Scene Deconstruction: My Mad Fat Diary

 

The set (lighting, mise en scene, etc.)

  • soft lighting
  • motivated lighting – window, mirror reflecting light
  • mise en scene – in the background you can see typical bathroom things, shelves with bottles, mirrors, cotton balls and clutter, rubber duck
  • lots of pastel colours – pinks, whites, yellows – makes Finn stand out when he enters wearing black

Camera

  • lots of close ups
  • mounted
  • tracks her movement in the mirror
  • shallow depth of field in close ups of pill bottle
  • pans up to show her in bathtub, looking at self in mirror
  • camera follows her under the water
  • tracks outwards a lot – most mid/long shots (Rae sitting by the tub, shot of the door/hallway, 2nd shot of the house)
  • shots of nothing (water reflecting on wall, clutter of bathroom) as Finn knocks show Rae’s lack of receptiveness
  • still shots of the unbroken mirror, full bottle of pills show nothing happened
  • final shot shows whole bathroom, whereas the rest has been quite close up/personal

Sound

  • soundtrack: Radiohead – Exit Music (For A Film)
  • foley – plaster being taken off knuckles, pills rattling in bottle, water dripping
  • music muffles when Rae’s head is under the water, you can hear the sounds of the water in the tub as though you’re under the water
  • music even more muffled as camera is positioned on the other side of the door, and fades out as camera tracks back
  • knocking is heard quieter until shot changes to being back in bathroom, even though the sound belongs to this location and not outside
  • hear mirror smash in slow mo, but not perfume bottles – music kicks in again with knocking and builds up
  • sounds after this are unheard – soundtrack takes over until reality hits
  • to show ‘reality’, there is no soundtrack, and you hear the ambient sounds of the water in the tub and the baby crying
  • her narration is absent during the middle of the scene – is used to give you context and insight into her thoughts at the start, and to identify ‘reality’ at the end

Kiralee

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