In the movie, “Black Mirror”, there are many film elements shown within the first couple minutes. Within the first five minutes I was able to understand elements such as editing, sound, mise-en-scene, and camera shots. Also, within the beginning of the movie, I was able to get a quick understanding of the three main characters, Yorkie, Wes, and Kelly. With all of these elements, it gives me somewhat of an idea of how the movie will play out.
To begin with, sound played a big role in the beginning of the movie. Automatically in the first minute, when the people pulled up in the car you can hear music which was digetic sound. This helped me understand the time frame this movie is taking place in. Because I could recognize the song, I knew it was most likely taking place in the 80s. Another form of digetic sound I noticed was the music inside the club, which also hinted to it being the 80s. When Yorkie was first walking on the street outside the club, you can hear the music coming from the club. The sound is muffled and that tells the audience how loud it is and could represent that it is so loud that she can not hear herself think, which is why the sound is muffled. Also, because the sound is muffled it makes it seem like Yorkie is nervous or scared of going into the club. Also, the music inside the club showed sound perspective. This showed how loud the music actually is. I also noticed synchronous sound. This is when Kelly is walking into the club and you can hear her heels clicking on the sidewalk. Sound also played a big role of the friendship that was being created between Kelly and Yorkie. Kelly came over and was talking to the guy she came with getting him to leave so she can talk to Yorkie. This can be seen as symbolism later in the movie if their friendship leads to something.
The next film editing strategy that I noticed is mise-en-scene. I specifically noticed the costume first. As soon as the people came into the shot I saw their outfits and how they don't look modern and how their outfits are outdated. This gave me another clue that this movie is taking place in the 80s. This established a theme right away. Also regarding costume and the characters' outfits you can tell the difference between people. For example, Kelly’s outfit is more in your face and loud, while Yorkie's outfit is a lot quieter and makes you realize she will be quiet and shy. A big part of mise-en-scene that I noticed as well was the lighting. In the demonstration of the lighting, the whole movie so far was lowkey light and the main lighting was in the club with the bright flashing neon lights.
Regarding editing and camera shots, there were only a couple noticeable editing techniques that I found. First, there was a contrast from when the film starts. The woman is outside the club and it seems very dull and quiet. Then quickly, the editing strategy is a quick cut into the club with loud music and people talking very loud, so it was a very different location and setting. Also, in the club when Yorkie is playing a video game, another character comes up to her and asks to play a car game. There is a camera shot used while showing the video game. The shot is a close up and it zooms in on a car crashing in the game. Yorkie sees the crash and it shakes her up and she gets weirded out and looks like it affected her. The music changed to a fast paced sound which symbolizes that she experienced something or something traumatizing is happening or happened. Another camera shot I noticed was a dolly shot which followed one of the characters in the club. This linked to a panning shot / establishing shot which showed the whole setting and gave me an understanding of the club. An editing technique noticed was a cut shot. This was a cut shot from when Yorkie was on one side of the street and then Wes, and Kelly were on the other side of the street.
Overall, in the first five minutes I noticed a bunch of film elements including sound, mise-en-scene, shots, and editing.These contributed to the movie in several ways and will most likely make another appearance later in the movie.
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