We looked at four films in total:
The first two films were Alfred Hitchcock films "The Birds" and "North by Northwest".
The Birds (1963)
Mise en Scène
In the first scene, we see a city. On the top of a building is big words with lights in them in the daytime. The words say: "Air France", and underneath it; "Paris" This suggests that this is set in the French capital. We also are introduced to a pet shop, and the Mise en Scène of that room, with bird cages may be an important setting for the film.
Editing
Continuing from the theme of the words on the top of the building reading, "Paris", the camera moves about 180 degrees to the left, following a woman crossing a road and walking. However, we then see a poster saying "San Francisco" is shown, so this may make the viewer confused about the location. In the pet shop, however, the characters have American accents, so this confirms that it is set in San Francisco.
North by Northwest (1959)
Mise en Scène
The office building in a city, as well as the city itself, which is New York.
Editing
In the scenes with the taxi, it edits from the man and woman getting into a taxi from a street to the interior of the taxi. As this film was made in 1959, the taxi scene is clearly used with a green screen and watching it over 50 years after it was made may make a viewer not appreciate the technologies of the day and think of it as nothing compared to today's methods of filming. You can see the main characters on the back seats of the taxi and the city streets and parks of New York behind them through the window at the back of the taxi. When they leave the taxi, they are back on the city streets.
Although strictly speaking, this next point should come under the camerawork category, it still deserves to be mentioned in the editing section; there are establishing shots for the city. A good example of what an establishing shot is is depicted in television shows like Friends; at the beginning of a scene, the viewer will see the exterior of Central Perk, so we know that this is where that particular scene will be set, so this is an excellent method of cancelling out any probability of the viewer being confused of the location of the scene.
Back to "North by Northwest", the beginning of the film is fast paced, this will be to keep the viewer engaged with the film and to not change channel/leave the cinema. The fast paced action of the beginning is depicted in the camerawork, editing and acting.
Halfway through this media lesson, we then looked at two other films from the 21st century, but these ones were not directed by Hitchcock as he died in 1980.
Phonebooth (2002)
Mise en Scène
New York. The viewer is aware that it is set there as it shows the Earth and zooms in and the beginning location in Times Square. The effect this has is larger than just having an establishing shot, as the viewer may either recognise the shape of New York city from a satellite view or they may be aware of the eventful, "crossroads of the world", Times Square. Before you see Earth, you see a space station or satellite, which is likely to be connected to the mobile phone network.
Editing
The zooming in on New York, when we see New York on a satellite view and it zooms in, we see some mechanical works and not the city yet but it zooms out from the mechanical works and, as it zooms out, the camera appears to be zooming out from a man's mobile phone at Times Square.
Death Note (2006)
Mise en Scène
The establishing shot is at night of an Oriental city so we are given the impression that the themes of the film may be dark, the language spoken is Oriental, however in the media lesson there were subtitles.
Editing
The editing is quick and edits from one person dying to another; however the people who die are random and the cause of death is unknown. Immediately this grabs the attention of the viewer and makes them keep watching, so this is a good introduction.
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