I want you to think about the mise-en-scene in Let the Right One In. Examine all aspects of mise-en-scene: lighting, composition, set, properties, etc. This would include color as well. Discuss the concept of "monster" through the mise-en-scene of the film. This exercise will help prepare you for your Independent Study. Examine CLOSELY and offer me many details and examples. Think about what the director is trying to say IMPLICITLY. Please do this in at least 2 well-developed paragraphs.
Use whatever scenes you can find on YouTube or come into the Library and use my copy.
In Let the Right One In, the 2008 Swedish horror film, the meaning and themes of the movie, as well as the concept of “monster” presented in the film are developed in key ways by the mise-en-scene. While it’s a horror movie, it is also a coming of age story about two kids, which means the lighting is important in developing these ideas. The lighting is almost always set up in such a way that the subject, generally in the foreground is lit, and everything else is in sort of a haze, if not totally dark. This is true in their apartments, in the gym, on the playground, and in the forest. If the director wants the audience’s focus to shift, they would change the lighting so the new focus is brighter, and the old subject is darker. The idea of that distinct look is really the key to this movie.
ReplyDeleteThe set is a lot of outdoors, which is always either bright and white snowy, or grim and grey snowy, depending on the lighting, and mood of the scene. The indoor sets, including the school room, the two apartments, the pool and gym, and the boy’s father’s house, are obviously all very Swedish looking, but individually characterize those who dwell in them. Oskar’s apartment seems warm, but dated, and on the lower end of the middle class. The gym and the school, the public spaces, are uncluttered, bright, and sterile. They have hard, clean surfaces and are often on the extreme end of bright or dark in terms of lighting. The sterility is why the soaking of the pool in blood at the end of the film is so shocking. The pool’s lighting actual materials appear so clean and blue toned, which makes the blood really stands out. The idea of a monster is also developed through color, primarily that of the costumes, makeup and hair. The actual, technical “monster” (Eli) is seen as a friend, and Oskar’s peers, who bully him, are seen as the real monsters, even though Eli is actually killing people. Everything about the school boys and those characters who live in the world without the burden of fear of vampires, or other things, appear to have brighter complexion, wear colored clothes, and deliberate haircuts. Oskar, who lives in fear of his best friend and his tormentors, has dulled colors, and unkempt hair. Although Eli does seem the most gray of all, she is Oskar’s only real friend, so she is kept in the light of not really being a monster, while the bullies who attempt to murder or injure him at the end of the movie, are the real monsters in Oskar’s eyes.
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ReplyDeleteTomas Alfredson’s 2008 Swedish film entitled Let the Right one in addresses mankind's ability to become “monsters” and more importantly shows us that sometimes members of our own species are far more evil than the monsters themselves. Throughout the entire film we're met with the idea that Eli is a vampire who needs to do the most heinous action known to us, depriving a human being of their life, in order to survive. Automatically the audience is prone to believing Eli is an evil monster, but as the movie progresses we are shown the young children who bully Oskar are the true villains of the film.
DeleteIn this film, one scene that most accurately depicts the thesis that the real monster does not live inside Eli is when Oskar gives Eli his Rubix Cube. The diegesis, especially in this scene, is full of symbols that portray the aspect of innocence. When we first see Oskar, sitting centered in a long shot with only the infrastructure of a metal jungle gym behind him, the theme that floods the audience is of innocence and simplicity. The strict diegetic sound also aids to the overall implicit meaning and the true character of Eli, showing she does just what she needs to do to survive and nothing more, even if that means rarely finding true happiness. There are only two points in the movie when music is played (during the scene when Oskar and Eli run away together and when Oskar swimming and Jocko kicks the radio into the water) which allows the audience to draw to the feeling of calmness. The lighting in this scene is a constant soft light that shines on Oskar’s face stronger when he turns towards Eli. This alludes to the central theme of simplicity or minimalism with threads of the foreshadowing of their love. The shot composition in this scene shows Eli in the top row of the rule of thirds as she is sitting on top of the jungle gym, while Oskar is in the bottom row. This is an especially intriguing shot because it allows Eli to possess power and makes the audience feel as though they should fear her but because of the intricate details of all other cinematic elements in this scene, the sense of fear is overpowered by the overwhelming signs of innocent calmness. The diegetic element of the rubix cube is the most important element of this entire scene. When a close up of the cube is shown, the closeness of this shot implies the importance of the cube, it is all white but one square is red. The white implying purity and minimalism with the red aspect of murder and evil as an ever present unavoidable feature for Eli. This scene adequately sets an example for the film as a whole. The audience is able to see Oskar and Eli as the truest forms of themselves so we are left with a raw central meaning that Eli is not the one to fear but one of our own “kind”.
