Analysis of "In Bruges"

 In Bruges

Firstly, In Bruges uses these Mise-en-scene aspects to develop and reflect the characters of Ray, Ken and Harry by firstly using Setting and props, this is the most common way, the film uses Location very wisely, as it could just be set in the one hotel room, rather than the whole of Bruges, by doing this, they can introduce different characteristics of the characters, for example, when they visit the bell tower, Ken goes up, because he is enthusiastic about the location, whereas Ray stayed at the bottom doing nothing, this shows a significant difference between the characters, indicating that maybe Ken is more mature in comparison. Later this is also shown when they go to the church, where again, Ken stays and Ray leaves out of frustration and boredom. 

Another way the location develops the characters is that, being in a confined location, the characters explore their past, and they reflect on their mistakes, in this scene Ray opens the past, of his first contract, and explains about the death of the child. This makes the characters strange compared to the normal impression of Hit-men, they are thought of as very controlled and composed, whereas these two are not. They express their emotions.

Next, the costume. They are wearing overcoats, leather jackets e.t.c but they don't look like the average assassin, for example, Hit-man wears a suit, leather gloves, which gives the impression of a cold, emotionless killer. Where-as Ken and Ray wear more colorful clothing, and at one point Ray wears glasses, which is strange to see in a action movie, because I think it does reveal a lot of the characters personality. The make up isn't very important in this film, which is common in action movies, apart from the scenes of injuries, like when Ken is bleeding and then at the bottom of the tower after throwing himself off. I think the way that they use the make up in these two scenes is very effective and it helps extenuate the emotion of the character Ray.
 
The lighting and colour in this film produce different emotions and feelings, especially for the audience, for example the start is quite dim, but the main effect is the lack of very much colour, its not like the middle where many warm colours are used. Another scene this is prevalent in is the scene in which Ken dies, the lighting is dim, especially in the stairs, but the weather is also cloudy and dark, which produces quite an amount of doubt and fear in the audience towards Ken and Ray. This is also used in the scene where Ray is almost shot, the lighting is quite bright and colourful, which I believe is to give the audience hope.

 I think the positioning within a frame can be key in some aspects, for example the scene in which the character Ken and Harry where in the tower and the stairs, the two characters were fighting on the stair well, which was a hard location to film, as a long shot would be ridiculous. Another way that they did well with this was the trailing blood scene, and how they followed the stream to Ken, who was climbing the tower.
Another time this was key was when the coins were dropped from the top, the camera had the couple at the restaurant talking but the view had the tower in the background, so the coins were visible.

The actual performance of the characters was very good, because at no point did I feel that it wasn't natural or unbelievable ( maybe apart from the bit where he is still alive from a 100 meter fall ), but they have had to give a what would normally be a quite calm controlled and emotionless character, some meaning and relationship, I think that this helps with creating a relationship between the characters and the audience, which really helps in the two scenes in which Ray nearly gets shot by Ken, and where Ken dies. I also feel that another way that this has been done is by introducing a bit of comedy in the film, not a lot, but subtle enough to create a warm feeling for what otherwise would be a cold character. I think that the lack of this helps develop a hate of the character Harry, who only really appears in the second half of the movie, but his first "entrance" where he sends the letter with much swearing and anger whilst we start to see Ray and Kens character draws hate to him, as we see that Ray and Ken are humans, and that they have feelings.