Film Language Essay

Film Language

The scene I have chosen to study is the opening scene of the film 'The Perks of being a Wallflower'. The subjects that I have to look at in the opening scene are how the Lighting and Colour is used, the Sound, Camerawork and the Mise en Scene.

The Lighting and Colour of the opening scene is used in certain ways to show the setting and the time at which this film is set. The opening scene shows movement of overhead lights such as you would see on roads at night. This is a subtle way in which the lighting is used to slowly introduce the film whilst the opening credits are taking place. The colour of the scene is used to show when the film is set, i.e to show that the film is set in the late 1990's or early 2000. The colour that shows this is a yellow tint which makes everything in the scene seem just slightly older than the present times. The lighting of the scene enhances the opening because the quick flashing lights are used to show the movement of the car along the road.

As shown from the picture above the lighting is used whilst the car is driving down the road to add an atmospheric opening to the film. Also as seen above, the colour for the scene and a method that is used throughout the film is that the scene is slightly tinted an Orange/Yellow colour to show the older setting of the film.

The sound of the film and in the opening scene is older generation of music such as David Bowie and The Samples. The music played in the background of the opening scene is "Could it be another change" by The Samples. The Music for this Track can be found below. 

The Music again shows how the film is set in an older setting because the music is used to show how it is the music that is currently being listened to by the characters in the film. The sound used in the opening scene is Non-Diagetic sound. This means that the music is not that of anyone singing or playing in the film as we can see it but music and sounds that cannot be seen in the scene. The voice over when the boy is writing is also Non-Diagetic. We cannot see him talking but we can hear it. The music used in the film are all in the genre's of Rock/Classic Rock and POP.

The Camerawork used in the opening scene of this film is showing the road and cars moving by as if the camera is the back of a moving vehicle.

The choice of movement for the camera when on the back of the car showing the roads, the shot is a rolling shot with the flowed movement with tilting used as well to show the whole of the road. The Camerawork is used to compliment the City type scenery of America at night. The roads and bridges and also the shots show how much the lighting has an effect on the lighting up of the scenery.

The Mise en Scene is not really used until the later parts of the opening scene when we meet the character of the unknown boy for the first time. The Character seems to not show much emotion in his face just with the character writing in a book or journal of some sort and the thought process being heard as a voice over of the character and his actions and the boy seems to wear normal 80s-90s clothing.

I could not find the opening scene in a youtube clip so here is the trailer to just show you what the film is about.