Mis en Scene and Sound in Phantom of The Opera

Mis  en scene and sound in Phantom of the opera

By Katy Williamson

The Phantom of the Opera (2004) by Joel Schumacher, & produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber begins with a candle which smokes makes the titles in the credits. We then see and a painting of a building in the city, the painting is then panned towards by the camera. As we move towards it elements of the picture begin to move, we can see people on the street and old fashioned cars, the picture is at first sepia toned and the sound is non diegetic but as we move in closer the picture starts to become black and white. In the distance we can hear a bell in the tower of the building chiming, the non diegetic sound from the previous scene bridges over into the next scene with the off screen diegetic sound from the bell this joins the scenes well together and we get a flowing and cohesion.

When we zoom into the street we can see it is busy and littered with leaves, this suggests it is set in autumn and we can see that it is very windy as well. We see a man’s feet come out of a car and he is helped into his wheelchair. He is wearing a pair of brogues and a suit, therefore we could assume is a high powered man and reasonably  well of, when he gets out of the vehicle we are also given a quick glance of a family crest which again signifies the wealth and power of the character.

The lighting on the street is high key lighting to create a normal and realistic light. This is done by brightly lit sets and subtly lit scenes. However, when we move inside the opera house the lighting changes to low key lighting, this creates more contrast and distinct shadows.  This creates mystery and works well against the colour and brightness later in the scene and also suggests a negative tone to the scene and that it is very old fashioned and boring.

The makeup in the scene makes the characters look very old and tired, we could suggest that they themselves are mirroring the building.  The costume is old fashioned, which places us in the setting and allows the audience to know what era and where they are. They are also wearing black clothing this could suggest a dark and sinister side to the opera building they are standing in as black connotes death and evil. However, it also represents mourning so we could say that they are mourning the death of opera.

In the auction the numbers 666 are called out, this is the number of the devil and again could suggest a supernatural presence in the opera.

Also the facial expression of the two characters shows their feelings towards each other and creates an importance to the audience of these two characters as they are both staring at each other and introduces the relationship between the two characters. Both look anxious and curiously at each other. The fact that both characters are also in the centre of the frame also highlights that these two characters are very important.