Wednesday 18 March 2009

How are sound, camera and mise-en-scene used to effect in this scene from Hollyoaks?

The scene is taken place in the woods. In the opening shot is mid shot of Max and the camera is shaking which is like hand held shot which gives the feeling to the audience that he is walking. Then they show a long shot of the small bridge and the lake which shows a clear point of view shot. The colours used are really dull and washed out. As the character Max is holding his hand close to his chest and from his facial expressions the audience gets an idea that he is ill. The sound used in the shots is Diegetic sound. It includes the sound of the leaves moving when he is walking and also the sound of him breathing which again shows that he is ill and is feeling difficult to breathe. He is also wearing grey and black clothes.

As the camera tilts from the lake to Max’s face, they show a close up shot of his face calling Tom. The close up shot of his face shows the tension. When they show the lake and a mid shot of Max, they show the red jacket in the lack which makes everyone thinks that Tom has fallen into the water. The red colour represents danger.
When he jumps into the water the shots shows the scenes underneath the water which is again really dark. The incidental music adds more atmosphere to the action. The sound creates tension to the audience. At this point they have also diegetic sound of the water moving which makes is more realistic.

The second character in the scene is Claire. She is wearing a black long jacket and a purple top which indicates that she is cold and is also evil. When Max comes out of water and asks Claire that where he (Tom) is his sound shows that he is really struggling to breathe. Then they show a cut away and point of view shot of Tom safely sitting in the car and is hitting on the glass and calling for help. When Max is drowning in the water his face and lips turns into the same colour as her top which shows that there might be a link between them two.

They also show a high angle and low angle shot of Claire which shows her power. The close-up shot of Clare’s face shows her expressions and shows how evil she is and is giving a bad devilish smile when Max is drowning. This again shows her evilness as she is trying to kill him and she is standing there looking at him drowning. Another point which shows the power of Claire is when she actually succeeded in making Max believe that Tom is drowned in the water as she put Tom’s jacket in the lake which will make anyone think that he is drowned but that was actually her plan to kill Max.

Then they show another character who is OB who acts as a savior to Max who saves his life. He is wearing casual but very light clothes, which are blue and green. When he comes there, there is a point of view shot of Claire from the back when she is looking at Max drowning. Then they show a long shot of OB jumping into the water to save Max. They have again showed some shots underneath the water which will show the audience how he gets to Max and rescued him. There are some two shots when OB is trying to bring Max back to the ground. They have shown some high angle shots of Max an OB, when OB brings him to the ground and trying to bring back to his life. There is also a low angle shots which shows his power as the savior. The scene ends with an aerial shot of OB and Max in the woods.
The sound given at the end is very soft and represents the sadness.