The Blind Side - A Filmic Analysis

 

The Blind Side is the movie that I have chosen to analyse for a scene analysis. The analysis will be based on the mise-en-scene, the cinematography, the editing and the soundtrack of the movie.

The mise-en-scene literally means ‘placed in the scene’ it is what you can physically see in the scene of a movie. It refers to actors, objects, costumes, and the settings or backgrounds and the way things are visually arranged.

The cinematography of a movie is the process of filming and includes the angles of the camera, high or low angles of the camera, the positioning of the camera as well as any special side effects such as slow motion for example.

The editing of a scene refers to the joining together separate pieces and shows how the scene can move from one point to the next. The soundtrack includes anything you may hear from that scene, people’s voice, birds chirping, any music or sound effects can be regarded as the soundtrack for a scene or a movie.

 

The Blind Side was produced in 2009 by John Lee Hancock. It can be classified as a realism documentary. The movie is based on Michael (Big Mike) Oher’s life. The movie tells Michaels’s life story of how he went from having nothing to becoming a successful NFL player; which he was able to do with the help of his foster family Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy.

 

I have chosen to discuss the scene where Michael plays his first football game at school.

 

In terms of the mise-en-scene, it shows the coaching staff with Michael and his team-mates on the field.

The cinematography used can be seen when the scene starts with a long shot from the benches showing the team and the coach, it makes you feel as though you are literally sitting there and watching the game. It gets you into the football mindset, the perfect opening for the scene of a football game. The sounds heard throughout the course of the scene of the football game were used to enhance the emotion, anger, encouragement and excitement of the game.

You can hear the grunting of the players, the crowd cheering, roaring and whistling, as well as whistles blowing and the coaches screaming. 

The sounds of a scene are very important because it can determine how the viewer interprets the scene.

 

After the opening long shot the scene is edited and it was cut directly and zoomed into a close up of Michael and his opponents face. This allowed for you to see the intensity on their faces. The soundtrack is intense, Mike closes his eyes, and then there’s silence for a moment while he waits for his quarterback to say ‘go.’ The film goes into slow motion before his quarterback says ‘go’. The slow motion shows the intensity in Mike’s face and also the way in which he is calming himself down after being dominated by his opponent the whole game leading up to that point. It was the perfect slow motion shot for the intensity to set in.

It sends the message that Mike was having a rough game up to that point; but took a second to regroup his thoughts, calm himself and start over. Using the slow motion technique in the cinematography was perfect in that regard because it showed the intensity and seriousness in Michaels’s face.

Once he was calm and regrouped himself; he was able to dominate the rest of the game. In a sarcastic and threatening tone, Mike’s opponent says “coach isn’t here to protect you now is he?” He was trying to make Mike feel helpless, next minute the quarterback yells ‘GO’ with intensity in his voice, mike opens his eyes and forces himself towards his opponent, starting to push him back and then the scene and cinematography of the scene jumps to a full shot of the field showing Michael pushing his opponent across the field, Michael and his opponent collide with the sound of a bone crushing pad crackling sound. A dolly shot technique was used in the scene where Michael pushes his opponent across the field. The dolly shot can be used in cinematography when the camera follows the movements of the characters, in this case, following Michael throughout this scene across the field. It makes the viewer feel like they are right there next to Michael, the cinematography was good in this regard because it allows the viewers to become and feel engaged (Giannetti, 2001:125).

 

At the end of the scene, Michael pushes his opponent so far across the field that his opponents ended up over the wall off the field. The cinematography leads to a close up of the head coach to view the surprised look on his face.

As Michael pushes him across the field the crowd goes crazy in cheers, cheering for Mike and his team. The soundtrack included in the movie and particularly this scene really puts you in the moment making you feel present as if you were sitting there watching the game. The coach was surprised in Michael’s ability to push his opponent all the way across the field because Michael was getting dominated by his opponent all game. The last shot used in the scene was a close up of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy both with huge smiles on their faces because they are thrilled with Michaels amazing game play.

 

The types of shots used were used to enhance and capture every detail of the action, the way the characters, object and the camera move throughout one scene to the next. The cinematography, the soundtrack, the editing as well as the mise-en-scene all play a major role in how the movie is perceived by its viewers.

 

The Blind Side. Dir. John Lee Hancock. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2009. DVD.