Kick Ass: Mise En Scène

Matthew Vaughn's Kick Ass, is a classic take on action and humor with the creative use of comic styling. Kick Ass involves crime fighting "super heroes" who are trying to make a difference in their life. For this analysis, we will be looking at the Mise En Scène for this particular frame:

Mindy, aka Hit Girl, is the center of the frame. We can clearly see that she is what the director wanted eyes to focus on. The effect of the high-key lighting in the background spotlights the character by creating strong contrast of her dark outfit, while the medium shot leaves the additional dark bookshelves on the left and right sides of the frame. The camera proxemic range is social, as it appears to be roughly 10 feet away facing slightly upward from waist height. The color used is primarily black with the vibrance turned down slightly with no appearance of a filter being used with the standard lens. Our subsidiary contrasts in this frame include the 3 dead villains and the one behind the right bookshelf who is half in frame and half out frame. Also noted, the density, as there is high contrast and a lot of texture details, such as the bookshelves. The bookshelves shape the composition of the frame to be segmented into the center, creating a funnel-like directive. This suggests action and movement. The form of the frame is definitely closed, as it is unrealistically balanced for the left and right due to where the objects and figures are placed. We can see that Mindy is mid sprint charging at her enemies, and on the verge of a juke/dodge, suggesting a loose framing because there is room to move. Mindy is almost at the villain behind the bookshelf in this frame, as we can tell he is in the foreground (and closer to the camera) by the angle of his gun barrel. Mindy would technically be in the foreground, as the dead villains lay in the midground and the elevator door is the background. As for placement and positioning, which is side by side with depth, Mindy is our main character so as such she is placed right in the middle so all eyes are on her. Her head is at a slight angle to the right while her body is facing directly at the camera. Our dead villains lay on their backs sprawled out, below the horizon line at the edges of the bookshelves leaving the center clear, almost like a runway. And the one villain left, well he is all by himself at the right edge of the frame, slightly outside of it as well, facing towards Mindy with his back to the camera because he is up to no good. Our foreground characters proxemics are personal, along with our main character's slain enemies.