Design Elements: Set it Off ENG 225

Design Elements: Set it Off From the beginning films have helped pinpoint different elements of design. Through these elements, both film critics and viewers have been able to identify with what the director is trying to convey. According to this week’s assignment, we are to choose a scene from movieclips.com and in a three to five page paper, analyze the mise-en-scène through the elements of design. This leads me to my chosen film, Set it Off. This movie is formed around an extreme bank robbery in which reveals the dwells upon the lives of four women. This film takes place the streets of Southern California and helps give inside as to how these women do any and everything just to get by and make it on their own. Because tragedy and poverty strikes the women’s’ lives, they matters into their own hands and turn to robbing banks to make an escape from the city and lifestyle they have been surrounded by for years. The key actors in Set it Off are the following: Queen Latifah played as Cleopatra Sims (Cleo), Vivica Fox played as Francesca Sutton (Frankie), Jada Pinkett played as Lida Newsom (Stony), and Kimberly Elise played as Tisean Williams (T.T). These four childhood friends felt that the series of unfortunate events that have constantly occurred in their lives were just enough to push them over the edge and into the world of bank robbery (Polluck & Gray, 1996). This story is set to touch those who have been in these situations and give them the since that they are not alone. In the end we chose our fate and it is to us to choose the right path. “The moving picture, or film, is a powerful and complex form of visual communication that not only sets the agenda for what viewers think and talk about but also allows viewers to create and shape meaning based on what they have seen” (Ryan, 2012, p.37). Through this motion picture many elements are used to help capture each scene. In these elements of design, the direct focuses on reality and truth. The Director’s role is to productively convert the movie's composed hand written scripts, into real life sounds and motion pictures. The director of this particular film is F. Gary Gray. In our text, “if the director is responsible for the film overall, in a general way, the cinematographer is specifically responsible for its look, in very specific, shot–by–shot terms” (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.85). This concludes that the director is accountable for the total turnout of the film. Pretty much the notion of the film is put into the hands of the director. Robb Wilson King (the production designer), Marc Reshovsky (the cinematographer), and John Marshall (the art director) of this film all helped equally throughout this film. They each helped give what exactly the director was wanting and that was an action, drama, and crime film. The film takes place in the streets of Southern California and helps give inside as to how these women do any and everything just to get by and make it on their own. The scene I chose to analyze was when Cleopatra, played by actress Queen Latifah, was under a high-speed car chase with the police after the four women completed their bank robbery. Throughout the scene, Marc Reshovsky gives the scene everything it needs. “Dramatic scenes in films will vary the intensity and positions of the fill and back lights to suit the mood and/or to simulate the sources of light visible in the scene (table lamps, street lights, etc.)” (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.89). Through lighting and camera views, it helps give the viewers a dark feeling as if they are physically there at the law-breaking, high-speed scene pursuit. The scene takes place through an evening setting and the streetlights lights are used to highlight the entire scene. Another element was the spotlight from the helicopter shining on Cleopatra during the high pursuit chase, focusing on Cleopatra and her motions through this scene. This element gives this specific scene a highly emotional mood because we know that the end Cleo will not win and her fate will end well. The law is the law and no matter what when you do not follow the rules you will not succeed. The helicopter’s spotlight focuses on how they have her blocked in and completed surrounded by authorities. The lighting shows us that there was much effort put into the film and this scene specifically to emphasize the mood and the intensity of the scene. The Production Designer worked as a vital role in assisting the director to help attain the movie's optical needs. The production designer, Robb Wilson King, role is to work directly with the director to make the movie possible within the budget authorized and within the time they specified period of time (Polluck & Gray, 1996). Robb King came up with the movies filming locations (Southern California) and whether or not certain scenes should be filmed at a specific location or on stage. He helped enhance the visual qualities of the film and bring the story to life. The art director in Set it Off is John Marshall. The Art Director’s role is to oversee the building of the sets for the films production (Polluck & Gray, 1996). He seemed to have delegated tasks to different members of the set building team to include, production, set, electrical, and lighting designers. His overall role is to help bring the director’s vision to life and he did just that with through pinpoint setting arrangements. There were also other dynamics that helped make the scene more realistic as well. For example the costumes can tell us many things about a character. It can tell us about the character’s personality, lifestyle, etc. In this particular scene, Cleo is dressed in her work uniform that she changed into from her original bank robbing costume. She is wearing a blue custodial jumpsuit. This costume shows us about her lifestyle; that she worked as a custodian or a low-income and dead end job. This is where the sharp focus is used. Our text shares "certain characters or props (short for properties) may be in sharp focus, whereas others may be