Super 8

         

:::MISE-EN-SCENE:::

            In every film, especially movies, mise-en-scene and mise-en-shot shown in the film are the important and standard elements that helps to give positive or negative feedbacks to the film from viewers. Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything that shows in the framing. It contains elements including settings and props, costumes and makeup, lighting, and actors' movements. Just like most of the audiences, they are most likely to watch a film with nice graphics and better shooting quality, with attractive settings and interesting characters. Thus, mise-en-scene plays a big role for evoking the emotions and personality of characters and sceneries to the audiences. Among all the awesome films, Super 8 is one of the movie with fascinating visuals and skillful editing along with actors that play their role perfectly.

:::SYNOPSIS:::

            Super 8 is a 2011 American science-fiction film, directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. In the beginning, a group of young kids who were Joe, Charles, Alice, Cary, Martin and Preston were shooting their own film for the participation in an international film competition. There was a conflict between Joe's father, Jack Lamb, and Alice's father, Louis Dainard, due to Joe's mother's death. Yet, Joe and Alice are still being very good friends. During the kids' shootings in every places onwards, many complicated and mysterious cases happen one by one. And one night Alice was caught by the alien-like creature after running away from her home. In the next day, Joe and his friends ran away from the victim crowd to save Alice, regardless of the danger out of the safety zone and punishments from military. In the end, the alien stop its destroying behaviors after getting "counsel" by Joe in its shelter under a cemetery, and back to its own place with its model. Jack also forgave Louis and did not blame him for the past.

:::RECAPPED SCENE:::

            The scene I would like to recap about in this movie film will be the scene where Joe and Cary were in the alien's hideout trying to save Alice out from the dangerous condition. While they were observing the whole hideout entirely, Cary saw Sheriff's body hung upside down beside him, and they saw other bodies hanging on everywhere too, including Alice. Then, they realized that the alien came back from another side, just right in front of them but in a far distance. It started to eat one of those people but not Alice. Joe decided to take actions in order to save Alice faster from the danger with the aid of Cary's firecrackers. As what most people will be like, they were very frightened and nervous, but they did not gave up to save their ownselves and left Alice behind. When they had successfully distracted the alien before it ate the next victim, which is Alice, Joe woke Alice up and they ran for their lives throughout the hideout. Unfortunately, they ended up running to a dead end. Alice and Cary screamed and walked backwards, while Joe just stood in front of the alien bravely even though his face still showed scared expression. At first, the alien caught Joe up in its hand, and it was eager with aggressiveness. Until Joe had convinced the alien successfully, it then stopped it's behavior and left Joe and his friends in the hideout without single harming.

            Relate to what i had learned during my tutorial class, the mise-en-scene in this movie plays a big role on making it to be one of the spotlights among all other movies. In the scene i recap about, the settings and props are well prepared and not too fake or overstated. The hideout which is the deep underground under the cemetery is hollow and dark enough to show the scaring environment to the audiences. Through the decorations in the background, which are those bodies hanging upside down and the destroyed electrical means, the scene is creepy enough to grab the audience's attention to investigate the whole scene. Next, the costumes and makeup of the casts are on point too. The appearance of all the casts in that scene are applied with rashes and scratch marks, and the clothes of theirs are dirty and untidy. This symbolized the condition of the victims and the kids in the hideout. Last but not least, the actors' movement and facial expressions became the main aspect in the scene. Cary's frightening emotion is shown when he is trying to enlighten the lighter, yet it is not overreacted (which means too scared). The kids and the other people ran with frustration at first, but when Sheriff is killed, they run more faster without a certain direction, until the kids had run to an end. This can be proved that they are running so fast just to survive. Moreover, Joe also show good movements and facial expression when he was grabbed by the alien. He convinced the alien with his braveness, and his facial expression still contains frights on it. This is because Joe will not know whether he will be alive or just killed by the alien straightly. Through his movement and expression, it shows a kid's normal emotion even though one's is brave enough to face the possibility to dead. Therefore, this scene is not too fake or over-enact.

:::TO CONCLUDE:::

            As a conclusion, Super 8 is a science-fiction movie that shows uniqueness yet clear messages in it. The mise-en-scene in this movie film is one of the most memorable things that can attract audience to look forward. After watching this film, I study that not just sound editing and the scene cutting are influential, but also the settings and props, costumes and makeup, lighting and actors' movements.