Parallel and Contrapuntal Sound

This is my minute long video to the song 'I Feel Pretty', originally from Westside Story, sung here by Julie Andrews and I have used extracts from videos uploaded by famous YouTubers, Siena Mirabella and Zoella.

Film Language: Mise-en-scene

This is the iconic 'shower scene' from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror/mystery film Psycho. The most obvious thing that stands out in this still is Janet Leigh's facial expression which suggests extreme fear of someone in front of her, who the audience can see the shadow of. 
The fact that she has no costume suggests her vulnerability and the lack of props around her contributes to her defenselessness. The look of terror on her face immediately implies that this person in front of her is dangerous and most likely about to hurt her which can be further implied by the fact that she's in the shower, a very unlikely place for a woman to be screaming, unless she was in danger of being hurt/killed. 
The use of shadows on the wall could be a hint at the Film Noir genre, which could then indicate a sense of mystery about the rest of the narrative.

This clip is the opening scene to the 2006 comedy drama film Little Miss Sunshine and it gives us an introduction to all the main characters in the film. 

We are first introduced to Olive, the protagonist and youngest member of the family who clearly has a strong interest in beauty pageants and dancing on the basis that she is replaying a clip of a woman winning a pageant and she is mimicking her actions which could tell us that she aspires to be in/win a beauty pageant herself, which could be further suggested by her costume which looks a lot like sports/dance clothing, telling us she takes dancing very seriously. 

We then go on to see the father who is giving a lecture to an audience we don't see until the end of the lecture - his facial expressions and hand gestures tell us that he is extremely passionate about the subject he is talking about and we have an initial impression that he is successful in what he does but then we see the audience which turns out to be less than ten students in a small auditorium so we are then aware that he isn't as successful as we initially thought he was and we get the impression that he is struggling to promote his idea/concept of "Refuse to Lose" as it says on the screen behind him. 

We are then introduced to the teenage son who is apparently dedicated to working out and keeping fit. A more educated audience would also be able to see that he has a painting of Friedrich Nietzsche on his wall and this could indicate that he also has an interest in philosophy. 

We are then introduced to the Grandfather who locks himself in the bathroom and undergoes a supposedly ritualistic process of taking cocaine which says a lot about the character and leaves us feeling that he's not a typical Grandfather and makes us wonder what else will unfold in the rest of his character's narrative. His stance and general facial expressions convey a message that he is particularly laid back and not especially worried about his health deteriorating as a result of his drug-taking. 

Then, we introduced to the Mother who is simultaneously driving, smoking and talking on the phone. The first shot of her introduction is of her holding the cigarette and the steering wheel with the same hand which immediately suggests she's stressed about something. We then see her talking on the phone and from her facial expressions we can assume that she is frustrated by whatever it is she's talking about and she then throws the cigarette out of the window and shakes her head after hanging up the phone. 

We're then introduced to our final character who is sitting in a wheelchair in a hospital room from which we can assume he's been injured or ill and he's looking out of the window and then we see a close up shot of his face, and he looks extremely depressed and tired but the audience are unaware of the reason.

This is the infamous scene in the 1939 fantasy film The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy falls from Kansas in the tornado and walks out of her black and white bedroom into technicolour Oz and everything is bright and the colours are almost exaggerated, for example the river is a  bright cobalt blue and there are flowers of all shades and this shows the audience how much Munchkinland contrasts to dull Kansas and how Munchkinland is generally over the top, almost as if it's part of a dream. 

Dorothy's costume is also quite brightly coloured; her dress is blue and white and her hair ribbons are also blue and this could signify that in Kansas, she has been trapped by rules and regulations and now that she's in this wonderful place, she's able to be herself and show all her 'colour' and do what she wants. 

Her facial expression of initial shock and awe could imply that this is the place she has been dreaming of her whole life and there's a sense of relief that she's found it.

This clip is the opening scene to the 2003 Tarantino action thriller Kill Bill: Volume 1. In this scene we see the face of a badly injured woman lying on the floor and she is visibly extremely distressed about something, shaking and crying. The lighting in this scene creates a high contrast between the black and white which has connotations linking to Film Noir which could suggest a sense of mystery in the plot. 

The injuries on her face have clearly been deliberately inflicted by another person suggesting she was a victim in a vicious attack. We then see a person walking across the floor from the ground's point of view so we only see the feet and it's then made apparent that he's walking towards her because we see the toe of his shoe stop just by her shoulder and this makes him appear very predatory and she is now made a lot more vulnerable. 

He then starts to dab at her injuries with his hankie and she flinches, emphasising both the pain she's in and her fear of him. His hankie has his name clearly sewn into it which we must assume is crucial for the plot because since the name of the film is Kill Bill, we can deduce that someone's motive in this film is going to be to kill Bill. After he continues to wipe at her bloody injuries, she finally says something to him and as she says it, he shoots her in the head and blood spatters out on the floor and the scene cuts immediately. 

This is vital information for the rest of the plot because you want to know whether it killed her, why he shot her and how the film's narrative is going to unfold following that opening.