Mise-En-Scene



For this assignment, I decided to watch The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. I chose this movie because I watched the first one for an assignment a few weeks ago and never got around to finishing the last movie.

Setting:

Towards the end of the movie, after the war had ended, Katniss goes to see President Snow where he is being held captive. When she walks in we see that their meeting is in a greenhouse. It is snowing outside, but the greenhouse has kept all of the white rose plants alive. This setting is very symbolic for their meeting because white roses are a symbol for President Snow and he uses them throughout the series to torment Katniss and remind her that he is in control of everything. In this scene, they are surrounded by rose plants, but President Snow is not in control at all. The director used deep space to show Katniss and President Snow’s conversation and to constantly remind us of the white roses in the background.

Lighting:

This movie uses both low-key and high-key lighting in various scenes throughout the entire movie. One example of when the movie uses low-key lighting is when Katniss and Peeta are having a conversation in the sewers under the Capitol. The lighting of this scene emphasises both the dark setting in the sewer and the dark topic of the conversation. We can see that the light is only coming from one direction and lights up only one side of the character’s faces. One example of high-key lighting in the movie is the ending scene where Katniss and Petta’s children are playing in the garden. The whole scene is lit up and there are very few shadows. The lighting helps emphasize that everything is okay now and Katniss and Peeta were able to move on from what happened and live happy lives.

Costume:

This movie uses costume to show the various societal statuses of the characters. When the characters are in District 13, they are all in the same jumpsuit to show that in District 13 everyone is equal, but once the setting leaves District 13, we can see how the directors used costume to differentiate between the character. There are many scenes in this movie where every character is in the same soldier uniform, but the main characters are carrying different weapons. Katniss carrying her iconic bow and Finnick with his trident help them stand out and show that they are not the same as the other soldiers. A scene at the end shows Effie saying goodbye to Haymitch and Katniss before they leave for District 12. Katniss and Haymitch are in plain muted clothes, but Effie is in a colorful, frivolous dress. The costume, which is typical for a Capitol citizen, helps foreshadow that Effie is going to stay in the Capitol despite her friends going back to District 12.

Staging:

One good example of staging in this movie is the scene where Katniss is supposed to execute President Snow. The whole scene is staged so we know for sure the Coin will just be the same dictator as Snow was. In the first movie Katniss rode down the same road before her first Hunger Game and President Snow was standing on a balcony. Now in the last movie, Katniss walked down the same road with President Snow at the end and President Coin on the balcony. This staging parallel shows that with Coin as President, nothing will change expect the roles will be reversed.

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