The Confined and Adventure Seeking Life of Walter Mitty

Grant Davis

Within the realm of film, there is a secret language embedded deep within the frames that speak a magnitude about the work as a whole. This is a secret language of visuals, a language that is easy to miss to the untrained eye, but, just like with any language, one can be learned - and perfected. This unique type of language is known as mise en scene, a French cinematographic term meaning “within the frame.” Everything from the depth of the shot to the objects placed inside the frame all contribute to the artful language of mise en scene. Inside Ben Stiller’s wildly exciting adventure as Walter Mitty in the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the elements of mise en scene can be traced throughout the entire film to exhibit Mitty’s life-changing experience from a dull, boring man to one that opens up to the world, one who embraces new things, and one who takes actions toward his goals instead of just dreaming about them.

Right in the beginning of the film, the language of mise en scene can be heard to show the confinement and repression of Walter Mitty’s boring and plain life. In one the first few opening shots, Walter Mitty is sitting at his desk while writing in his checkbook with his laptop opened besides him. The colors of the walls in Mitty’s apartment are a faint grey-blue and the laptop and kitchen appliances are grey and silver. These plain and listless colors all help show Mitty’s colorless and plain life. Everything is neatly organized in Mitty’s house; nothing is placed out of order. All of the geometry in this first shot shows his perfectionism, from the perfectly horizontal lines on the book shelf to the perfectly vertical brass bars. Everything in Walter’s life is organized. The wide depth of field allows the audience to clearly see the shadow of the opened shades behind Mitty’s head. This shadow gives the audience the subconscious impression that he is behind the bars of a jail cell; confined in a tight space with nowhere to go.  Mitty is the dominant within the first few opening shots. While in the basement of LIFE magazine (Ironic since it appears Walter Mitty doesn't have a life), Mitty is always hard at work, the audience is given the impression that there is an extreme work load for Mitty as the background fills the frame with boxes overloading with used photographs and folders. The language of mise en scene at both Walter Mitty’s apartment and workplace help give the audience the feeling he is surrounded by confined spaces, except for his imagination.

Walter’s life begins to open up at the sight of Cheryl Melhoff (Kristin Wiig), the new girl at the office. It is Cheryl that changes Walter from a plain and lifeless man to an adventure endeavoring, thrill seeking man, by giving him something to prove himself for. In all of the loosely framed shots which show Walter and Cheryl together, the shallow depth of field creates bokeh (intentional blur), giving the frame an almost dream-like feeling. Cheryl’s presence near Mitty always rids him of the stress he’s dealing with at work and gives him a wide smile on his face, showing how much he enjoys being around her. Right as Walter Mitty reaches Greenland, everything changes to be more open, from the shots to the landscape. Walter opens the airplane window to see that he is about to arrive at his destination, and the land just seems to keep going and going. Limitless. Nothing is confined anymore. Everything is free to roam whatever it pleases. 

(Not the exact shot, but it still shows the vast landmass below)

When Walter Mitty reaches Greenland in hopes of finding Sean O’ Connell, he searches a local tavern for his possible whereabouts. Before befriending a drunken helicopter pilot who takes him deep into the Atlantic, Walter Mitty dreams of Cheryl singing him “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. This scene is in slow motion to show Walter’s last minute decision to get on the helicopter and him taking action, since he needs to break out of his comfort zone to possibly find Sean. Once leaping inside the already flying helicopter, the scene stops being slow motion. As Mitty is flying away, there is a wide-shot of Cheryl singing while standing on the dark blue helicopter pad. She is the only object in the frame and gets smaller and smaller in size as the helicopter flies farther and farther away. After Walter arrives in Iceland, he is met with the challenge of getting from one small town to another to escape an erupting volcano. He cuts up his tie and wraps two rocks under the palms of his hand to cushion them against the rough asphalt of the road. Walter grabs his longboard and begins his crazy long boarding ride along a windy, beautiful scenic route showcasing Iceland’s beautiful mountains and lanscape. This scene best shows Walter’s transformation - and ultimately freedom - by the wide and deep shots, as well as his open arms to show his new embracing personality. Walter’s transformation from a plain and lifeless man is done so by the gorgeous new girl in the office, Cheryl Melhoff. Walter’s desire to prove himself for Cheryl is ultimately in charge of giving him a new life as an adventurous man, determined to find the lost picture by Sean O’ Connell, so the last TIME magazine can be issued.

                                

The secret language of film known as mise en scene is very important for giving the audience clues to the deeper meaning of the film. A designated position for this special skill in film making is known as a cinematographer, or one who “records movements” inside the film frame. Mise en scene in this film consistently support Walter Mitty’s transformation from a man who was confined to his apartment and his workplace to a volcano evading, mountain climbing, thrill seeking man who now lives life to the fullest and with no regret, because a certain woman entered his life and gave him something to prove himself for.

