Media still image analysis

1. Still Image Analysis

2. The Shining
Mise-en-scene
The colour of the door is quite dull and
simple, this draws more attention to
his face because it is brighter. The dull
colours also show sadness and misery,
as well as helping to establish the
horror genre. The lighting is also dull
and dark which sets the mood for the
type of genre.
Setting
Due to the image being a close up the
setting is minimal with only a broken
door frame around his face. This
creates enigma as you wonder where
he is. It also makes the audience pay
more attention to him and his
appearance rather than the
background so they get more emotion
through his facial expressions.
Horror/Thriller
Camera
A close up is used in this still image to
show the characters facial
expressions. This helps to convey the
characters emotions and shows
characterisation to the audience as it
portrays him in a slightly psychotic
manner through how rough he looks
and the way he is bearing his teeth.
Character
There is only one character in the still
image, from this we, as an audience,
assume that he is the main character
in the film. Genre is established
through the characters appearance,
he looks sweaty which could show
that he has been running/active
showing that it is a thriller. Also
through his facial hair and how dirty
he looks you can see that he isn’t very
well kept adding characterisation and
showing that he is the villain in the
story.

3. You’ve Got Mail
Mise-en-scene
The male is in a shirt and tie, this could
show his intellectual qualities. The
lighting used in the image is bright
which reflects the mood in the film as
well as being representative of the
romance genre.
Setting
In the background of the image is a
large bookshelf, this shows that the
characters are quite intellectual and
like to read. The fact that the women
is holding a knife in this image could
be believed as misleading because
knives are signifiers of horror and
crime movies however because the
male is holding a plate you can see
that it is just for cooking.
Romance
Camera
The camera angle used in this still
image is a two shot, this shows that it
is a romance because you can see
from the way that they are facing
each other that they are a couple. The
angle shows the side profile of the
characters so you can’t see their facial
expressions in as much detail.
Character
There are two characters in the still
image, a female and a male, this is
representative of the romance genre.
The way that the characters are
looking right into each others eyes is
also representative of the genre
because it shows the audience how
they feel about each other.

4. Thriller
In small groups we had to create a still image based on a given genre, we were give the genre ‘Thriller’.
The definition of a thriller is ‘a film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime’. I think that our still
images were effective because you can see that in the first two a crime has taken place, there is also
enigma created in the first 2 images because you wonder what has happened and what the metal bars
are in the second image. Enigma is also created in the third image because you wonder whose hand it is
and what the shadow is reaching for. We used darkness and shadows in the third image because these
are signifiers of a thriller as they create enigma. To make our images more effective we could have
included an action shot instead of an after shot because it would show the plot being exciting and
would identify the difference between the shot being of a thriller rather than a horror.