Mise- en- scene and Camera movement
The beginning of my film scene ‘Moulin Rouge’ is about two characters who fall in love when they are forbidden, they suffer through many complications like Satine is a Courtesan and Christian has to strain himself to look past that which makes the love story so intense, my scene starts with the two main characters Satine and Christian as it is there first time together, Satine’s costume is all in black lingerie with black heels which could signify that she has a dark side to her, she also has red hair and red lips to show that she is a temptress as red is the colour of passion and love. Christian is also dressed in black but in a black suit which shows he looks smart and is there for a different purpose then her, there is a constant repetition of the colour red in her room which signifies love and lust as she is a courtesan which could reflect what kind of character she is.
We first embark on the couple in Satine’s room where she is laying on the bed, as she is on the bed the camera is looking down on her from a high angle to show how silly and provocative she looks this may influence the audience in there opinion of her as she doesn’t make a good impression of herself which makes the scene even more intense as she can change her ‘put on face’ into herself, there is a cross cutting shot from her to him to show that her actions are nothing to do with what he is saying and she is making it hard for him to get all of his words out , the cross cutting is from her rolling around on the floor groaning to him attempting to get his words out and looking at her puzzled to what she is doing, the camera is a low angle when it cross cuts to him to show is maturity and him stating the real reason why he is there and not jumping into bed with her , this would impress the audience as they would think he is a gentleman for not taking the chance most men would take.
There is a shallow focus on Christians back from the bright lighted Paris background in front of him as when he sings he is the most important thing at that moment and the audiences attention would be focused on him, we then get a point of view shot of Paris in the night where he sings into the air, all the houses lights turn on as they herd his voice, there is also iconography used in this scene as we see a landmark of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the lighting in this scene is bright and stands out among the night. Cross cutting is frequent in this scene as we preview it again when Christian turns around and the facial expression of Satine is speechless as she is dazzled by his voice , the audience could also say we are seeing point of view shots from both characters as they are both looking at each other while this is happening. While Christian is singing the camera stays on him and the camera is not completely still we can assume that a hand held camera is being used at this moment to create a bigger effect on his singing to represent realism to the situation, there is a change of focus is used from shallow focus of mid shot of Christian to Satine behind him , the camera is following his every move as if he is the main character, when he turns around the camera follows him as if we are seeing things from his point of view.
Over the shoulder shot is used twice, once for Satine to look at Christian and one for Christian to look at Satine which can also be known as a shot reverse shot, this signifies there bond with each other and how they are so close after a few moments together, which is like a fantasy of ‘love at first sight’ which is not realist but is commonly used in the film world as it caters to the audiences lust for romance and makes them believe that they can experience it. As the pair begin to spin together the camera shifts forward to get closer to them this makes the romance of the scene more intense as it builds up the desire of love. This part of the scene is typical and one of the most romantic parts as it shows the two together and can show there true character, as when we first see Satine she looked very seductive but in this part she revealed that she is a fool for love and is not really a prostitute, and Christian can see that as soon as he looks into her eyes.
There is a long shot of the two leaping through the air to get to another place which demonstrates the fantasy love story they both are in, as we view this the audience can briefly preview the setting once more as the stars are out in the sky, there are lights around all corners of the buildings and a shade of blue is constant, this switches the beginning scene from a repetition of red representing lust to a blue which could symbolise fantasy and care freeness , this setting also sets the scene for romance as it has all the factors of a romantic night this caters to the illusion the audience want to see of love. Again fantasy is backed up as they reach there destination and there is flutters of something shinny falling through the sky and iconography is used again as the Eiffel Tower
In conclusion the genre for Moulin rouge was romance and drama, the scene I studied was about the romance between the two characters and how the camera shots backed up the romance as there were many camera shots but there were also recurring camera shots used such as over the shoulder shot, shot reverse shot, low angle shots and two shots, the characters Satine and Christian in Moulin rouge show there romance by there body language, which makes the audience believe the characters romance, this makes the film more enjoyable and makes the genre more easier to spot.
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