Narrative/visual pleasure (C1)

• Mise- en -scene...
• 1960s – Tender Trio is bathed in golden light and wide-angle shots --> poor but content neighbourhood  
• 1970s – landscapes filled with high rise tower blocks --> very intense and claustrophobic setting, demonstrates the radical transformation and degeneration of the city  
• However, lighting is still golden and set in daytime 
• 1980s – more scenes filmed at night, favelas have taken over and cramped streets feel oppressive and dangerous  
• Mise-en-scene shows a city in decay with buildings collapsed and dead bodies littering the streets  
• Graffiti and gang posters litter the walls --> adds depth to the unseen gang wars  
• Final phase of the film returns to bright daylight --> symbolic foreshadowing of Lil Ze’s death  
• Setting becomes a character in its own right – dusty pastel tones of 60s, shadowy apocalyptic alleys of 80s 
• Filming completed on location --> authenticity  
• Gangsters wear gold jewellery paired with ragged shorts and flip flops --> highlight their success but the fact they still live in poverty  
• Cinematography elements...
• Charlone uses a combination of handheld eye-level camera and POV shots --> places spectator in middle of action 
• As the favela grows and changes, so does the way it’s filmed --> the open environment becomes cramped emphasised through overhead shots  
• Characters seem imprisoned – become hemmed in by the encroachment of these walls and barriers  
• Doesn’t use establishing shots, rather uses recurring landmarks/locations to identify sense of place 
• Documentary style camera – has its own personality
• Editing elements...
• Rocket and the police/gang confrontation are introduced in medias res --> introduces restless style of the film  
• Exposition of earlier story told using dialogue, references and flashbacks  
• The story of the apartment sequence – see events through an objective, distanced position contrasting the highly mobile style of most of the film
• Wide-angle lens and deep focus – exaggerated perspective to the room where figures appear large in the foreground and small in the background  
• Story told with a series of dissolves where people appear, disappear and reappear --> story appears like a tableaux 
• Tableaux meaning:

  A group of models or motionless figures representing a scene from a story or from history
• “What we tried to do with the editing was attempt to use effects whenever we thought that this could bring something extra to the sensation or emotion” -Rezende  
• Freeze on characters face if they’re going to be important – commit them to memory  
• “If a badly made cut could increase levels of discomfort in the viewe then we incorporated it” -Rezende
• Sound elements...
• The songs played can represent the narrative  
• First-person narrator VO --> documentary feel to the film, establishing authenticity 
• Diegetic music --> establishes the era, compliments the characters and action (Kung Fu Fighting, a song about controlled power played at Bene’s farewell party, is an ironic counterpoint to the real violence that erupts there) 
• Music acts as a seductive counterpoint to the violent images- it works against the carnage and deprivation we’ve been witnessing to neutralise the impact of the film 
• Performance elements...
• Performance elements...
• Around 100 children and young people hand-picked and placed into an actor's workshop – it focused on stimulating authentic street war scenes e.g. a shoot out 
• A lot came from improvisation as it was though better to create an authentic, gritty atmosphere 
• Actors weren’t given marks – they moved around freely  
• Narrative elements...
• Rocket’s voiceover – retrospective diegesis appears to give the storytelling omniscience
• Stories within stories