scene that happens right afterward when the sound of a stick hits the character's head, and the scene returns to silence. Between the shots of the detective investigating and the main character reporting the case, a non-diegetic windy sound was added to create the effect of reminiscing about the past event.

    The volume contributes to the overall mood and feeling of the film, making sense of the film genre, which is horror and thriller. Also, the sound effects help the viewer to have a general view of how the film is going to progress and prepare their mentality of what is to come. In Saw 0.5, a scene where the character is tied into a chair, grunting and trying to get out of place uses many sound layers at a time such as metal clinging, thunderstorms, and the character's grunts to add to the mood of the scene and alarms the viewer about what is about to happen next.

    Based on the genre of Saw 0.5, it is clear that the sound is abrupt, causing a jumpscare effect. However, in some of the scenes where emotions are built up slowly, a modulated sound is applied to show clearly the character's changes. For example in the scene where the character remembers the moment he was kidnapped, a modulated sound was added while the camera zoomed into his face, showing the changes in emotions that he had.

    Saw 0.5 is a short film that is able to use its sound effectively to showcase its ideas and story through it. Therefore, all the sound used during the 9-minute film is rhythmically related to the image shown on screen and supports the overall meaning that the director wants to convey. 

Idea Development

1. What happens in the opening sequence?

    The opening sequence starts with a girl walking up on someone, holding a weapon in her hand, and attempting murder, after that, she runs into the bathroom to wash up her bloody hands. Suddenly, she woke up from her sleep, thinking it was just a dream. The doorbell suddenly rang, she got up to the door and saw a letter lying on the floor, a line is written in bold reads "Revenge". Just at that moment, the news came up, reporting a murder case whose victim was her former classmate who had bullied her for years. She then got a sudden headache and the murder scene kept appearing in her mind. Ignoring her symptoms, she started heading to the location of the murder, her old school. As an investigator, she decides to accept the case and is determined to find out the culprit of the case.

2. Where will this take place?

The film will mostly take place in Vinschool Central Park as well as at my house, in the bedroom and living room

3. What character will be needed?

Leading roles:

• A: female amateur investigator (light)
• B: female high school student (dark)

Backing roles

• A victim (Joselyn)

4. What existing films can you use for inspiration?

Genre: Thriller and Mystery

Ideas: Detective, dark self, devil takeover, figuring out real personas

Inspiration: Black Swan (2010), Revenant (2023), Split (2006), Identity (2003), Shutter Island (2010)

Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary Opposition

Definition

Binary opposites are used in films to help plots, they are also used in music videos as part of a narrative to reinforce song lyrics. Levi-Strauss believed that the way we understand words depends not on the meanings attributed, but by our understanding of the word in relation to its ‘opposite’.

Example - Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

A Straussian binary opposition is offered through the representation of Hobbs and Shaw. While Hobbs is portrayed as an American agent with a muscular appearance, a plain t-shirt, and tattoos who drives a displacement motorcycle, Shaw is seen as an elegant London man who wears suits and drives a fancy car. Based on the portrays on the poster film, the actions of Hobbs and Shaw during the sample scene also further indicate their opposite personalities where Shaw is an agent who likes to follow the route and refuses to put too much effort into his work, as shown in how he minimizes his action when fighting or uses the elevator instead of jumping straight out of the window. Hobbs on the other side is free-spirited and spontaneous, he likes to go with the flow, rolling around fighting with the enemies, jumping off a tall tower, and doesn’t mind breaking the glass or getting hurt. Overall, the representation of Hobbs and Shaw constructs a view that Americans usually like to act freely and sometimes cause chaos, while British people are more ordered and want to keep their clean image, they also care a lot more about their looks compared to Americans.

Ideas Description

Idea 1 - Soulmate?

Genre: Slice-of-life / Romance

Plot: A high school student has a special relationship with a friend who has been together for as long as they can remember. The relationship between them has always been good and she felt the most happy being beside her friend. Everything had been going well until one day when she started losing interest, feeling stuck and frustrated with the relationship, and wanting to end it. The film will show contrasts between the old town where the student grew up with memories between her and her friend, and a modern city where her friend is no longer present in her life. The whole film will be filmed from the friend's point of view.

Setting: Modern city (skyscrapers, school, house) - Town (old buildings)

Character:

    - Protagonist: A high school student who is feeling deadlock in life

    - Other characters: friends, teachers, parents

Inspirations: 20th Century Girl (2022); Our Beloved Summer (2021); Twenty-five Twenty-one (2022); Soulmate (2023)

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Idea 2 - Who Are You? (chosen)

Genre: Thriller

Plot: An amateur investigator is suffering from an identity disorder due to being constantly abused and bullied for a long time when she was in school. Recently, weird letters with threatening content from an unknown were sent daily to her, making her feel frightened. Then, she started to develop symptoms like random headaches, short-term memory loss and generally feeling sick all the time. Slowly, the devil side of her begins to appear, controlling her body and taking revenge on the bullies. The film captures the journey of the characters solving mysteries surrounding her and finding out her real self, fighting against the dark side of herself. 

