Post 9-Mise-en-scene analysis of a still from 'Her'.

Setting and Lighting

The setting within the image shows a city, perhaps New York City. With people surrounding the man in the red coat.  The lighting in the image shows low saturation, perhaps it is the evening time and so the sun is setting or the light is used to reflect how the character is feeling. By having the lighting on a low saturated level, it implies sadness, or anxiety and by the image showing a city it could imply that the city is causing the man his problems. A different point of view could be that the city is introducing the character as different people act in different ways depending on where they come from. For example, if the man was walking through the countryside it could imply that he is lonely and has a quiet life, but by having him walk through a city it could portray the idea that he has a busy schedule and by looking at his body language it could imply that he is not happy with where he is.

Costume and Make up

The first feature in which I notice about this man is that he stands out from the crowd due to his red coat. The other people around him are wearing neutral colours and so the man in the front stands out almost immediately when looking at the image. This could be used to simply get the attention of the audience or could be used in a more imaginative way. By making his coat red, it could imply that he feels angry as red is commonly associated with anger. I think that makeup has been used to take away the colour in his face as he is showing no warmth in his cheeks and is coming across pale. This could have been done to make the audience aware that he is not happy, perhaps he has just been told something and it has made him go this way. Linking the red coat to this point, he is standing out, perhaps conveying the idea that he is a bold character but the contrast between his face colour and the colour of his coat could be used to show that he isn’t feeling okay.

Character expression and Movement

The characters facial expressions in the image are portraying the idea that he is unhappy, perhaps uncomfortable in the situation that he is in, it is showing that he is uncomfortable as he has his arms folded tight around his chest perhaps showing the idea that he is trying to protect himself. Not physically protect himself but he may have been told something and now is trying to protect himself from feeling upset. He is moving with his head faced downwards, as if he is trying to avoid eye contact and the contrast between the two couples behind him looking at one another and the man in front looking only at the floor could be used to represent how everyone around him is happy and yet he still feels nothing but sadness. The man looks concerned, perhaps for himself or for something else and this could be what’s making him unhappy. His body language is showing that he wants to get out of the situation he’s in and because he’s surrounded by happy people when he is feeling upset, he wants to get away as fast as possible.