Weekly Journal - Super 8

On 2^nd June 2017, I had watched a movie, Super 8 😱 in tutorial class. On that day, I had learned about the theory of mise-en-scene and I realized that the theory is suitable to apply in this movie. According to the lecture note, mise-en-scene is defined as staging in front of the camera which means everything that in front of the camera. There have four types of components in mise-en-scene which are setting and props, costume and makeup, lighting, and actor’s movement. The setting can be considered is the design of the background while the props can be defined as object or item such as table and chair, appliances. It can also include a large item such as car, train, canoe, and tent. We know that the costume and makeup are very important to the actors. We can know that what kind of the characteristic that actor was acting. Makeup can make the audience believe that what they are seeing on the screen to prevent losing their interesting. Besides, makeup can express the personality of the characteristic of the actors and enhance their appearance. Next, lighting must be provided when shooting. The natural light is not enough in either its quantity and quality to create the exposure level of a scene. We can know that the actor’s personalities and attitudes through their body movement, gestures, facial expression along with voice delivery and sound effect.

Super 8 is directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spieldberg. Five of the kids are main actors and tell the story is about five of the kids are filming their zombie movie with a super-8 camera. In the midnight, they go to train depot to film their movie and witness a horrifying train derailment. After occurring the accident, people and pets are disappeared in the town follow. One of the night, Alice was caught by an alien and five of the kids rescue her. Deputy Jackson Lamb searches for the terrifying truth behind the crash.

The scene that I chose is when Charles Kaznyk, Preston Scott, Martin Read, Cary McCarthy, and Alice was shooting in the train depot. They decide to make a low-budget zombie movie for an international competition. Before the train passing by, they set up their tools and Charles helps Alice to makeup. When the train passes, they start filming in order to add “production value”. Suddenly, Joe has seen a truck drive onto the railway and hit on the train. The train was crashed and the train depot was destroyed and causes five of them separate with each other. Joe has figured out a small white cube in the wreckage. They discover the truck’s driver is their biology teacher, Dr. Woodward. He warns the children cannot tell other people what they saw that night and forget it with a gun, if wouldn’t their parent will be killed. The children run away and the U.S Air Force were reaching. Col. Nelec has found out a super 8mm film box in train depot and he believes that the accident will be captured on camera.

Mise-en-scene is very suitable to apply in this train crash scene. This is because the four types components of mise-en-scene have fully used in this scene. 

First and foremost, the setting that chose by the children is in the train depot.They use the train depot as a background whereas the train and the truck can be categorized in props. 

Besides, Alice and Martin Read had changed their clothes before filming. The costumes of Alice and Martin Read have shown them are acting as an adult. In addition, Joe helps Alice to makeup. This can make Alice looks more mature in the screen and make her act more attractive.

Furthermore, Charles had set up the light before shooting. The lighting must be provided. The light can make surrounding brighter.

😱😱😱😱😱😱

The last component is actor’s movement. Alice expresses her facial expression when talking to Martin Read and she catches the mood successfully from the Joe, Charles, Preston and Cary. Besides, when the Dr. Woodward warn the children with a gun, all the children had expressed a shock facial expression and run away. 

We can listen that Dr. Woodward talked to the children are very soft. Hence, we can realize that Dr. Woodward are barely live and he got a seriously hurt.

Last but not least, Super 8 is a nice movie to watch. This movie also gives me a good lesson from learning about the film study. When I am watching, I can know how they process, how they shoot, how they apply mise-en-scene when they shoot. I also understand how important about the mise-en-scene theory when filming. The components of mise-en-scene cannot be miss either one. Each of the components has play their important role in helping in shooting and actors. Besides, mise-en-scene can help filmmaker to tell a story with visual clues of each scene. Mise-en-scene can enhance and intensify the significant of each scene. The setting and props can tell the audience where the actors want to go. The costume and makeup can deliver some message what kind of the characteristic that actor will be while the lighting can make the dark environment brighter. The actor’s movement can make the audience know what they will behave and the sound effect can catch the attention from the audience. For me, Super 8 is a quite nice movie. I think the main idea of the story is not talking about the alien whereas is taking about how the kids love the shooting activities and how they work as a team.