Rickert Demonstration Blog: The Constant Gardener

The Film that I chose to analyze for my mis-en-scene analysis was the Constant Gardner. The scene I chose is a personal encounter of Tessa and Justin as shown in the above picture.

Dominant: In this shot of the Constant Gardener Tessa and Justin are both dominant within the shot. However, Tessa consequently attracts more of the focus of the audience. The audience’s eyes are drawn to her because unlike Justin, we can almost completely see her face. Tessa placement on the left which is natural for the audience because people read left to right.
Lighting Key: The lighting in the shot of Tessa and Justin is natural assumed to be coming from the sun. The lighting originates from in front of the characters as if the sun was above the audience. The position of the sun is determined from the shadowing on the face of the characters, therefore making the lighting immensely natural.

Character and Camera Proxemics: The shot of Tessa and Justin are considered to be an intimate shot because they are immensely close to each other. The shot does not focus on anything else in the background, the only clear focus in the two characters. Intimate distances in shots serve to demonstrate the emotions between the two characters, their love, trust, and comfort with each other. This shot successfully communicates these emotions between Justin and Tessa. Tessa’s gaze into Justin eyes also demonstrates an indication of her love for Justin.

--This frame of Tessa and Justin enforce the overall theme of love between them in the movie. Through the use of intimate angles the audience is emerged into the scene and experience this personal moment amongst these two lovers. If Justin and Tessa were placed at social or public distance, these emotions could have not been as successfully communicated to the audience. Public and Social distance fail to pick up on the minuscule details of the lovers expressions, because the camera cannot zoom in on both of them. The dominance of the characters in the shot also aids the audience in focus entirely on the two characters, thus cutting out any distractions of the background. The dominance of the characters further builds upon the love these two feel for each other. Later in the film Justin will be fueled by his undying love for Tessa, to help him attain the truth behind her murder and continue her legacy. If the director had failed to adequately portray the love that the characters shared the audience could not fully appreciate the motivation of Justin’s relentless pursuit of justice for Tessa.

Here is the trailer for the Constant Gardener