Subject Matter/Genre
My director, Robert Mulligan, doesn't have a specific style. He has made all kinds of different genres of movie, from romance to action, and everything in between. He said however that he likes to make romance movies, because he believes he that is his best type of movies that he makes. However, he also said that he likes to make dramas, like To Kill a Mockingbird.
Cinematography
In the film To Kill a Mockingbird, Robert Mulligan used a lot of full shots. He used these to show the full body of the character in whom was doing the action, and this enhanced the scenes because I could see everything that the character was doing. He used reaction shots to show emotions of people, such as Atticus or Tom Robinson. He used a lot of eye-level camera angles also. This was to show that we were at equal to the charcters, no one better or worse. However, he did use some high angles when looking at Scout, to make her seem young and innocent, and to make Atticus seem strong and powerful.
In the film, a lot of camera movements were used. The most common ones were pan, tilt, and zoom. They used a lot of pan to show Scout and Jem walking down the street, past the Radley place. They used tilts when showing someone walking up or down stairs. And they used zoom when going in for a reaction shot. Robert made a lot of black and white movie because a lot of his movies were made before colored movies existed. To Kill a Mockingbird was in black and white, which was a little weird to see because I nomally see colored movies, but it didn't subtract at all from the greatness of his movie. Mulligan's main style is to show the actions and reactions of characters, and to show the audieance everything the characters are doing. He doesn't keep any secrets from the audiance. The audiance can see everything the characters are doing.
In the film, a lot of camera movements were used. The most common ones were pan, tilt, and zoom. They used a lot of pan to show Scout and Jem walking down the street, past the Radley place. They used tilts when showing someone walking up or down stairs. And they used zoom when going in for a reaction shot. Robert made a lot of black and white movie because a lot of his movies were made before colored movies existed. To Kill a Mockingbird was in black and white, which was a little weird to see because I nomally see colored movies, but it didn't subtract at all from the greatness of his movie. Mulligan's main style is to show the actions and reactions of characters, and to show the audieance everything the characters are doing. He doesn't keep any secrets from the audiance. The audiance can see everything the characters are doing.
Mise-en-scene
The scene I am picking is the scene where Atticus protects Tom Robinson at the jail. For the decor, Atticus is sitting in front of the jailhouse in a rocking chair, reading a book. The fact that Atticus is sitting, relaxed, reading a book shows that he is calm, and not high strung or tense. He looks relaxed and organized, like he has everything under control. For the lighting, it is in the middle of the night, and the only light is from a lantern hanging over the jailhouse door, and the dim light of the moon. In other words, it is low lighting. This provides a scene that this will be a serious scene, and not a humorous one.
The costumes are important too. Atticus is wearing his regular business suit. He is fairly well dressed and seems organized in himself. On the other hand, the men that come to the jailhouse are all wearing overalls, t-shirts and jeans, or farmers clothing. This tells me that they are regular people from the town, and not anyone special. The final aspect of mise-en-scene is location. The location is in front of the jailhouse. This is emphasizing that even though Tom is in jail, Atticus truly believes that he is innocent. Atticus will stand up for Tom, and not let any of the men that arrive at the jailhouse hurt him.
The costumes are important too. Atticus is wearing his regular business suit. He is fairly well dressed and seems organized in himself. On the other hand, the men that come to the jailhouse are all wearing overalls, t-shirts and jeans, or farmers clothing. This tells me that they are regular people from the town, and not anyone special. The final aspect of mise-en-scene is location. The location is in front of the jailhouse. This is emphasizing that even though Tom is in jail, Atticus truly believes that he is innocent. Atticus will stand up for Tom, and not let any of the men that arrive at the jailhouse hurt him.