One of my favorite things about this movie is the way the director intentionally composed the setting in this movie to create a hidden meaning. There is a straightforward obvious meaning in the dull colors in contrast to the blood red. We see it in the beginning during the scene with what we assume is her father pouring blood out of the man dressed all in white and hung from the tree. The blood stains the snow. The choice of winter is very important because during winter everything is white and cold and blood is warm and red. They also use bright color to represent the innocence of childhood seen with the rubix cube and the outfits she wears once she meets the boy. The very first time we see her she is wearing all white turtleneck which drains the color of her skin and that tends to tell us that there is something different about her. But, because of that we see similarities between the two. They are both strangely white, but when sitting side by side in the frame Eli’s hair creates a pressure on the top right of the screen and then oskar’s coat puts a pressure on the bottom left almost like a yin yang feeling. Like they’re opposites who fit and I think the director was trying to play into it with costume design. There are also the times when she is wearing white and she gets blood on herself. If she was wearing black you wouldn’t be able to see the blood stains so the director uses the white to play into it and bring emphasis on the color red.
ReplyDeleteAfter meeting Oskar, Eli starts to brighten up and even begins wearing clothing with more color in it. She gets more leeway in where she goes and this new openness is something the director uses to imply new structure to the plot eventually leading to Eli becoming her new provider of blood. The place that they meet is very desolate and that is a lot of industrial elements like the playground thing. It is metal and represents the coldness which makes sense because she’d be cold being a vampire.
Let the Right One In’s portrayal of Eli as a monster before explicitly showing her as one is a work of incredible subtlety creating a sense that the viewer should be concerned with her without any actions of hers revealing her as a monster. Eli is constantly a lurker in scenes existing in the background of scenes appearing like a stalking predator which is perpetuated by the similarity of her outfit to the surroundings. In the snow with Oskar she appears behind him silently dressed in white like a tiger stalking prey through the tall grass. Even in the moments just before Eli’s first on screen killing she appears lying in snow and shadow waiting to ambush her prey pretending to be hurt as bait.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly Hakan, the killer accompanying Eli, is portrayed as a monster in a completely opposite manner. He is shown as a suspicious outsider watching others silently and alone. He is shown as a freak wearing dark clothing in the bright snow standing out solo against the crowd. Even his death reminds us that he is alone trapped with his victim’s rescuers he horribly disfigures himself then is killed by the very person he killed for who leaves him fallen in the snow but this time in a white hospital gown he becomes one with the dead.
It's a safe assessment to claim that the real monsters in "Let the Right One In" are the adults, the bullies, the overall society of this small town presented in the mise-en-scene of the film. The town is all of us,everyone has there own darker side to the story. Oskar is isolated from his divorced family, the other adults have disturbing habits (like cat hoarding), the children are agressive and abusive towards Oskar, and we see a vague connection between Eli and Hakan, almost on a pedophillic level. Oskar's salvation lies in Eli, and with Eli is Oskar. The focus of this analysis is on the field trip scene when Oskar "strikes back". The focus will be almost entirely on the bullies, Eli, and Oskar.
ReplyDeleteThe mise-en-scene of the entire movie tends to either be in the snowy outdoors of Sweden or in the dark of night. This bully scene does take place outdoors, and this i important with blood imagery. The deep red shade of blood contrasts well with the snowy exterior of Stockholm. Such essential film technique are used in this scene but work eloquently with the theme of the work. Oskar and the bullies maintain eye level in the start of the scene. We cut to a side plot in development in the same location where two kids have the upper portion of thirds, looking down on what we eventually come to find the body of an earlier victim. The lighting in this scene is natural, as it is outdoors, and it's very bright, a sharp contrast to the standard horror convention and reflects more on Okar's character and the tone of the situation. Thi isn't a moment of fear for Oskar, this will be his triumph in a spare moment. The lighting demonstrates Oskar's development into a confident character ready to face his fears. The openness of the frame also expresses this tone as Oskar would isolate himself indoors, and the majority of his shots outdoors is with Eli. Again, it's established that Oskar shows little fear around Eli and is open to her, much like the openness of the frame. Here, he confronts his fear in the open, in the light of day.
The lead bully in red and black stands in the front of the other two bullies, he takes the foreground as the confident, malignant antagonist, as the other bullies are merely follower, uncertain of the outcome and worried about their own well being, one rebuttals "The teacher's coming, he'll be mad". They take the middleground, leaving the background to distant kids and the treeline. Their flaws of cowardice are represented in the cinematic space of grounding. When Oskar takes the swing, the bully kneels to the ground, Oskar soon takes the low angle shot, the bully at a high angle shot. Both the literal interpretation of space and the dynamic power shift emerge from the confrontation. Oskar ha the high ground, he's achieved his triumph in conquering his fear of confrontation.
We soon get the juxtaposition of the dead body being extracted from the lake. The irony and theme of the story takes place here. The body was used to feed Eli, she is a monster to be fed human blood, but she gave Oskar the confidence to stand up for his real monsters, the monsters that society crafted.
