Topic > The Four Elements of Film Style in the Atlanta Series

The following analysis of the Atlanta season will address the question “how do the four elements of film style communicate the theme of the television program and influence viewers' response to the characters and to the story” I will discuss how mainly the scene setting and other elements of the mise en scene add to the theme of the series. And how it relates to the cinematic intentions of the series to move the narrative forward. corresponding action of the scenes relate to the theme of the series, which is exposure to the harsh realities of life in Atlanta Say no to plagiarism Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Atlanta series is based on the realistic background and perspective of living as a black man in Atlanta, the main character Ernest is a dad who is struggling financially has a low paying job and is one of the typical everyday black men looking to get by, living in Atlanta. The series portrays the racial demographics and economic realities people face living in Atlanta. The second main character is Alfred Miles "AKA" Paperboy, he is Ernest's cousin, he is a rising rapper and has released a new mixtape which is gaining popularity. Miles represents black culture and hip hop culture in Atlanta. The Atlanta series is dramatic and uses comedy to get at points in the series such as police brutality, what it means to be black, poverty, and Atlanta as a city, and magical realism (Opam: 2016). The opening scene begins with a corresponding action shot where Alfred miles is in his car, someone drives by and smashes his rearview mirror. This is a matching action shot as Miles' voice can be heard as he exclaims "(what the hell...!) It then pans to a long shot to see a convenience store setting, then pans to a close up medium shot of Miles and Ernest in the car. Everything is moving at a fast pace, suddenly throwing the audience into the harsh reality of life in Atlanta. It gives us the feeling that you have to be careful and vigilant in this city gun in the car makes it clear that you need to protect yourself. This leads to the question of where the police are or what the police system is like in Atlanta. The setting of the scene is in a convenience store" for many stories about the incarceration of a black man",. however the setting is not just a specific setting, Atlanta as the setting of the series is the city as a whole as it has a great impact in terms of the cinematic intentions of the series The setting of Atlanta is supposed to have a character of its own as it "can come to the fore, it must not only be a container of human events but can dynamically enter the narrative action". However, the cutscenes aren't so overbearing that they force you to choose elements, but the setting helps and pushes the narrative forward. thus the cinematography is simplistic as the setting alone naturally adds texture to the story. Part of the mise en scene is the framing and composition of the scene. In the opening scene, there is a point where Alfred Miles is facing the man who hit his rearview mirror. Ernest stands between the two characters and creates a triadic position that tells us Ernest's characteristics: he is not involved in this fight and mediates the situation trying to calm things down. The fixed camera, which creates seamless motion and creates a realistic feel, moves from a medium close-up of Alfred Miles to an eye-level close-up of Earn,” implying thatthe camera's attitude towards the subject is neutral. Then we cut to a medium shot of the man who hit the rearview mirror. The costumes of the characters give more richness to the narrative Earnest is dressed in simple clothes (short shorts, red t-shirt) while Miles and the man who hit the rearview mirror are dressed in baggy trousers with gold chains which are a typical rapper style, d on the other hand, Ernest doesn't fit in and doesn't stand out, it seems like the people he surrounds himself with are just different from Ernest himself, this may be a questionable identity crisis which relates to the theme of the perspective of this black man living in Atlanta, where a strongly dominated hip-hop culture. A prop in the scene is again 3 guns, this adds to the narrative of a harsh reality as these people carry guns with them, which exposes the audience to the harsh reality of life in Atlanta. Another prop in the scene is the dog that a character Darius points to as he says he's having déjà-vu and asks "where are the dogs with Texas on them." The same god is shown in another scene which represents a deeper meaning of the narrative and relates to the theme of magical realism. The lighting source in the scene cuts on the convenience store straight lines around which gives us a very natural and super tight feel which is the purpose of cinematography. The lighting is very underexposed so there are imperfections which add to the realistic and simple cinematic intentions of the series. Although the black characters would need more facial lighting due to cinematic intentions, there is no need to add any lighting as the shadows add that realistic feel that the program aims to portray and which ties into the theme of the series which will offer the perspective of the everyday black man in Atlanta. The lights used are LED lights to give a specific style which is the production style of the series, they create a unique and distinct style. There is a diegetic sound of hip-hop music in the background which already tells us as viewers that hip-hop/rap will be a theme of the series. Secondly, a man shouts “world star” with an asynchronous sound which is funny. The dialogue between the characters is unique in that they have specific slang due to the environment and community they live in and come from the same type of community where they understand each other. Another scene portrays the magical realism theme of the series. Earn is on the bus with his daughter in his arms during a medical close-up. Then it jumps to a medium shot with a man on a bus dressed in a suit and bow tie sitting on the opposite side of the bus who magically appears in the scene and doesn't look like he belongs on the bus and then says “your mind races” to Make Money and it's true. Earn the mind races. Then it cuts to a close-up where the man on the bus sits next to Earn that the face is in focus while the background is not in focus, this is a rack focus which keeps the subject in focus and the background can be blurry. The focal points The man asks Earn to tell him his problems and Earn opens up and says that “I keep losing on earth” while Guadagna is in his inner thoughts, the man in the suit blurs into the background buttering his Nutella sandwich and gives Guadagno some philosophical advice like “actually the victory gives belongs to the things that simply don't see the failure. moves to an over the shoulder shot where the man in the suit tells Earn to eat the sandwich in which Earn refuses. The man becomes aggressive as Earn refuses to bite into the sandwich. The Nutella sandwich essentially becomes an object in the mise en scene.