Mise-en-scene

 

The movie I chose for the mise-en-scene is 2008 movie starring Liam Neeson in Taken.

The movie begins with high key lighting footage of Maggie Grace’s character, Kim, as a five-year-old girl celebrating her birthday. Soon after that scene, it cuts to Liam Neeson’s character Bryan Mills as he wakes up alone in his living room from a dream that turns out to be a flashback of his daughter’s birthday. The sudden change from high-key lighting to low-key lighting shows the audience that something sad has happened to Bryan. The dark lighting changes the viewers emotions so that they feel what Bryan is expressing which is depression, exhaustion, and loneliness which is represented by him sitting alone in an empty living room.

After the first couple of scenes, Bryan shows up to his daughters’ birthday as she is much older now. The setting changes from a dark and gloomy living room to a bright and sunny outdoor birthday party. This change in setting is used to disregard the past setting so that the audience feels happier since the location takes place at her party. The party also influences his daughters’ wardrobe which is full of bright colors which makes the audience view Kim as innocent and playful which is how Bryan sees her as well. The wardrobe in this scene really gives the feel that even though Kim is older and a teenager she is still a playful person like how she was in the beginning of the movie from when she was five.

In the most recognizable scene when Bryan is talking to the guy who captured Kim, the lighting changes from a high key to a low-key format. The set decided to change his wardrobe and make him wear all black. The clothing and the lighting succeeded in making that scene way more eerie because it helped convey the unsettling ambiance after he hears Kim scream in distress from being kidnapped and speaks to the guy who helped kidnap her.