CIN201Y1 Midterm: CIN201 MIDTERM PT. 2 PREP
1. What are the notable stylistic features of this sequence?
Be specific about mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing (and how they are deployed).
How do these elements work together to create a distinctive stylistic system in the film?
STYLISTIC ELEMENTS:
• CINEMATOGRAPHY low-angle camera shots of character against a stark
background, high-contrast lighting, cross is held at a canted angle, birds in the sky
(imagery), some close-ups on people watching, but we don’t really know where they
are in relation to Joan, camera moves up and down on a log angle as weapons are
tossed from tower window (again, don’t know where they are or why), the only
eyeline match—we assume—is when Joan looks up at the cross, chaos around her is
made to feel truly chaotic as the audience does not know where people are
• EDITING back-and-forth between close-up of Joan, close-up of the fire burning
underneath her, pans of the chaos of the people/area around her (interrupted actions),
blurriness around edge of frame (almost looks like vignette effect)
• MISE-EN-SCÈNE flat lighting, single stake and blank sky as Joan’s background
EFFECTS OF STYLISTIC ELEMENTS:
• Cinematographic choices reinforce Mise-En-Scène choices reinforce Editing
choices
• Focus on Joan’s face reinforces this theme of anguish
• Create a sense of urgency, uncertainty, anguish when shots within sequence are
combined
• The editing and cinematographic oddities create a sense of tightness and discomfort
• The audience is not allowed to focus on the one main character
• Visuals play with perspective
• Forces the audience to determine the coherence
2. How are the stylistic features identified reminiscent of those found in other films in the
1920s?
How might one make a case that this film—released near the end of the silent era in
1928—represents some kind of culmination of the internationalization of film style?
SIMILARITIES TO 1920 SILENT FILM:
• Social institutions conveyed through film content
• Camera angles and lighting have implied meanings
• Elements of mise-en-scène (such as no make-up, bare background) in contrast to the
elaborate and overly made up sets of the time conveys a meaning in and of itself
• Lack of sound is used evocatively (to strengthen the visual elements)
INTERNATIONALIZATION (FROM THE TIME):
• Some aspects of many different genres of film at this time, however, mostly unlike
any other films from the period
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