Micro essay

How does mise-en-scene, sound and cinematography construct meaning and provoke a response in a sequence from fight club?

This sequence in fight club relies heavily on micro features in order to set up enigmas and foreshadow events that will become clear to the audience further into the narrative. The sequence opens with a mid-shot, revealing the location and the protagonist. The background appears out of focus, through the use of a shallow depth of field, drawing the audience’s attention to Norton’s character, making him appear significant. The lighting on the character highlights his face, however only on one side which portrays he has two sides to him, a good and an evil one as black connotes evil and white connotes innocence .I thought the fact the darkness was creeping over his face more created an effect that the evil is starting to take over him and his actions which made me question what was causing this to happen thus enigmas were set up for the audience.

 

The character is dressed in a grey shirt, which is scruffy looking due to the top buttons being undone and his tie not being tied, the colour grey suggests to the audience that the character is lonely or empty meaning a piece of him could be missing which creates an enigma as to why he is alone. This combined with the effortless presentation suggests he is filling his emptiness this could be due to the presence of his new friend.

The camera switches to reveal the other character, Pitt, by using the same mid-shot a comparison between the two characters is provoked, though it is made naturally, and they appear to be quite the opposite. Pitt’s character is dressed rebelliously wearing a red leather jacket which connotes danger and reflects his personality whereas Norton’s however appears to be a stereotypical office worker

Pitt’s character’s tone is strong and serious, showing he has power and takes orders from no one. The fact he gives a blunt command to the other character to ‘hit him’ shows already he is starting to have control over him. His command confuses the audience, as it is unclear as to why he would want to be hit, thus an enigma is created as the audience question Pitt’s character. Norton’s character has a slight uncertainty in his voice and tries to act as if Pitt’s character is joking by letting out an unsure laugh, this reveals that he is uncomfortable with fighting but also portrays that he is scared of causing trouble.

A similarity can also be identified through the use of lighting; Pitt’s character also has his face half highlighted which creates a connection between the characters, revealing both of them have two sides to them. The fact the two characters are opposites also creates an effect on the audience that they are the good and bad side of each other, this effect caused by the lighting is used to foreshadow the ending of the film. The characters are also placed symmetrically facing each other which gave me the impression of looking in a mirror, which foreshadows they are the same person.

A beam of light can be seen heading towards Pitt’s character, which creates an effect of the protagonist fuelling him, allowing him to become more powerful by being in his presence. This is also the key light in the scene which reveals s the power is strong.

A long shot is used, which now puts a door, lit with colourful lights in view. The audience’s attention is immediately drawn to the door due to the bright colours used on it which resemble happiness, and the fact the characters are on the other side portrays they are making a decision which will not result in happiness but in fact the opposite. This could be used to foreshadow the start of project mayhem, a later event, as it results in death.

Two bottles are seen being placed onto the ground. These two bottles are identical and symmetrically positioned like the characters were in the frame, and appear to represent the characters and how they are the same. However, this only becomes clear to the audience once it is revealed they are the same person. The fact Pitt’s character is placing the bottles had an effect on me as it seemed clear to that he holds the fate of both characters and shows how he has power over them. Combined with the fact the bottles are black glass show how fragile the characters relationship will soon become, and that their friendship will quickly be broken due the black having negative connotations of death which creates an enigma for the audience as they are intrigued to find out what will cause this deterioration . The colour choice also works as a way of foreshadowing later events, due to Norton’s character’s ego being destroyed in the end. Pleonastic sound is used as the bottles are placed, to heighten the tap of the glass. The use of this technique makes the bottles more significance and has an effect on the audience to realise they are important.

 

A white car has been placed behind Pitt, which looks distinct due to the colour being emphasised by the darkness. the colour white connotes innocence and purity and could reveal the character is leaving it behind thus resulting in the loss of innocence, which reveals a theme of the film, this could be due to his later actions or the fact he is wants violence to commence.

Traffic disrupts the silence, which resembles Norton’s character’s thoughts as he is being pressured, therefore resulting in clashing thoughts similar to traffic. Once a punch is finally thrown, it sounds weak as no non-diegetic sound has been added because the character was hesitant and afraid of the consequences as it could turn into a full on fight. This works in sync with Pitt’s character’s speech, which mentions how ‘hard it is to start a fight’.

A sense of irony is created from the punch as Pit was punched in the ear in front of the telephone box, an object used for the characters to regain contact and Pitt’s character had listened to Norton’s problem through it. This reveals that he will soon not be acknowledging the Norton’s characters problems. A slight beat sound can be heard which has a tempo increase, this resembles a heartbeat and creates an effect amongst the audience of a build-up of adrenaline, which ties into the theme of violence.

The camera is at a high angle, allowing the audience to look down on the characters. This makes them appear minuet and draws attention to smoke emerging from the building, which is an omen and suggests that the fight will result in something more dramatic happening such as an explosion as smoke is the after math of an explosion.  Again this is used to foreshadow later events, which will occur in the film.

 

A two shot is used to display the characters, this is used to show the characters being in sync as they are performing the same action. It gives a sense of the characters personality and feelings as Pitt’s character is smoking, and smoke is associated with evil and the other character is drinking which is associated with depression. As a result of this shot I thought it was clear to see that Pitt’s character has created an impression on the other as they are acting almost identically, which portrays that Pitt’s character is able to change the other character, revealing to the audience he is manipulative.

 

Police sirens can be heard, this creates an effect on the audience that the characters are soon to rebel against the law thus indicating their violence is only going to progress into something with a greater impact on society. Pitt’s character throws the bottle which shatters this is a representation of the character not being real. Norton’s character copies this action, which reveals he will destroy his alter ego.

 

All the micro features work together to create effects and enigmas for the audience. The lighting reveals the characters are participating in something slightly obscure due to it being low lit. The lighting is also used to create an impression of the characters as it affects both their faces, raising suspicion for the audience as distrust is created. Colour is used to give a sense of the characters personalities, for example Pitt’s red jacket provokes an impression of him being evil.

The use of sound is used to subliminally hint out future events, such as the police sirens as it allows the viewer to identify that something illegal is about to commence. I personally thought the micro features in this scene are used intelligently, as I can see how they impact the rest of the film such as the colour black being an indication of project mayhem and the glass bottles which work with the character position to reveal the protagonist being schizophrenic, which is the twist of the film and the fact this can be identified early in the film intrigues me.