How does scene three of Twilight 'Titled - Are you enjoying the rain?' show how mise-en-scene is used to create meaning?
Twilight (directed by Catherine Hardwicke) is a modern day love story between a vampire & human couple that face problems due to the nature of Edward's lifestyle. Bella Swan (played by Kirstin Stewart) has moved away from her home town from Arizona to Washington state to a life where she didn't expect anything other than normal until she met Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattison) - they make an immediate connection and fight for their chance to be together, even though for them to be together forever, Bella is faced with the hard decision of leaving her old life behind and becoming immortal to be with her soul mate – by the end of this film, her decision isn't clear but the unknowing is what strives the audience to buy the sequel, it was an effective marketing technique in order to make the twilight series successful on DVD.
At the start of this scene, you see Bella leave her car and run into her school through the pouring rain accompanied by her fellow school
colleagues. You then see her standing cautiously at the door of her first class at her new school – she slowly walks in and makes eye contact with Edward at which point she walks towards him and sits next to him in biology class. Throughout this scene, there are use of close ups which are effective because it emphasises the fact that Bella and Edward are the main characters which makes the audience more inclined to focus on them instead of background activity – at one point, there is an extreme close up shot of Edward's eyes – this is important because it has reference to the fact that he's a vampire and although Bella hasn't yet realised, the colour of his eyes determines her realisation that he isn't human. The classroom is well lit and painted in neutral colours which help bring focus to the main characters in the scene. The heavy rain in this scene (which symbolises the start of the problems that the couple are about to embark upon) contrasted against the brightness of the inside of the classroom (which symbolises the happiness that they are yet to encounter) foreshadows the plot of the whole story – it symbolises the good relationship against the conflict between normal life and love.
The costume and make-up in the film is effective because with Edward, make up is important - that's what gives him his distinctive 'vampire' appearance with colour changing eyes dependant on the atmosphere and amount of light he's exposed to. His lips are redder than 'normal' which contrasts against his unusually white complexion. The dull clothing he wears shows that he doesn't want to be noticed and tries not to stand out in a crowd. Bella is also wearing dull colours and doesn't appear to be wearing much/any make-up which shows her shy personality and as with Edward, she doesn't want to stand out in a crowd or is particularly bothered about fashion. The casual clothes that they are wearing also help to set the time period in which the film is set in – in this case, it's set in the present (here and now) – which is effective because it means that the younger teenage audience are able to relate to the characters easier.
At the beginning, when they first make eye contact, is an effective use of an action code, this connection is important because we as an audience know that there is going to be a significant consequence to their meeting. Bella walks over to Edward confidently as if she's determined to find out what he's all about but just as she first sits next to him, their movements are cautious towards each other because they don't know each other or how to react, although once conversation is stimulated, the chemistry begins to build, which after a few minutes of talking, they behave positively towards each other, facing each other, giving eye contact and talking to each other directly with frequent smiles; during this time, a number of shot-reverse shots are used, to show the facial expression and behaviour of each character after dialogue has been spoken, this is important because it helps the audience identify the emotion of each character and empathise with them. Also, the way twilight is filmed is particularly effective, it's filmed with a hand held camera, which adds to the 'everyday life' feeling in the film which is why the characters are so easy to relate to.
After introduction there is a point of view shot, which shows the audience Bella and Edward's view of the classroom, although the classroom isn't the most important thing to identify here; it's important to look at how Bella and Edward are positioned in their seats, it helps establish their body language and how comfortable they feel with each other – they're sitting relatively close, but are no longer holding eye contact, Edward is looking over his shoulder watching Bella as she focuses on the subject teacher – the way Edward looks at Bella in this scene, hints at his feeling of protection over her, which is proven later on in the scene. Close up shots are used effectively in this scene to emphasise facial expression, it is important for us as the audience to recognise their emotions in order for us to empathise with them. The framing in this scene is effective because you only see Bella and Edward in the shot, from left to right, with nothing else surrounding them on either side – this makes the audience feel as if they are the only characters in the scene that have any importance.
Later in the scene, after leaving class, Bella is stood by her car, and Edward is watching from a distance, with his hands on his hips keeping a firm eye on what Bella is doing – this conveys a feeling of power and protection that Edward has over Bella, a feeling of a father-daughter like relationship, which is technically the case considering Edward is 91 years older than Bella but ceases to age.
Lighting also plays a key part in this film in creating meaning, there is use of high key, hard lighting which is important because it makes the characters features more defined so we as an audience are more able to pick up subtle differences in appearance, which is important in discovering Edward's dark secret (the fact that he's a vampire.) The difference in composition is important in this scene, when focusing on Edward and Bella, the light seems to be focused on them which emphasises that these are the main two characters and that you should pay particular attention in comparison to the people that you can see behind them, which have a dimmer, less focused view. The light also brings out the paleness of Edwards skin and his colour-changing eyes which are key to his 'secret' identity, he often turns away so people don't notice it.
In this scene, frontal lighting is used to add focus to the main characters which is effective because it eliminates shadows so that the audience isn't distracted by unrelated movements. The lighting is also effective in setting the,mood, in this scene, the classroom is very well illuminated, which signifies the happiness and spark between Bella and Edward; whereas the dimness behind them has an alternate interpretation which is that the darkness symbolises the dark happenings that are yet to happen later in the film.
In this scene, majority of the sound is diegetic,with focus on the dialogue of Bella and Edward, all other background noise is kept to a minimum to add to the intensity of what they're saying and to avoid distraction - there is an element of non-diegetic sound which is present at the end of the biology class scene, where the dialogue finishes and a dissolve to the next scene commences.
Only two props are used in this scene, but they are used to very good effect – the microscope in biology class, where Edward and Bella first meet face to face, is used effectively because it helps the two characters establish a connection and a feeling of shared possession – it also has reference to the fact that you have to look at something really closely in order to identify it's real form – which is what the whole film is based upon, the realisation that Edward isn't human, and this can only be detected by looking closely, monitoring appearance and behaviour.
The other prop used in this scene is Bella's car, it is relevant because it's her means of transportation – going on a journey, and it's a metaphor for the journey of life she is going through, where everything around you changes over time, the longer you stay for the 'ride', the more your life changes and this is reflected well in the film.
