Quentin Tarantino is one of the best directors when it come to Mise-en-scene and setting up a scene to give it the most dramatic and emotional feel. In this classic scene from "True Romance,"you can see how Tarantino carefully chooses his dominant, subsidiary contrasts, character placement and proxemics, staging, and especially lighting.
The lighting is the most important element of Mise-en-scene in this scene. Tarantino uses the lighting to help the audience feel (rather than hear) what kind of men the characters are. The sole source of light in the scene is only coming down upon Dennis Hopper (foreground) and Christopher Walken (background) even though there are four other men in the scene. And while the light seems to give Dennis Hopper a glow, it darkens the face of Christopher Walken, giving the audience the feel that he is the antagonist.
It is clear that our antagonist is the dominant in this scene. Our eyes are immediately drawn to Walken holding the cup of coffee. Our eyes are then drawn over to our protagonist, and subsidiary contrast Dennis Hopper. The reason for our eyes to shift in this way to both of these characters is mainly due to the lighting key, but is also a large result of staging and character placement and proxemics. Tarantino made this scene as aesthetically appealing as it is dark and eerie. His scene setup, as well as the dialogue that goes with it makes it one of the best scenes in movie history. Just watch...
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