Frame no.1
The first frame will be set in the disruption,
scene 8 of the film. The frame is set in the kitchen, and is a medium close up
containing Penny, holding a home-made birthday cake on a yellow tray. She is
fake smiling and staring directly at the camera. Here, the camera acts as the
voyeur, replacing Stan, and portraying the shot through his perspective. The
frame will be taken as Penny welcomes Stan home, saying ‘Happy Birthday
honey!’.
Penny is wearing a red shift dress and an apron
tided around her waist. She wears kitten heels and her hair is backcombed into
a beehive, black eyeliner has been swept across her eyelids.
This frame will link to the aspects explored
through my textual analysis. Although the setting is not as remote as those
portrayed in Tarantino’s Inglourious
Basterds and Django Unchained,
however, I have adapted this theme to fit the era and modernity of the film.
The setting is arguably remote as it is within a domestic, private area, where only
the two of them share. Therefore, this aspect of Mise en Scene links to my
textual analysis; Tarantino using remote areas to ‘reinforce the surreal
narrative.’ These suspicious areas therefore add suspense to the narrative.
Frame no. 2
The second key frame will include Stan
devouring his birthday cake. He is sitting at the dinner table hunched over,
eating the cake with his hands and chewing it, grossly, with his mouth open. He
eats it as though he hasn’t eaten in years.
The shot will be a medium long shot of Stan
devouring his cake, his eyelids getting heavier as he increasingly grows tired.
His elbows rest on the table, his head resting on one of his hands, the other
in his cake. Stan is wearing his work overalls;
they are unbuttoned, so that his dirty once-white vest is visible. His sleeves
are rolled and pushed up on his arms, his tattoos visible. We see Penny
standing over, behind Stan, she is holding a dishcloth stretched out and has an
evil smirk.
This key frame links to my textual analysis by
the costume juxtaposing characteristics. Here, Stan wears a stereotypical
masculine manual workers costume, however soon he poisoned and tortured in a
few seconds, his weakness and suppression here juxtaposes his dress. Similarly,
Penny wears a very female costume; a red dress, apron and heels. However, her
characteristics juxtapose her clothing, as she becomes the dominant in the
relationship, holding all power over Stan. The colour of the dress symbolises
her strength and power against Stan.
Frame no. 3
The third frame includes both Stan and Penny.
She begins to wrap the semi-conscious Stan around with washing line, tying him
down to the chair. The shot will be a medium close up of the situation. Stan
holds a shocked but helpless look on his face. We do not see much of Penny’s
expression as she ties the washing line, however she is still standing, and
hasn’t knelt down to make the action easier. This portrays her strong hierarchy
over Stan. The half eaten cake still sits on the table in front of Stan.
The shot is taken as Penny asks Stan how the
cake is. Subtly hinting that the cake is poisoned ‘I made it myself. You
feelin’ it yet Stan? Tired? HUH?!”
This frame links back to my textual analysis by
the use of ‘objects that one may think would not symbolise violence’.
Throughout the film, Penny’s home seems to hurt and oppress her, especially
when Stan uses these objects against her. However, now her previously oppressed
position has empowered her, making her the superior. These household objects
being used as weapons link back to the whip used in Django Unchained and the baseball bat in Inglourious Basterds; highlighting stylised violence and the theme
of the oppressed becoming the oppressor.
Frame no. 4
The
fourth frame will be a close up shot of Penny laughing, throwing her head back.
This frame will subtly link to Inglourious
Basterds, when Shoshanna laughs on the cinema screen, saying ‘You are all
going to die’ to the Nazis. This shot will portray the ‘taste of your own
medicine’ effect, as it also does in Inglourious
Basterds. Like Shoshanna’s revenge, Penny has tortured her oppressor in the
same, and similar ways that he did to her. This creates irony and makes the
violence stylised. The spectator sympathises with Penny as we understand and
align with her due to her backstory, therefore the violence and torture forced
on Stan becomes justified and stylised, giving the spectator an emotion of
thrill seeking revenge.
Frame no.5
Medium close up of Penny holding Stan’s lighter
in front of his face. Stan stares at the lighter, looking uneasy. We do not see
Penny’s face; her back is to the camera.
Frame no. 6
The sixth key frame will be a split screen. The
first screen shows Penny taking a kitchen knife from the drawer, holding it in
the air and pausing. The shot will be taken at this point, it is a close up
shot; we still do not see Penny’s face here. The second screen in this frame
will be a close up shot of running water trickling from the kitchen tap down
the plughole. The running water symbolises phallic imagery, foreshadowing what
is going on between Stan and Penny, however the camera pans away, leaving the
spectator’s mind to wonder, and therefore creating stylised violence. This is
an aspect that Tarantino typically uses and can be prominently seen in another
one of his films, Reservoir Dogs.
Meanwhile, Ray Charles – I Can’t Stop Loving You plays on the radio.
This links to my textual analysis. Although it is not exactly the same type of
instrumental as La Resa or La Casa the music juxtaposes Penny’s
strength and creates irony. The title of the song juxtaposes the situation and
relationship between Penny and Stan, creating irony and referring to Penny’s
backstory and mental state.
This frame also links to my textual analysis by
hinting at Tarantino’s violence on the crotch and emasculating the once
dominant male oppressor.
Frame no.7
The next key frame will be a point of view shot
from the fridge. It will be a close up of Penny taking out a ‘tupperware’ box
from inside the fridge, containing Stan’s manhood.
This is also a reoccurring aspect of
Tarantino’s, a point of view shot from an object or item, often a car boot, for
example.
Frame no. 8
Close up, low angle shot of Penny eating the
quiche that she baked for the Tupperware party she is hosting. The shot will be
taken as Penny holds the fork with the piece of quiche on the end, hovering it
near her mouth, her elbow resting on the table. She is paused and smiling,
looking down to the side.
The low angle shot subtly conveys Penny’s new
power and hierarchy.
Frame no. 9
The last frame will be a medium long shot.
Penny is sitting in front of the television; her legs are stretched out and
crossed at the ankles, resting on the coffee table. Penny is wearing a fur
coat, her hair and make up the same as before. She has a lit cigarette in
between her fingers, her elbow resting on the arm of the sofa. Stan stands
beside her wearing Penny’s old apron over his vest. He holds a plate of bangers
and mash on a yellow food tv tray.
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