How does the use of cinematography and Mise-en scene sympathy in
the Loki discovers he is a frost giant film sequence from Thor 2009?
The scene is about Loki finding out that he was adopted and his
real farther is their enemy and this betrayal cause Loki to try and destroy
Thor and the whole frost giant race and become King of Asgard. 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, eerie sound with diegetic 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’s 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 diegetic 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, everything is lit
with fire, it also goes with the scene in the way that this is a dark time for
Loki as he’s about to discover the truth of his parentage and it also give a
hint towards the end, showing that it’s 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 mise en
scene could represent envy and jealousy which Loki is towards his brother Thor
and the black mise en scene could 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’s different and in this
scene you find out that he’s, Odin is dressed in gold, the gold mise en scene
shows power and wealth and this gives a clue that he’s in a higher authority,
which he’s as king.
In the background there is a water dripping, diegetic 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 mise en scene representing hope that something good would come of this
but as it is faded it is unlikely.
In the middle shot, Loki puts down the Tesaract and turns around,
you see he’s blue and this is revealing what he really looks like because he’s
a frost giant not of Asgard. When Loki says “what more than that” he sounds
angry and bitter showing us that he has just found out that he’s different and
that he’s upset and angry that he was never told. A straight cut to an extreme
long shot behind Loki shows 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 a straight, close up shot of Odin to the right of the screen leaves
the left of the screen blank. On his face you can see sadness and I can tell
that he’s sorry for not telling Loki and that he found out this way, so the
blankness shows that he has now lost something dear to him and this creates
sympathy.
An extreme long shot reveals, 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’s 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’s the victim and Odin is the villain this is similar to horror films
example scream when the victim comes close to or is getting chased by ghost
face.
During this scene there is a flash/back of Odin finding Loki as a
baby, it tilt’s 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’s 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 made 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 to a close up of Loki back to the scene and you can
see in his eyes the tears he’s holding back, and he’s looking away from the
camera, like he’s avoiding looking at Odin. This tells me that Loki once looked
at Odin as a father 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’s begging to
be and you can see faint little tears that have ran down his face, to me this
shows that he’s trying to hide that he feels upset and betrayed by showing
anger.
When it gets to the point where Loki, in a close up switching
between Loki and Odin, is saying “because I’m the monster parents tell their
children about at night” to me this is Loki breaking and this piece of dialogue
tells you, what Loki thinks of himself because it is tells me that he always thought
that he was different, an outcast and now he sees himself as an monster because
he’s 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
saw that his “father” loves Thor more than him and so this furthers his anger
towards himself. This makes me feel sympathy towards 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. The mise en scene of his voice shows how upset Loki is and you can
hear him holding back the tears.
Odin starts to collapse, getting lower to the floor, and almost
lying on the steps as Loki angrily storms up to him. Loki is above Odin as he’s
yelling and a straight cut to low angle where you can see part of Loki looking bigger,
more powerful than Odin, Odin is reaching out his hand weakly needing help but
Loki is too angry to care. 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 mise en scene, Loki higher because 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, when you care for someone and you look out
for them you hold their hand to show that you are there and that what Loki is
doing.
