How does the use of performance and Mise-en scene sympathy in the
Loki discovers he is a frost giant film sequence for Thor 2009?
The establishing shot is of a low angle of the tesaract which
tilts up to show Loki walking up to it in middle shot. The low shot to me shows
that the tesaract is powerless when someone is not controlling it and when it
tilts up and shows Loki walking up to it, it shows that it has more power with
Loki.
The sound in the background is empty, ere sound with footsteps of
Loki walking up to the tesaract and his heavy breathing, most of the sound is
exaggerated due to the echo in the room. There is also an exaggerated sound as
he picks up the tesaract.
There is a straight cut to a close up of the tesaract and Loki
picking it up with an exaggerated sound as he picks up the tesaract, then
another straight cut to a mid-shot of Loki holding the tesaract, when a heavy
breath comes from Loki the camera pans to the right this is to show more of the
background for when another character comes in. A loud echoed "stop"
comes and you can see a gold figure in the background as well as fires which
light the room. The room is dark and has low key lighting, this is mainly to do
with how this realm is based on Viking times and they haven't got any
electricity so everything is lit with fire, it also goes with the scene in the
way that this is a dark time for Loki as he is about to discover the truth of
his parentage and it also give a hint towards the end, showing that it is going
to end badly and someone is going to be in a dark place.
In this scene Loki is wearing green and black, the green
represents envy and jealousy which Loki is towards his broth Thor and the black
represents darkness which Loki is heading for and Loki's hair is long and
black, the black hair is there as a hint for me it is a clue that because
Loki's mother, father and brother in the film all have light hair, it shows
that Loki doesn't belong and that he is different and in this scene you find
out that he is, Odin is dressed in gold, the gold shows power and wealth and
this gives a clue that he is in a higher authority, which he is as king.
In the background there is a water dripping sound, this give the
scene a sense of coldness. There is a straight cut to a mid-shot of Loki's back
and in front of him is a yellow pointed rectangle, the fainted yellow is
slightly representing hope that something good would come of this but as it is
faded it is unlikely.
In the middle shot of Loki putting down the tesaract and turning
around, you see that he is blue and this is because it is revealing what he
really looks like because he is a frost giant not an Asgarden prince. When Loki
says “what more than that” he sounds angry and bitter this shows us that he has
just found out that he is different and that he is upset and angry that he was
never told. Then it has a straight cut to an extreme long shot behind Loki so
you can see Loki’s waste up and all of Odin in the distance, this shot shows
how far apart the two characters are in the sense of mentally because Loki has
spent so long thinking one thing and now that has changed and the secret has
distanced Loki for Odin. Then a straight cut of a mid/ close up shot of Loki
walking towards Odin asking him about where he came from, but the facial
expression shows that Loki is hurt and that adds to the anger in his voice.
Then there’s a straight, close up shot of Odin and Odin is to the right of the
screen leaving the left of the screen blank, on Odin face you can see sadness
and I can tell that he is sorry for not telling Loki and that he found out this
way, so the blankness to me shows that he has now lost something.
Another shot is an extreme long shot of Odin and Loki, Odin is on
steps and Loki is at the bottom of the steps. So Odin is higher than Loki
looking down at him, this shows that Odin is more powerful and in control as
Loki is almost powerless and helpless. This shot is also common in horror films
where the villain/murder is at the top of the steps and the victim is at the
bottom, so you could say that Loki is the victim and Odin is the villain.
During this scene there is a flash back of Odin finding Loki as a
baby, its tilt to a close up of the crying blue baby, then a straight cut to an
over the shoulder shot of the baby, while this shot goes on there is a non-diegetic
voice over of Odin explaining what happened to Loki, as he talks there is a
straight cut to a low angle shot of Odin holding the baby, the low angle shows
Odin higher than the baby to give him more power and to me this shows that he
is the position to make the choice to keep and raise the baby or to get rid of
it. Another straight cut shows a close up of the baby, and in this shot the
baby goes from blue, the colour it was born with to the same skin tone of Odin,
to me this makes me a bit sad because it shows that even from a baby Loki was
trying to fit in and be like everybody else even if he didn’t know he was doing
it.
A straight cut leads to a close up of Loki back to the scene and
you can see in his eyes the tears he is holding back, and he is looking away
from the camera, like he is avoiding looking at Odin this tells me that Loki
once looked at Odin as a farther because that what he thought to be true and
now he now it’s not he doesn’t see Odin in the same way. When Loki looks at
Odin and starts to ask questions it continues a reverse shot between Loki and
Odin, this helps create tension between the two characters and it helps build
up the dialog and to the emotion that Loki and Odin are both feeling, Loki more
than Odin. When Loki yells “tell me” you can see how angry and short tempered
he is begging to be and you can see faint little tears that have ran down his
face, to me this shows that he is trying to hide that he feels upset and
betrayed by showing anger.
When it gets to the point where Loki is saying “because I’m the
monster parents tell their children about at night” to me this is Loki cracking
and this piece of dialog tells you, what Loki thinks of himself more than
anything because it is tells me that he always thought that he was different and
an outcast and now he sees himself as an monster because he is a frost giant
and Loki has been brought up to hate this race because of Asgard being at war
with them. When Loki goes on to say “this explains why you favoured Thor all
these years…” Loki shows that he compares himself to Thor and see that his “farther”
loves Thor more than him and so this furthers his anger towards himself and he
always blamed himself but now he knows that it is because he isn’t who he
thought he was. This makes me feel sorry for Loki because he has been lied to
all his life and it shows that over the years because of this difference he
never knew existed he built up this resentment towards his brother.
As Loki is saying this Odin is starting to collapse and getting
lower and lower to the floor, and sits almost lying on the steps as Loki angrily
storms up to him. Loki is above Odin as he is yelling and a straight cut to low
angle where you can see part of Loki looking bigger, more powerful than Odin,
and Odin is reaching out his hand weakly needing help but Loki is too angry to
care for Odin so he continues. Another straight cut to a low angle showing Loki
towering Odin with pure anger and portrayal on his face and in his voice. The
low angle shows Loki higher because as Odin has become weak making Loki the
stronger powerful one. After Odin is lying down there is a straight cut to Loki’s
face and now seeing the man who raised him almost on deaths bed you can see
sorrow in his eyes.
There is an extreme close up where you can see Odin breathing heavily
and Loki reaches out and touches his hand, this shows that Loki still sees Odin
as someone he cares for because when you care for someone and you look out for
them you hold there hand to show that you are here for them and that what Loki
is doing.
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