Chapter 1 Essay - Photography

Chapter 1 - Photography Essay 

          Throughout the universally interesting and emotional history of film production, there have been many unique motion pictures which make people act, think, or feel differently after viewing. The chapter of Photography emphasized the key points, such as where the camera is placed and how it moves, to evoke a certain emotion within the viewer. Of the three films used for the Photography chapter - The Usual Suspects, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Gladiator – each has a unique way of being filmed such that each movie evokes a certain emotion within the viewer. All throughout these three films, there is a plethora of different filming techniques that are used specifically to draw the readers in and evoke certain emotions within the audience, ultimately allowing them to reflect on how the ethics of each main character can be altered and changed from the specific filming techniques that make up the work of art.

          The gangster oriented film of Brian Singer known as The Usual Suspects, uses violence to make the audience view the ethics of morality. Within this film, there are many different examples of when both high and low angles are used to display both power and weakness. In the first shot where “Keyser Soze” was standing on the deck of the boat, and urinating on the lit gas trail, he was viewed from below showing him as an important and powerful figure. In the same scene where Verbal, Keaton, McManus, Fenster and Hockney are doing the job for “Soze” at the end of the film with the boat heist, “Soze” kills off every member of the crew except for Keaton. The high angle looking down at Keaton shows his vulnerability since he is injured and in the presence of Soze. Soze – or Verbal – really has the whole heist under control from start to finish by fooling his crew members that he was really innocent, when in fact, he was not. Another element to this film was its film noir-esque overall feel by using lots of shadows and bright lights, as well as smoke. The element of film noir is mainly about corruption and mystery. At the beginning of the film, there are many small details that are later pointed out by the end of the movie, which helps add to the confusion displayed by Agent Kujon. One of the many small details that are pointed out by the end of the movie is Soze’s golden watch, which he is wearing when he kills Keaton and it is the same watch that Verbal picks up as he is leaving the DA’s office. Such elements in this film help show why it many people view ethics differently on the film, The Usual Suspects.

          In the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, the main moral values are the ethics of love. This film makes a person argue the ethics of love because at the beginning of the film, the viewer thinks that Joel skips work and goes on a wild adventure where he meets a nice girl named Clementine. They meet on the train on the way back to their homes and in the process of doing do, they get to know each other and develop chemistry. But later on in the movie Joel goes to give Clementine a gift and she does not know who he is. That is because she had Joel erased from her memory because they started to fall apart. She thought he was boring, and he thought she was crazy. Joel tries to erase her from her memory, but while doing this he finds that he still loves her. It makes the viewer argue about the ethics of love because if a person loves somebody else so much, but things don’t work out, would it really be ethical to erase them from their memory and not be able to remember them forever? Throughout this movie, there are many different scenes and shots which show cool colors against warm colors. The first scene of the movie has a little glass sculptor hanging in Joel's window of all blue glass and a little piece of orange glass. The blue represents Joel’s dull life and the color represents Clementine – the color in his dull life. Every time Joel and Clementine are in the same shot there is a contrast between cool colors and warm colors. Joel is representative of cool colors like grays, blacks and dark blues, while Clementine always has red or very warm, bright colors. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also has many high and low angles in it. One example of this is when Joel is under the table as kid and he was hiding from his mother. There is a low angle of Joel because he his scared of her and he really is powerless. And in that same scene there is a high angle on Clementine and Joel's mother because they really have power, and Clementine is trying to get Joel out from under the table. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a formalist film because it primarily focuses on the specific techniques and what the movie is expressing. "We do not feel bad for Joel and Clementine because we suspect they have harmed themselves in removing their memories of one another; we also naturally think that this procedure involves harming those who are erased as well, (Academia.edu). This quote shows how this movie is not ethical about love because erasing one person is not only harming that person but also harming the person that had the memory erased. Throughout history, people have argued against the ethics of love and what matters. Because in this film, Clementine thought Joel was boring and wanted to forget about him so she erased him from her memory. Joel found out and then tried the same thing but tried to stop it while it was happening. However, it didn't work. Because of that reason, it is not ethical to erase somebody from their own memory because ultimately Joel and Clementine met again and they fell back in love.

