Game of Thrones 5×09

“The Dance of Dragons”

In this blog about mise en scene, I will analyse a scene from a popular TV show “Game of Thrones” created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, in which queen Deanerys is rescued by her dragon from a riot, happening during one of the special events.

The action takes place in a colosseum-like arena. Many men are fighting for their lives in the center, meanwhile citizens of Meereen and Daenerys are watching. That’s when the Sons of the Harpy decide to strike in attempt to kill the queen.

We can notice how the fighters and soldiers of the queen wear armor, spectators have very few and dark clothing, along with dirty faces, but Daenerys is the one that stands out greatly, with her golden jewellery, perfect blonde hair and spotless, white dress. In this particular scene it could represent her purity, as she is the only one, truly displeased with the occurance of those deadly fights, but also her vulnerability later on, when she is defenseless without her dragons against the attackers. All the characters have little to no makeup, which goes along with the fantasy/medieval setting. When the riot starts we can notice that many people have their faces covered in blood.

Daenerys is not just unhappy because of the fights, but she is also worried, as one of the warriors is Jorah Mormont – her close friend. Thus when the bloodthirsty crowd cheers and screams, the queen seems like she feels trapped in her chair unable to prevent the madness. When Sons of the Harpy emerge from the crowd and put their masks on , everyone is confused, but soon enough they run as the bloodshed begins. Queen’s guards are trying to protect her at all cost, but she still feels terrified just as everybody around her. When they get surrounded by the attackers, Daenerys grabs Missandei’s hand in fear, hoping for a way out of this situation. She closes her eyes and tries to make peace with the possibility of dying, but then everything changes when her dragon appears and burns the Sons of the Harpy. Daenerys pulls out a spear from Drogon’s side, gets on his back and flies away relieved and somehow triumphing.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

For the blog about Editing I chose “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” written and directed by Luc Besson, which tells a story about two special operatives from 28th century who are trying to maintain order in the galaxy.

First of the two scenes that I will be analysing takes place at the beginning of the movie, when Valerian and Laureline arrive at the City of a Thousand Planets. It perfectly describes the place of action and the relationship between both main characters. The scene begins with a longer establishing shot of the titular “City” as the protagonists approach the gigantic structure in their spaceship. It is interrupted then by on-ship shots and continued with another look at the city, this time from pilots’ perspective. The entirety of this scene uses cross-cutting, with the camera jumping between main characters and various environments of the City of a Thousand Planets. However, these shots still are very integral thanks to the cybernetic voice, that describes life on the space-station to Laureline and Valerian. From the beginning it is also noticable how protagonists are being presented on the same level, as partners, on the contrary to the title of the movie favoring Valerian. After the establishing shot we see Laureline moving towards the middle, then Valerian and then both of them together as they reach for the levers. Both of them even have exactly the same amount of shots throughout the whole sequence.

Second scene, called “Spotted” happens on extra-dimensional bazaar called Big Market during protagonists’ mission of retrieving a creature called Mül Converter. Valerian has to leave the market and asks Laureline for help. During their conversation, both characters are shown in the center of the screen, which helps preserve the continuity. It is also interesting, how every two shots that happen after each other are filmed from opposite directions. When at first the camera is on the left side or in the front, then the next shot is being filmed from right or behind. Later “match on action” occurs as we see the guard shooting at Valerian from different angles and Valerian falling down. First, we see Valerian from a bird-view perspective, then camera is placed on the side and moves down through all the floors, with the sequence eventually ending with another bird-view shot.

The Bad Batch (2017)

For this blog post about sound I chose an American film directed and written by Ana Lily Amirpour – “The Bad Batch”. According to The Hollywood Reporter its soundtrack is “the sharpest tool in the movie’s arsenal” and the choice of music has been praised by many other critics. “The Bad Batch” tells a story about a dystopian world, full of cannibals, occultists and outcasts.

When I watched this film for the first time, it turned out to be something completely different than I was expecting. At the very beginning we meet our main protagonist – Arlen, who has been marked as the title “Bad Batch” and abandoned in the middle of a desert. We cannot hear any dialogues, instead we are treated with silence which in my opinion perfectly illustrates the vastness of surrounding and a feeling of loneliness. It creates a dramatic effect, after Arlen has been casted out. Occassionally loud background noises can be heard, and they play a big role, even in further parts of the movie (for example engines, birds, wind, gunshots).

It is interesting how sound works in various ways with the image. There is a bit of grotesque and contrast, like in the scene where Arlen has been captured by cannibals and they start cutting off her arm, while happy tunes are being played on the radio. Or when soundtrack goes along with what we see on the screen and helps create the perfect atmosphere, in the scene where Arlen is looking through adult magazines in search for the perfect arm, which she later sticks to the mirror and tries to reimagine herself whole. We can hear a sensual, electronic beat that suggests it is quite an intimate moment for Arlen as she is not feeling whole nor beautiful since the incident, even months after. Another interesting moment takes place after our protagonist is under the influence of psychoactive substances. Echoes and new age music can be heard as Arlen keeps repeating the same words, when she strolls to the desert, which portrays her state of mind and what she might feel in that moment.

The film also plays around with volume, which can be easily noticed in the rave scene. Climatic funky/electronic music gets significantly quieter when The Dream gives his speech. It also happens in two similar situations – when Honey gets lost in the crowd and when Arlen stands idly in a cheering crowd, looking out of place and deep in thought, that is until she decided to try out a mysterious drug. At the very moment she takes the pill there is silence, creating suspense and curiosity, followed by the return of upbeat sounds.