HOW TO CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE (RESEARCH)
Atmosphere is the tone or mood of a place or setting, the overall tone of a place being able to allow the audience to sense what comes from this room such as danger. An effective atmosphere has been established in many films, mostly horrors, to make the audience feel uneasy or like they are in danger with what surrounds them.
Creating an atmosphere can be affected by multiple actions in a film, one of the mains being Mise en Scene. Mise en scene is the placement of props and people that are visible in frame, which can be affected by four main aspects; the setting, costume, make-up and lighting. The setting is the space in the frame and creates the overall design of a setting to which the audience can understand the action in frame. Mise en scene helps set the emotions of the audience through the scenery and what is around the actors, even where the actors are standing can affect the audience.
The most effective of mise en scene on creating an atmosphere is the lighting. Lighting is the illumination of the objects and characters in frame, being able to highlight or shadow characters to amplify their emotions or inner characteristics such as in ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ where the lighting is used to make the Joker seem mysterious and unpredictable to the audience. Lighting can also set the mood for a movie, whether to bring tension or dramatic tendencies, an example of this being from ‘Blade Runner’ as the light shines through the wooden planks on the door, creating tension for the audience as the character tries to escape.
Music is important into creating an atmosphere as it can manipulate the audience's emotions to make them feel a certain way, being a powerful tool in story telling techniques or impacting and memorable scenes. Music has been proven to manipulate emotions if used effectively and can also make the scene that the audience are watching more effective, managing to pull on the audience's heart strings throughout. Lack of music can also be effective, having no music making the scene awkward and eerie to the audience as it feels un-natural and strange to the audience.
Although Mise en Scene and music can create a mood, characters are also just as effective to the audience, the more realistic they are the more effective they become. If we continue using the Joker from 'Batman: The Dark Knight' and the pencil trick scene as our example, although the lighting and placement of the scenery is effective in making the Joker seem more mysterious and unpredictable, his actions throughout the scene are also highly effective. The slow walk, manic laughter and his posture are all effective in this scene, making the audience uneasy throughout as they don't expect someone to be laughing throughout this scenario.
Depth to individual characters is important to understand and represent to the audience as the characters can feel disconnected or misplaced, linking back to why character development is important. For individual characters you need to think about their positives, flaws, habits, motives, speech and past. Having dimension in characters allows the audience to be more drawn to getting to know the characters and listening to them to try and understand them. This helps the audience understand the characters and how they effect what is happening in the scene around them, the strange, sarcastic laughter of the Joker making sense to the audience when he arrives but still sending a shiver down their spine.
The emotional complexity of the Joker and the facial expressions of the goons are all effective into how the audience feels and to creating an atmosphere, the audience feeling that this scene is realistic and could happen in real life. The matter of knowing that this scene could actually happen in real life and that the Joker is understandable as a character to a point where the audience can relate to him can make the audience ever more uncomfortable. All of this creates a memorable scene because of the atmosphere, managing to make the audience feel the tension and to make them feel like they are in the scene their selves, being able to feel the fear of the characters. This is one of the most memorable scenes I remember from any film growing up, watching this being the most effective emotionally and makes you invested into the scene. It also creates a fascination on the Joker, being afraid of him and knowing he is unpredictable but also wanting to know more about him, this being an effective character.
If the characters seem disconnected from the scene and their personality jumps over the place they wont be believable and will become obvious to the audience that there is little depth behind the character and the atmosphere. This is commonly picked up on by audiences and has been shown through many reviews and discussions of other films such as the Marvel or D.C. films, most complained about recently being Suicide Squad for the exact reason of character development; story development was also an issue. Whether they are kind, comedic or mean to each other, relationships between characters are some of the most important parts of a character's atmosphere to the audience. Impulses will also help the audience understand why a character may become nicer or meaner to a certain character throughout the film and who they have become close to throughout their journey.
Atmosphere is powerful and has control over the audience's feelings, allowing them to feel when the characters are in danger or whether they are safe. Being able to use these factors to make an effective atmosphere allows you to alter how the audience feels about the scenario and the characters involved. Understanding how to create an atmosphere is important as it can make a memorable scene that may of been boring without the use of Mise en Scene and the characters.
References
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Fast Company. (2018). 4 Keys To Creating A Mood From Director David Gordon Green. [online] Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/1683546/4-keys-to-creating-a-mood-from-director-david-gordon-green [Accessed 9 Apr. 2018].
(2018). Mise-en-scène. [online] Elementsofcinema.com. Available at: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/directing/mise-en-scene-in-films/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2018].
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YouTube. (2018). Joker's Pencil Trick (Best Quality). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/ihazDjbJ9WQ [Accessed 9 Apr. 2018].
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