          In the film Gladiator, the argument over whether honor is ethical transpires throughout the movie. In this film, Marcus Aurelius appointed Maximus to be the new leader of Rome, but, because he had been away from his family for so long and had not seen them, he was not sure if he should take up this great responsibility. Commodus found out that his own father did not want to choose him to become the emperor because he was corrupted and Marcus ultimately wanted the corruption to stop. Commodus tried to have Maximus killed but he escaped and he was trying to get his vengeance on Commodus for killing his wife and son. The ethics of honor are being questioned here by asking how far a person would be willing to go in order to bring back honor to his name and country. In the beginning of the movie, there is a close-up shot of Marcus Aurelius during the first battle, and his face signifies that he is disgusted by war and wants it to be over. This makes him believe that Maximus could make Rome a better place and end the corruption. In the scene were Maximus shows the people of Rome what they want but they are too astonished and are silent is when he is in the arena and he is the last gladiator standing. No one applauds his killing and he erupts to the crowd, "Are you not entertained?" This ultimately shows that the crowd is not entertained with Marcus’ actions. Near the end of the movie, Commodus wants Maximus' last fight to be against him. In this scene Maximus gets his honor back and he gets vengeance on Commodus for killing Marcus Aurelius, his father. Before the fight, Commodus stabbed Maximus so he was bleeding out and on the verge of death. An easy fight for Commodus - or so it seemed. Maximus remembers his wife and that his mission was not yet complete. He kills Commodus he appoints the Senate back to being the leader of Rome so the corruption would stop. After he dies there in the coliseum, there is a close-up shot of Maximus' hand stroking the wheat showing that he has a nonviolent side of him now that he is in the afterlife, where he is finally with his family. There is also a long shot of Maximus walking to his home in Spain with his wife and son in the afterlife.  The ethics of honor are continuously being argued because there is uncertainty of how far a person would be willing to go in order to get their honor back. The question is whether or not they would try to get vengeance on the person that took something from them, even though they have nothing to live for, or if they would just give up, not do anything, and die.

          Throughout all of these films, there are many different techniques purposefully used while filming to evoke a certain feeling within the audience. Some of these various filming techniques include lighting positions, camera shots (wide, high telephoto range, large and small aperture), as well as filming angles. Within the films, The Usual Suspects, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Gladiator, moral values can be seen depicted through various mediums such as love, honor and violence.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

      Inside the fantastically royal film, The Royal Tenenbaums, the ever-so creative director, Wes Anderson, gives us an inside look at the Tenenbaum's troubles through the camera's lens. This film is centered primarily around the Tenenbaum family and their crumbling relationships with one another. The Tenenbaum family consists of the father (Royal), the mother (Etheline), adopted daughter (Margot), and the two sons (Chas and Richie). Due to leaving his family abruptly, Royal sends chaos and separation throughout the family while he lives in a hotel room on credit.  Years and years pass on and each family member slowly drifts away on their own. Broke and being evicted out of the hotel, Royal decides to confront his family. He keeps them bound up close and tight by convincing them that he is dying, when he's really not. Royal begins to lead a life of joy and happiness by spending time with his kids and wife whom he had neglected in the past. The family eventually comes back together all thanks to Royal’s false health problem. However, it's not quite a fairy tale ending.

      Elements such as costume and make-up help define each and every character within this film. For instance, Margot Tenenbaum always wears heavy eyeliner which mirrors her dark, complex and unique character. She wears a large, fur coat which also helps symbolizing her secretive personality, as she starts smoking at the age of fourteen and continues until she is thirty. Richie, a young tennis prodigy wears the same headband and wristband he wore as a kid even as adult, showing how much of an identity it is for him.

      Colors also play a big role in this film. The entire film, except for a few distinct scenes, has a gold hue to it which helps symbolize the royalty of the family. Certain characters only wear certain colors, for instance, Chas and his sons only wear red tracksuits which mirrors their way of life – having to work fast and competitively in order to make it to the top.  Raleigh St. Clair, on the other hand, wears the same brown blazer and brown pants, which help show is boring personality. It is this same boring personality that is seen when he makes no effort to talk to his own wife, resulting in her hidden addiction to smoking cigarettes and staying in the bathroom for six hours a day.

      This film is a wonderful masterpiece, with its intricate and pleasing use of cinematic techniques. The Royal Tenenbaums had just the right amount of comedy to keep it funny and the audience laughing, but also just enough seriousness to grab your attention and having you sit at the edge of your seat. Throughout this film, all the secrets which were revealed from the individual characters helped give the story a solid foundation. During the last scene, where everyone was gathered around Royal Tenenbaum’s grave, it said he saved his family from a sinking battleship, and in reality, he did. If it wasn't for Royal, the family would not have talked to one another presumably and would have continued to live their miserable lives. The final scene gave the audience a feeling of remorse with a hint of satisfaction, a hint of satisfaction that the family is happy and they are all living together – peacefully.

Film Terminology - Mise En Scene

Film Terminology - Mise En Scene

Presented by Grant Davis and Chris Dreher

ASPECT RATIO

The aspect ratio is the relationship between the height and width of the production film.

PARALLELISM

Parallelism is the parallel editing of two different events happening at the same time, but in different locations.

LETTER BOXING

Letter-boxing is the act of transferring widescreen film to a standard film format while maintaining the film's original aspect ratio.

(The result of letter-boxing is two thick black parallel bars that run both on top and below the film)

DEPTH OF FIELD

An optical term describing the amount of space within a medium that is clearly in focus.

(Shallow depth of field)



(Large depth of field)