What is the importance of mise-en-scène and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied

     Both Matthieu Kassovitz' La Haine and Fernando Meirelles City Of God use mise-en-scene and sound to create meaning and generate a response. La Haine is set in France in the 1990's, the time in which the youths and police force were rioting against one another. After the real life footage is shown to us, we get a close up of our first character, Said. The camera slowly zooms into his face and as he opens his eyes we are introduced to the diegetic sounds around him. This shows that Said, and the youths of France in the time in which it was set were trying to shut out the world around them, or that they couldn't believe their eyes. We then get a point of view shot of Said looking across the road at the police force, or better known in the film as the 'pigs'. The distance between Said and the pigs creates conflict, providing contextual information for the audience.

     We are then introduced to our second character, 'Vinz'. As well as mise-en-scene and sound being important to create meaning within the text, cinematography and the choice of camera work also helps. We are first shown Vinz in a dream, as he dances around in an underground deserted area, but the camera then cuts to a close up of Vinz' face asleep as Said walks through the door, a point of view shot is then used but the camera then scurries away to zoom into a ring on Vinz' finger which says 'Vinz'. This gave me a representation of Vinz which made me see him as a bit of a slob, who is quite unintelligent that likes to wear jewellery stating his name. Later, we are shown Vinz mimicking the Travis Bickle character from Taxi Driver in his mirror, threatening his reflection, using his hand to mimic a gun. Vinz only believes what he has been shown on the TV, he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else, so he has an unrealistic view of violence and believes this is how ordinary life is. This piece of mise-en-scene shows the results of poverty, and generates a response within the audience. 

     La Haine is based around a 24 hour period, time is a constant reference used within the film. We often get cuts to a time a frame with a ticking clock in the background. Throughout the film, in scenes like the one wear Said, Vinz & Hubert are sat on the side-walk doing nothing, there is a subtle non-diegetic ticking clock in the background, this suggests that the characters have nothing to do, causing them to become disconnected from society and results in characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour. This subtle usage of sound creates huge meaning within the text. Within the mise-en-scene, we are often seen Vinz fantasizing. The characters don't resort to crime in the film, however, their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown, Vinz is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies in a coma, and the use of mise-en-scene showing Vinz fantasizing his vengeance backs that up. 

     The use of mise-en-scene and sound is also very important in creating meaning and generating a response in City of God. Straight away within the opening shot we get a close up of a knife sharpening against a rock. There is meaning instantly as it represents the violence within the favelas, and that if you live in the favelas you are living on the edge of a knife. This shot is then supported by the usage of cinematography, which as I mentioned earlier on, is equally important in creating meaning within the text. The editing is fast paced, and also includes very harsh cuts, which shows the fast pace of Rio De Janeiro. All these conventions have been encoded into the text to represent citizens in the favela as poultry. 

     The character, Lil' Z/Dice is often represented as in power. During the scene in which Lil' Dice disobediently goes to the hotel in which his brother and friends trashed, he kills many, if not all the people inside, this shows Lil' Dices lack of conscience and how sinister he actually is. This is supported in the mise-en-scene as a low camera angle angle is used to show he is in power and to emphasise his evil smile and the gun in his hand. This scene supports the statement often implied in the text 'whoever has the gun, has the power'. Another scene which supports this is the scene in which the character Steak 'N' Fries is forced by Lil' to shoot a runt from the favela, a low camera angle is once again used to show that Steak 'N' Fries is in power as he is currently in possession of a gun, a point of view shot is also used to emphasise the power gained by the gun as it is centre frame.
     City of God begins with bright colour to represent the sixties and seventies, but as the narrative progresses, the colours become duller. This represents the power of drugs and drug dealers in the times they were set, back in the 60's/70's the colour was bright, happy, green, to represent the calm times back in the favela when marijuana was around, however, when Lil' Z was in power, cocaine was the biggest drug around, at this point things in the favelas were much more about power and control and this was reflected through the dull colours in the mise-en-scene. In both La Haine and City of God, mise-en-scene and sound are both important in creating meaning and generating a response, however, cinematography and editing are equally important also.