Get Out

 Get Out

(2017)

Director: Jordan Peele

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams

Production companies: Blumhouse, QC, Monkeypaw

Distrubuted by Universal 

Budget: $4.5 million

Box Office: $255.4 million 

Blumhouse productions (founded by Jason Blum in 2000) + QC entertainment (producer Scott Mckittrick + Monkeypaw productions (founded in 2012 by Jordan Peele, initially for the comedy series, Key and Peele) = Get Out

Opening scene: 

Sound:

Diegetic conversation on the phone + cricket / night noises - parallel.

Diegetic car sounds - parallel.

Diegetic 'run rabbit' music from car - contrupuntal (however lyrics could be parallel - victim is prey).

Non diegetic soundtrack of 'run rabbit' as the sound quality improves - still contrupuntal.

Non Diegetic theme.

Camera:

Broke 180 rule to seem eery.

Tracking movement.

All steadicam and shaky - reflects audience mood.

Mid shots throughout.

Long shot of car. 

Editing:

No cuts until late into the scene with the car.

Mise-en-scene:

American rich subberb setting.

White sports car.

Normal every day clothes / costumes for man - hooded character for attacker. 

Street lights create low brightness for night time setting. 

Orange colour of street lights set eerie mood.

Red break lights show evil connotations. 

Set at night - typical of crime setting.

Analyse how genre conventions have been used to create meaning in a media product you have studied (12).

Jordan Peel's 2017 film 'Get Out' uses many horror genre conventions through the use of mise-en-scene elements, cinema 'universal rules' and film structure theory. This essay will analyse how genre conventions have been used to create meanings and representations within the first scene. 

Get Out uses mise-en-scene to protray horror genre conventions. The film begins at night in a low-orange coloured-street-lit American suburb. Immediately the colour of the scene stands out as it sets the mood of a conventional horror movie. The eerie colour of orange (connoted with scary aspects of Halloween) allows for the audience to feel nervous and await the incoming engima code. This is parallel to the convention of horror and creates a nerve racking setting. The audience may feel a sense of fear in their gut, and this is known as a visceral pleasure - originally proposed by Altman - conforming to the horror convention.

Also, the structure of the opening scene is conventional with the genre of horror. According to Todorov, all programmes and films start out with an equilibrium and calm period, and throughout there is a disturbance in the equilibrium. The scene begins with an equilibrium as the man walking through the suburb is content - talking on the phone with his partner. However, there is a disturbance in the equilibrium when the attacker jumps him. This is able to create a sense of structure for the audience and begin the chaos and climax of the movie as soon as possible - creating tension and suspense - conventional of the horror genre. 

The opposition - particularly in the opening scene of get out is conventional of the genre of horror. Levi-Struass's theory of binary opposition is viable here as the aspect of good vs evil is implemented from the very beginning. For example, the opening scene implements the good vs evil horror genre convention with the man on the street vs the masked attacker in the rich American suburb. This shows how throughout the film, there will be an implemented aspect of good vs evil, as the action code - prospected by the Roland brothers - of the man being abducted sets the scene for the movie, engaging the audience to ask questions e.g. why has an evil act been commited. This is conventional of a horror genre as it increases the audience mystery and enhances the excitement of the movie through violence in the very first scene. 

Analyse how mise-en-scene elements contribute to the construction of stereotypes in a media product you have studdied. (15).

Jordan Peele's Get Out from 2017 of the horror genre uses mise-en-scene elements to create the negative stereotypes for black people and lower class people. This response will analyse how mise-en-scene elements are used to convey these issues in the opening scene of the film. 

Mise-en-scene elements, such as use of props, are used to create the stereotype of black representation as victims. In the opening scene, a black male is walking through a rich-American suburb area where he his attacked by a seemingly white character (who we find out is Jeremy - a racist - at the end of the movie) and is abducted. This strereotype of black victimism from the hands of white people is conveyed successfully through the white car the the white attacker uses to get away in. This shows another stereo type of white people getting away with racism - in this case, a violent act. This is backed up by Levi-Struass's theory of Binary oposition in which he describes there is always an opposition in every movie to make it 'gramatically correct'. In this case, there is an opposition of race - black vs white. 

The mise-en-scene element of costume is used to convey the stereotype of good vs evil. The attacker in the scene is wearing a mask and all dark colours to attack the man who's face is on show and wearing blue jeans and a blue t-shirt - casual clothes. Furthermore, this representation of darkness through the attackers clothes represents the evil side of oppostition, also with the mask, increasing the mystery element that bad people take on whilst commiting criminal acts - a dominant stereotype of criminals wearing dark colours to get away with crime at night. This connotes to the audience that dark is evil - which is ironic as the moral of the movie is based on rascist views towards dark-skinned people. Levi-Struass's theory of binary oposition is also viable as a valid theory that represents this mise-en-scene element. This is because the binary oposition of good vs evil is used to create a 'gramtically correct' film.

Lastly, the mise-en-scene element of setting helps create a class influenced stereotype in Get Out. As seen in the opening scene, the setting is that of a rich American suburb. A black man walking down the street, as per the stereotype, of the black community being lower-class, creates an atmosphere of tension and juxtoposition within the scene. The man even says the like 'I stick out like a sore thumb'. This stereotype allows for an enigma code, the question asked by the audience - why is the man in a rich American suburb and is his presence within the setting causing himself miscomfort and possibility of danger. This theory of enigma codes is presented by the Roland brothers.