Great analysis, Michael!
Delete“Let The Right One In” is a Swedish horror film from 2008, directed by Tomas Alfredson. The film came out in a time where vampire movies were coming back, and these movies made vampires more likeable, protagonist characters, very different from the days of Nosferatu and Bela Lugosi’s Dracula performances. Films such as “The Only Lovers Left Alive” (2012) and the “Twilight” (2010s) franchise both portrayed vampires as more friend than foe. Such is the case of Alfredson’s lead vampire, Eli. During the course of the film, the way she is portrayed in comparison to the other characters brings out the more “human” side in her, and the monstrous side of certain human characters. Alfredson achieves this through his control of mise-en-scene, which personally I believe is a director’s greatest tool. Throughout the film, he utilizes a color palette which favors the humanization of Eli the vampire. The setting of the film is mainly black (the night which Eli thrives in) and white (the snow on the ground). During the film however, Eli’s wardrobe shifts from that of a more neutral palette to a brighter scheme. This does not only show her taking a liking to Oskar, the boy, but represents her good nature coming out.
ReplyDeleteNormally, the color red, especially when shown through blood in a vampire film has a negative connotation. Director Alfredson considers this meaning of the color red in early scenes with killings, but soon shifts its meaning towards something else: love and friendship. As the film draws on, and Oskar and Eli become closer and closer, the color red appears much more often, sometimes even present in its blood form (kinda gross). Eventually in the end of the film when Eli saves Oskar from the bullies by killing them in the pool, the blood spilled symbolizes her love for Oskar, and the extents she will go to to keep him.
"Let The Right One In", directed by Tomas Alfredson in 2008, is as Swedish horror film that works to redefine the term monster. Yes, it is a film about a vampire, but really under the surface it is a coming-of-age film about a boy and a person. In this film, the vampire is shown as a protagonist, a friend to the main character. Eli, the vampire, saves Oskar from a life of monotony and bullying. The mise-en-scene is an important aspect of this film, especially with color. We see the shift in Eli's personality from that of a bloodthirsty monster to a more human figure, despite the fact that we see more killings occur as the film goes on.
ReplyDeleteAs Eli gets to know Oskar, he begins to bring more color into her life. The first we see of this is with the Rubik's cube that he hands her in the courtyard - it is a stark contrast with the white snow and ice that surrounds them. In this first shot of her, she is wearing monochromatic colors, yet as she becomes closer and closer to Oskar she is surrounded by more varied colors. In fact, when he visits her in her apartment, she is wearing a pink ruffled shirt, which is the most expressive thing the viewer sees her wear. Blood, also, is a symbol for good in this film rather than evil. We see blood at moments where Eli (or Oskar) are getting stronger, and when their bond is getting closer. This is especially true when Oskar hits his bully in the ear with a stick, and we see the blood on his hand. Another example of this is when Eli enters the apartment without being invited in, and Oskar quickly invites her in to save her life. However, this blood symbolism brings up an interesting contrast between Oskar and the man who we see taking care of Eli in the early moments of the film. This man, the first we see of him, is accompanied by the first bit of blood that we see in the scene. This creates the lingering notion that this has happened before - that Eli, being an ageless vampire, enthralls a young person who will grow up and care for her, and then kills them when they have outlived their use.
This film gives a great view of people as monsters by juxtaposing people that act like monsters with a real one. Set in a fairly universally relatable setting, school bullying, audiences are able to clearly see the evil in the people-monsters and the humanity in the actual monster. I think that through this, the director gives a clear commentary on things being different than how the appear to be, the whole “don’t judge a book by its cover” cliché.
ReplyDeleteSince the film is a coming-of-age story as well as a horror story, the mise-en-scène is effectively used to convey the feelings and emotions covered by both, fear and growth. The lighting in the film usually reflects the mood of the scene and the characters it’s focused on. In more negative moods, the coloring and lighting is usually very bleak and grey looking. The lighting is also used to focus on the subject and obscure the rest of the shot, showing the selfishness in pre-pubescent teens. In the scene towards the end of the film at the gym, when the boy is in the locker room, we can tell something is off by the bleakness of the coloring. Later we find out about the others there that plan on harming him. This scene also effectively juxtaposes the people-monsters with the actual monster, since the bullies there were much more harmful in their intentions and actions than the monster saving the boy.
The set in this scene also effectively shows the emptiness in people. The pool and locker room are both very bare, and even though there are many people in it at first, it is apparent that this place doesn’t look very human. I think that shows the lack of humanity in people, having a bunch of people around, but they’re all empty like the pool. It’s also interesting that the whole action of Eli saving Oskar happens while we only see Oskar underwater. I think this reflects his innocence somewhat, and that is also shown when he comes safely out of the pool; it’s as if he doesn’t notice how horribly his attackers have been subdued.