Mise-en-scene

Sin City, 2005 - The Lady in Red

Directors: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez




For our first assignment I have been asked to find a clip from a film on Youtube and discuss how it uses the audiovisual elements to convey meaning and tell a story. I have selected the opening scene to the violent comic book inspired movie Sin City. This scene at first seems peaceful and romantic, you could almost be fooled into thinking that this was a love scene, however it just lulls the audience into a false sense of security before something shocking happens revealing the true cold and dark tone of the film.

I will look at the composition, colour, lighting, dialogue etc. to see how it creates an atmosphere and tone.
The scene opens on the terrace of a high rise building with a lady dressed in red calmly walking over to the balcony. The background is set in black and white however the women's dress and lipstick are coloured red, this unique form of cinematography emphasises the sense passion as well as danger depicted in this scene.

A slow jazz tune plays in the background; a man approaches the women calmly and conversates with her, his manner is cool and charming, his thoughts narrated on the audio are generally innocent; this settles the viewer into a relaxed and soothing atmosphere; however there is a vague sense of danger and tension, this is brought on by the contrast of colour and composition between the two characters.

The women appears vulnerable in comparison to the man; he is tall, dressed in black with a shadow cast across part of his face making him seem dark and mysterious while the women is dressed in a glowing red, a colour often with danger; there is also more light shone on her face which gives her a more innocent and vulnerable appearance. The body language and facial expressions also show this, the man keeps a stern face and steady posture during conversation while the women seems more affected by the conversation as her facial expressions show a range of different emotions from sadness to happiness. The dialogue too puts the man in control, he is confident, charming and wise managing to seduce this beautiful women with minimal effort.
As they embrace the atmosphere seems to soften as his thoughts are narrated; he seems to truely care for her; they kiss and a second after he tells her he loves her there is a sudden and violent flash; as the women dies in his arms he pulls a gun with a silencer out from off screen. He continues to hold her as his narrated thoughts continue to express his love for her with a sadness in his voice; the rain begins to come down harder to emphasise this sad tone. This sudden and disturbing action leaves the audience confused and gripped to why he has done this.
Finally with a nasty and souless tone of voice he says "I'll cash her check in the morning" as the cameras zooms out as a dark and sinister audio track plays, revealing the mans true colours as a cold and calculating assassin simply after money rather than the love-struck gentleman he appeared to be a few moments ago.
As he says this and the camera pans over the dark grey city and the sinister soundtracks plays as the opening credits roll setting the dark and off-key tone of the film while still leaving the audience in shock from the transition.

This film is incredible visually, the use of shadows combined with the odd splash of colour creates a truely unique visual experience and an atmosphere like no other. However the audio here is equally important in creating this, particularly the narratives which along with black and white set the dark and cold atmosphere.