Analysis of a Scene: Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith
Task at Hand
Analyzing a 7 minute scene, I decided on one of my favorite movies, Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith. This film has an overhead theme of fear of loss as well as balance, stemming from the loss of Anakin’s mother and made prevalent again with his dreams of losing Padame at childbirth. Anakin’s fear is what ultimately leads to the turning point in his path resulting in a dark yet inevitable future. Anakin’s “hero’s journey” to the dark side is highlighted by visual elements in scenes such as lighting and make-up changes on his facial features that seemingly become darker as the plot progresses until Anakin reaches his final form as Darth Vader. George Lucas utilizes mise-en-scene to not just tell the plot, but visually articulate the broader meaning of Anakin’s ongoing internal battle between the light and dark side.
Process
The scene sequence that captures loss and balance the most takes place during the climax on planet Mustafar. Anakin reaches a defining moment in his character development when he is confronted by Padme about his recent actions against jedi morals at planet Mustafar. The shadows casted on the characters faces deploys an eerie and dark tone insinuating the dark side taking over. While Anakin is breaking Padme's heart, the medium over-the-shoulder shot thoroughly captures the pain and disbelief on her face which acts as the broader face of the light side. The distance and angle in this shot allows the audience to see all of the emotion exuding Padame. The scene becomes a monumental turning point for Anakin as he chokes Padme as it shows how much his loyalties have shifted to the dark side. As Anakin becomes more emotionally enraged, his eyes and bags under his eyes progressively become darker. This make-up choice by Lucas visualizes the dark side of the force, taking over Anakin gradually as he acquires the evil resemblance associated with siths.
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Impact
Submerging myself into film and focusing on visual elements such as mise-e-scene, displayed a new found appreciation of this craft. The history and evolution of film is fascinating and links with the evolution of fashion which was a beneficial topic correlation. Expanding my understanding of media mediums has broadened my perspective on various elemental creative processes.