Mise-En-Scene

The movie I had chosen to watch was the most recent adaptation of The Great Gatsby featuring Leonardo Dicaprio and Tobey Maguire, with this film being both a great adaptation of the original source material written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This film had a great combination of amazing acting talent and a well-prepared group of behind the scene workers such as the editors and the costume department for the film. This film was well made as it consistently engaged the audience with the editing style used and the unique and charming Mise En Scene.

Costumes

 In this film, the costumes were a forefront subject in this film as the film was both an escape and a timepiece with the setting of the film being in the 1920s,  with this film being dated it was important to make sure that the costumes would be able to emulate the audience into feeling that this is the 1920’s. And with this specific adaption of the film, the costumes had an important aspect in describing the morals and the standing of the characters, with Gatsby (Leonardo) having a suit that was very dramatic or something that stood out with his use of a white suit in portions of the film when he was having a more personal relationship with the characters such as when he visits Nick (Tobey) to create an interaction with himself and Daisy (Carey). However, during the initial party scene, his attire was much more neutral as he wears a black tuxedo which many of the other party attendees are also dawning.

In the film, the costumes have another purpose, which is to describe or show the mood or the mindset of the characters or the people of the story, many of the scenes with mass groups of people many of the no-name characters have similar appearances with their costumes either being very similar with the men in the background all tending to wear a similarly colored suit with the women in the background having similar dresses with some unique piece that being jewelry or a headpiece as well as various different colors and shades with white, red, beige, and grey being common dress colors for background characters in the party scene. With all of these unnamed characters being simple spectators to the grand event, however, Gatsby had used an outfit that had would have fit in but was also unique. In a later scene with Daisy, Gatsby, and Nick, the outfits worn in the scene with Nick bringing beverages to Daisy and Gatsby was important as Nick had an appearance of a common person not as a rich person of elegance and eloquence, and correspondingly Daisy had on a more fancy yet casual dress when compared to Nick but Gatsby had on a full suit that had made him appear elegant and rich in this scene as he had appeared much more well off.

Setting/Staging

The location of the film also played a relevant part of the film as the original piece of literature was a comment on the problems of the upper class and the ways they exploit the lower classes in the film, with New York being a city with this issue being a rampant problem, as in modern-day New York city both the richest and the poorest people live, with some people struggling to simply live and others to simply struggle with such minute issues. As the various locations of the film show this very thing, with the few shots of the husband of murdered woman the city he resides in, is left in ruins as if it was bombed with the rampant pollution and broken buildings.

In the party scene, the people in the shot were placed in a variety of fashions to create a very intense and entertaining environment, by placing people in both natural with some people observing the party and others in unnatural or more chaotic positions such as by the pool or in the pool as to create a spectacle in this scene as this was used to make Gatsby and his lifestyle appear larger than life. In a later scene when Daisy, Gatsby, and Nick were placed in a specific position to show how they felt towards each other with Daisy sitting on the far right of the frame and Gatsby standing on the far left of the frame, this may have been used to show a position of power or wealth as Nick is much closer to Daisy when compared to Gatsby as in the movie it had been shown that Gatsby is very rich and when compared to Nick, Nick appears to be poor compared to Gatsby. This could also have been used to show the emotional connection between Gatsby and Daisy as in this scene they are very distant however in later scenes they are much closer with one another as the movie progresses and the romance they have for one another.

Lighting/ Colors

In various scenes, the lighting of the film was very over the top or grand with many places having a much brighter or saturated appearance to make the colors and characters pop out more in the frame. In this movie color plays an important part, Many of the very rich characters tend to wear white in the film with Daisy and Gatsby dawning said colors often meanwhile side characters tend to wear or muted or darker colors such as Nick wearing green and many of the background characters wearing black suits.

Final Verdict

The Mise-En-Scene of this film was very unique and impactful for the film as it had created a unique mood and atmosphere with the movie feeling more vintage with the time frame of the movie, and the movie creating a larger the life spectacle when talking about the life of Jay Gatsby.