Note 2
Note 2
Note 2
First, mise-en-scène not only is what the viewer can see on the film, but also what they
are allowed to see. For a film student is what contains on the frame and how is
organised.
The film centralizes in the jewellery story that had been robed; however, the act of
robbing is never shown. Is more important what they say, that what they do.
The guns are used in this film, but they are not important props for this film, what is
important and hardly seen is the diamond bag. What is important about this prop is that
The film begins in a coffee shop were we see a group of people dressed in black
tuxedos (expect two). The audience can understand form this point that they are a
group joint for a common purpose, we get a sense of unity, because the way they are
dressed. Tarantino wanted to give an impression that they are a gang and by the
course of the film, he deconstruct them (we see through the bloody, dirty and wrinkled
The characters are setting in round table and discussing a Madonna song (like a
virgin); the performance of this scene aims to connect with the viewer because the
director is making the characters as human as possible, realistic people having very
casual and irrelevant conversations. It also demonstrates that they are incapable to
steal and kill (although we see later, that they are thieves getting ready to rob a jewel
store).
The setting of this scene helps a lot because as Tarantino said in an interview “the
Eagle Rock Boulevard, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, and they are historical accurate (90s)
The ear slice is a violent aspect in this scene, and what helps is the red colout that
The design of this setting is to achieve a scary and cold feel like a torture chamber to
create an uncomfortable felling for the audience .We can see through the chains
dangling from the ceiling, the walls are stone bricks, the soft and cold lights. The colour
helps to create a frightening place because the colours that the audience see are dark
or a banal colours (The walls are bland grey, the shadows are over the grey cement
floor and the props that are in the background are brown, black or white colours).
However the red colour of the blood stands out from the rest, it may symbolize the
innocence because the people who are injured and bloody are two cops (Mr. Orange
The film plays with theatricality elements in a cinematic form, especially in this scene,
because Tarantino decides to film this shoot as if they are in a stage. The reason is
quite simple; it was “the easiest way to shoot something“(Tarantino says). The
characters are incapable to escape the scene and this creates a contained tension
We also get realism due to fact that every minute that we are watching the
conversation in the scene is a minute for us. The film is happening in real-time clock,
and it approximates the characters with the public, however these characters do not
talk about the thinks that genre characters normally speak. (Normal people).
This scene was shoot in a location unfortunately the warehouse was demolish.
In conclusion, not all the elements of mise-en-scène where essential in this film, but the
the ones that where in the film, help the movie being a classical.