Setting: School and office

Character:

    - Protagonist: An amateur investigator who suffers from identity disorder

    - Other character: victims, dark inner self

Inspirations: Split (2016); Identity (2003); Kill Me, Heal Me (2015); Revenant (2023); Black Swan (2010)

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Idea 3 - School of Robots

Genre: Drama

Plot: The film takes place in a school that is well known for the quality of students after graduation. Due to their reputation, a family decided to enroll their daughter in the school with the hope of providing their child with the best learning conditions, not aware of what was to come. Despite their good image, all students in the school were treated like robots, despite being very smart, they were unable to speak up about their thoughts and feelings, had to repeat a routine every day, and were generally not human-like. After attending school, the new student was shocked and started finding ways to report the situation to her parents, finding ways to expose the school system to the world. 

Setting: At school (canteen, classroom, school ground, rooftop) and at home

Character:

    - Protagonists: A new student who is eager to expose the truth about her new school.

    - Other character: Students and parents

Inspirations: Severance (2022)

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Idea 4 - Secrets of the Night

Genre: Horror

Plot: Legends told that all humans should be asleep at night and no one should step out of the house because there is a dark secret in the night that humans are not allowed to know about. For centuries, the people in the city have always reminded themselves to not let their curiosity get out of hand and discover the night. Like always, there is a character who decides to go against the advice and starts planning for her journey of discovering the secrets of the night. 

Setting: At night (home, around the residential areas, school, ...)

Character:

    - Protagonists: A curious girl who wants to know why people need to sleep at night

    - Other characters: Adults (city citizens), friends

Inspirations: A Quite Place (2018); It (2017); Stranger Things (2016)

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Idea 5 - A dream came true

Genre: Fantasy

Plot: A talented artist discovers that her dreams are slowly becoming reality. Since birth, the artist was born with the ability to remember all her dreams and as she grew up, she decided to capture them using art. Slowly, her artworks started disappearing and the world began to change, until she finally realized that it was changing according to all the dreams that she painted.

Setting: Home (bedroom) and workplace (art studio)

Character:

    - Protagonist: A talented artist who accidentally changes the world

    - Other characters: friends

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Idea 6 - Game of Life

Genre: Action / Adventure

Plot: What if your life was just a game? Well, that's exactly what happens in the film, it is just like a game. Each day, people will be able to receive a set of tasks to complete during the day and there are many different levels that they need to get through to upgrade their lives and become better. There are also a variety of 'life' that parents will have to choose for their newborn baby at the beginning of life to continue the journey forward. A girl who was born shy and introverted has her life chosen to be an adventurous one, where her tasks were significantly more challenging than others. Due to that, she was determined to find out the system's inventor and destroy it forever.

Setting: Rural, slump areas of the city and at home (bedroom)

Character: 

    - Protagonist: A shy girl with the aim to destroy the system

    - Other characters: friends and parents

Inspirations: Ready Player One (2018); Dune (2021); Escape Room (2018)

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Why did I choose idea 2 - Who Are You?

Potential settings

• Vinschool Central Park
  • Canteen
  • Office
  • Classroom
  • School ground (trees/chairs)
  • Stairs/hallway
  • Rooftop (basketball/football court)
• Vinhomes Central Park (residential area)
  • Towers
  • Lockers
  • Roads (cars/motorbike)
  • Park
  • Parking lot
• At home
  
• Bedroom
• Living room

    

    Personally, I think that the setting is the most important part of the opening film and it needs to be practical to film to be able to create the best final outcome. After listing all the potential settings that could be used, the most practical idea to make is idea 2. Despite most of my ideas having the setting at school and at home, idea 1 would require a few scenes shot in an old town, idea 5 would need to be filmed in an art studio and idea 6 would be filmed mostly in a slump area which is significantly hard to find in Ho Chi Minh City. Even if I'm able to find one, it might be unsafe to film there due to the high criminal rates in that specific area. Idea 4 might be a suitable one to choose but the main setting was supposed to be in a city at night with no one on the roads as if they are all asleep. Ho Chi Minh City where I lived is known to be a city with no sleep and people here are very active at night so it will be very hard to be able to film idea 4.

    Besides the consideration of the setting, I also think about the actors needed for the film opening. Out of all the ideas, idea 2 seems to have the least character needed as it only needs a main character who will be playing 2 roles and a few background characters who don't need to show their faces. Idea 3 was one of my favorite ideas, however, to create the 'school of robots', a lot of actors will be needed and it is difficult to organize and gather them all up for the filming process even if they don't have much script and just need to act as background characters. 