blurred; focus can change during a shot (a technique called racking focus); or everything may be in focus at once. The choice of lens can make things appear normal or distorted in some way" (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.85). The fact that she works this dead end job shows how desperate she must be to need more money. If she worked somewhere more glamorous, it wouldn’t make sense as to why she would be in need of money. Hairstyle and make-up also helped tell the story because make-up is worn and hairstyles are drastically styled. This helps show how much the person cares about their appearance. If their hair is messy, it can help enhance the scene and the characters. In this scene, Cleo’s hair is braided, giving her character a look that is easily hid behind a mask and also braids are often done so hair maintenance is minimal. This way, she is able to get out the city and not have to worry about hair and make-up maintenance. This is where the cinematographer focuses on color. "Saturation is deep, vibrant, bright, pure color. It is often used to express vibrant emotion or heightened reality" (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.94). The appearance of Cleo’s make-up throughout this scene is barley noticeable. She seems to be exhibiting a non-fashionable style, and more of a down to earth character, conveying a tomboy styled figure. She just robbed and bank and is on the run from the police, she is not worried about glamor at this point. Her character overall did not care about the girlie things. She was hard core and guy like. In saying this the focus was not about drastic color but more of the reality of how Cleo's character is more masculine and down to earth, giving the viewers the feel of her character, which is a tom-boyish, street, laid back, woman. To focus more on the mise en scène of this particular scene, framing was another key aspect that made this scene come to life. "Framing is done by aiming the camera in a certain way so that only a specific portion of the scene appears within the frame that will appear on screen" (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.86). Through this scene, the framing focused primarily on Cleo's character. Through up close focus and side shots, the framing gave the effects as to what the character was doing at all times as she was being chased by the police. Through this entire scene you were only focused on what was going to happen, why it was going to happen, and how it will end. It was framed to help the viewers see where Cleo's actions will lead her. Another element was Dutch-angle. This was used to help give a more dramatic scene. "A camera may also be tilted slightly off–axis so it doesn’t look level, a so–called Dutch angle that might give an off–kilter, unsettling feel to a scene or may make action scenes more dynamic" (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.97). This scene used a couple shots that were off centered or slightly tilted when zooming in on Cleo's character during the high-speed pursuit. This gave a more realistic feel because it made one feel as if something drastic was going to happen next. Which leads me into the deep focus element. Our text shares that, "everything in the frame is in clear focus, even what is seen in the background. This gives every element visible in the frame—the mise en scène—importance and value" (Goodykoontz, 2011, p.100). This was used throughout the entire scene; here the director vision was to let the viewers feel every aspect of this scene. Pretty much giving the feelings, stage, and setting of what was actually going on. Rather than just focusing on the character using shallow focus, they simply used deep focus with a variety of shots, such as extreme long shot, long shot, medium shot, and close-up shot. The whole focal point was to give the elements that would make this scene more realistic as if the viewers were there. The scene’s variety of elements worked together great in my opinion. The lighting was perfect because it was dark outside, but spotlighted the character that the scene was focusing on. “The visually literate person does not merely possess the capability of vision but goes on to mentally perceive and interpret the meanings of visuals” (Ryan, 2012, p.3). This is what the director’s intent was and he did just that. Through strategic visuals and motions he was able to interpret and help the viewers mentally perceive what was going on in this scene. The setting was good as well because it gave us the intensity of the scene through framing, when Cleo realized she was surrounded and was not going to get away. At the end, Cleo ultimately attempted to break past the police barriers and she just ended up being hit multiple times with gunshots, which in turn ended her life completely. The design elements are unquestionably fitting with the filmmaker’s visualization for this scene. It was powerful, emotional, and realistic, knowing that the fate of Cleo was not going to end well. All in all, Cleo was not a ruthless individual. She, along with her friends, were eager to escape the poverty and calamities they weathered in their hometown in Southern California. The scene when Cleo died was a sad one; especially because of the fact that we knew the kind of person Cleo was from the duration of the film. We knew she wasn’t a bad person, but in a bad place in her life. The director, the cinematographer, the production designer, and the art director all participated in vital roles in the accomplishments of this scene and the overall film. They worked together to make the written script a successful vision. Although tragedy and poverty strikes the women’s’ lives, they took matters into their own hands and turn to robbing banks to make an escape from the city and lifestyle they have been surrounded by for years.

References Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Pollock, D., Gray, F.G. (1996). Set it Off. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkwI1EdMI7Q Ryan, W. (2012). Visual literacy: learning to see. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.