Mise en Scene in Film- The Walking Dead

     We have been assigned to watch one movie or TV series that will give us inspiration for our final project, and watch it, looking for different elements of mise en scene within the episode/movie. Some of these elements include setting, lighting, costume, and staging, and those are what I will be focusing on today. I decided to do this assignment on the first episode of The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead is a television show that follow a zombie apocalypse and the group of survivors, focusing on their actions, interactions, and more. I believe that this was a good episode for me to use for this assignment mainly because me and my group were thinking about doing something apocalyptic themed, and looking at The Walking Dead and the different elements of film the show included allows me to find ideas to share with my group later on. 

First, I looked for setting:

    This photo is from the beginning of the episode, which is a great example of setting used throughout the episode. Although there are many other examples that could have been used, I believe that this one is the most dramatized for the audience's reaction, as it is one of the first times that the audience sees the environment that the main character is in. Firstly, we see the building behind all the mess towards the front, and the first thing that catches the audience's eye is the burned, black appearance of pieces of the building. The concept of a more run-down building is put through in this scene, establishing to the audience how old everything here may be. There is the huge helicopter, which seems broken down and unusable, as well as countless amounts of crates and old supplies. The audience can interpret that something happened here that left everyone in a hectic rush/panic. 

Next, we can look at lighting:

    This is an example from the first episode that really showed a intense selection of lighting. When thinking of a zombie apocalypse movie or TV show, dark and more dull colors probably tend to come to mind, similar to the photo used for setting. However, I thought that is was interesting that this scene contained such vibrant hues all throughout. I believe that the lighting choice really helps to show contrast in comparison to the main story of the first episode. I also think that in this scene in particular, the bright, more vibrant lighting was chosen to show Rick's more "pure" mindset about the apocalypse towards the beginning. 

Next, we can look at costume:

    In the first episode, the story mainly follows these three characters in the photo above from one of the scenes. These characters, at this time in the TV show, still have different mindsets and knowledge levels regarding the zombies and how people are being affected. The man and his son on the left dress more casually, as if they "have done this already", and do not see going outside around zombies as a special event. Their clothes are also more dull in hues and a bit more run-down, showing and reflecting their mindset at this time. On the other hand, we have Rick who is wearing his sheriffs outfit. He changed into this outfit in one of the scenes, which shows me that he is trying to "prepare himself" for what might happen, and dress for the situation. Rick is less knowledgeable about the zombies at this time, and therefore the difference in clothes for the characters in this scene are evident, and they also reflect a character's mindset as well as their level of maintenance.

Lastly, we can look at staging:

    In my opinion, this is one of the best scenes from the first episode of the show. The staging and placement of everything put together in one really shows the theme of the episode, and at the same time in gains that apocalyptic, lonely feeling from the scene being showed. Rick is riding his horse by himself on the highway, not only literally showing his loneliness at the time, but also figuratively, as he is a bit lost in regards to what is happening in the world around him, and he has not adjusted. Next, we see the cars, and not only are all of the cars stopped, but they all are also leaving the city behind them. This shows to the audience that something bad must have happened within the city if that many people were trying to leave at once. There is a broken, stopped train on the right side of Rick and the highway, adding to the broken down, apocalyptic feeling. Lastly, we see the city in front of Rick that he is going towards, the gloomy, more grayish appearance of it from afar, giving it a more negative connotation. It is important in film to look at and focus on the placement of everything in a scene, because everything counts.