    I have different genres for all of my 6 initial ideas and out of all, thriller seems to be the most popular genre and has been growing in popularity rapidly these years. A data creator, Bo McCready has created a chart of popular film genres from 1910 to 2021 based on data collected from IMDB to show how tastes have changed over the years. Based on the chart, it is clear that the thriller genre has been one of the favorites over the years, and due to that reason, I think that choosing a thriller opening film might be the best idea. Moreover, idea 2 is my favorite idea out of all and the one where I have put the most effort into developing it further, and due to that reason, idea 2 - WHO ARE YOU is my chosen idea.

Roland Barthes: Denotations and Connotations

Definitions

Denotation: The primary meaning of a word

Connotation: The interpretation of the primary meaning of a word

Example - Yellow flowers on the green grass (2015)

Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh (2015)
Directed by Victor Vu

Denotations

1. Looking upwards

2. Color scheme

3. Nature

4. Facial expressions

Connotations

1. Looking upwards - the girl could be recalling a memory, she could also be bored, or she is dreaming about the future

2. Color scheme - looks pale and light which could represent feminine, dedication, or springtime. A pale color scheme could also show the past

3. Nature - greenness and nature symbolize peace and calmness

4. Facial expression - the girl looks sad and miserable

Denotations

1. Color scheme

2. Reading a book

3. Clothing

4. Facial expression

Connotations

1. Color scheme - also looks pale and could show the past. There is a blue tint that symbolizes serenity, stability, inspiration, and reliability

2. Reading a book - represents knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of the reader

3. Clothing - a thin fabric shirt shows that the boy is poor

4. Facial expression - furrowed eyebrows could represent confusion or unsatisfaction

Denotations

1. Frog

2. Clothing

3. Facial expression

4. Color scheme

Connotations

1. Frog - represents purity and harmony, in context to the movie, this describes the boy's personality. Moreover, frogs are animal that normally appears in the rural area of Vietnam, where the boy lives.

2. Clothing - a brown shirt shows earthiness, and warmth but also poorness

3. Facial expression - a slight smile represents happiness and soft eyes show empathy and sympathy

4. Color scheme - an earthy scheme that brings in warmth, reliability, comfort and also, and poverty

 

Conventions

Definition

Convention: A convention is a regularly observed practice established over time.

Example - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

A few seconds into the short clip, a series of shallow depth of field is seen which showcases 4 characters playing a game in an old-looking garage. Then, a medium close-up shot was used to film the 4 characters' changes in emotions when something odd happens to their surroundings. A boy with a blue shirt stood up to look for the problem as a shallow depth of field is used to show how the other 3 character was constantly worried about what was happening. After that, the camera shots change to a deep depth of field, showing everything that happens in the scene, including all the characters' changes in emotion as they are slowly entering the game world. 

A point-of-view shot is then used when a character is running in a jungle before falling from a height down to the ground. This shot helps the viewer to have a better understanding of how the character views the world after being stuck in a game, which in this case is in the jungle. Moreover, the point-of-view also shows the character's emotion which is terrified by the weird surroundings and trying to run, hoping to escape from it. Viewers are also able to see the birds-eye view when the character falls down into the jungle, showcasing how the jungle looks from above.

The character is then revealed as a bulky, muscular bald man using a low-angle shot, which helps to build the man's power. Then, a big close-up is used to capture the man's emotion as he starts to realize something is off about the environment. Then, an extreme wide shot is used as an establishing shot which establishes the surroundings that the character is in, in the context of Jumanji, it is a jungle with trees and greens everywhere.

After the introduction of the first character, the other 3 are slowly revealed when 2 of them fall behind the bald man. During the process, a shallow depth of field is used which only partly shows something just fell, until a close-up shot of them rolling on the ground finally reveals the 2 other characters. A series of shot-reverse-shots is then applied to the scene where the 3 characters kept looking at each other, trying to figure out what just happened. By using this shot, it is easy to see that the characters are completely unaware of why they are here and don't know why their appearance changes.

Depth of Field

Deep depth of field

When the photo is taken using a deep depth of field, all the objects seen in the picture are in focus which helps the viewer to understand the location the picture is taken and what activity is going on. In the picture, we can see that the photo was taken in a coffee shop while the character is perhaps studying. The overall mood created was a warm and peaceful mood, showing that the studying process was comfortable and stress-free.

Shallow depth of field

With the out-of-focus background, Starkbuck's coffee cup is the main attention that attracts the viewers. It is easily spotted that the mood of the picture is warm due to the brown color scheme created by the cup and the table, this helps to outline the background environment as a coffee shop. Different from how people view the picture in the deep depth of field where they focus more on the background and what is happening, the shallow depth of field brings people's attention to the coffee cup and looks more like an advertisement.