Mise-en-Scene in Friday The 13th (1980)

 Jacob Raymond

COM 126

Professor Saphire

10-15-20

                          Mise-en-Scene in Friday The 13th (1980)

The scene I chose for this topic is the climatic fight between the survivor and the killer in the classic slasher and mystery film, Friday The 13th (1980). In this scene, the surviving counselor named Alice is stuck in a cat and mouse chase with the revealed killer named Pamela Voorhees, who seeks revenge for her son’s death on the unlucky counselors that stayed at the fictional Camp Crystal Lake. Once Alice comes upon a sandy shore near a lifeguard tower thinking she lost the killer, she ends up seeing her in the reflection on the lake. A struggle then ensues between the two when the killer is disarmed from her weapon and attempts to choke her to death. However, Alice bites Pamela’s hand and grabs the machete to end the nightmare. The scene ends with Alice using a canoe to sail out in plain view for the authorities to find her later on. I chose this scene because of the amount of terms and concepts that fit into this scene that help complete the narrative as well as tie in to the mise-en-scene in cinema thanks to the information and vocabulary provided in the course textbook, Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film by Richard Barsam and Dave Monahan. In other words, here is how the suspenseful fight scene demonstrates the concept of mise-en-scene.

        First off, I want to address the overall design of the scene as it took place. Because it takes place at a campground, there was usage for the lake water when it was used to see the reflections of both Alice and Pamela, even though at first I thought this would mean the nightmare was over since the water seems symbolic in terms of peace for Alice. There was also a boathouse, which also fits into the overall background because of the presence of the property that would later be used if Alice were to survive. The most standout aspect of this scene however, was the on location shoot of that small sequence of shots instead of everything being used on a soundboard or a green screen, which makes the atmosphere seem real to the audience for a slasher film. In brief, these realistic elements help build upon the overall setting of both the scene and the film in terms of suspense.

        The most critical aspect that I have observed within this fight scene was the use of lighting between the two characters in the film. When the fight started, Alice had some back lighting shined upon her so then the audience could see Pamela come up behind her with a dark shadow as a way to take her by surprise. As Alice dodges her attacks, there was a lot of top lighting illuminating the scene due to the characters fighting near a lifeguard tower, which naturally has its own light source so then we see both their faces. This tower mainly served as a key light source because even though this is a slasher movie and some slashers keep dark tones within the narrative, the lighting allows the audience to see the struggle that Alice is enduring with Pamela. Lastly, there were some aspects of soft lighting when both of their faces were half lit up and half dark, which shows a contrast between different light elements. In summary, this fight scene clearly demonstrates the three-point system of using lights in cinema as well as how the scene implements some aspects of the lighting ratio in general.

        Next up, I looked at how composition was used in the making of this scene. The scene starts off with a few seconds of negative space between Alice and Pamela, who would sneak up behind her to fill in that space. As the fight continued, there was some compositional stress when Alice used an oar to block a machete swipe from Pamela as well as when they both wrestled in the sand. The amount of previsualization was at its best for how this fight was rehearsed and recorded before we get the final result, which explains how Alice managed to survive in a particular way by getting Pamela off of her just to reach the machete. Another thing I noticed within some of these shots was that there was a little bit of headroom since the camera is focused on the characters within the sequence of the fight using close up and mid range shots of their faces. In other words, this scene knew how to experiment with composition in different approaches in cinematography.

        Finally, I watched the kinesis between Alice and Pamela as they fought for about a minute.

The figure movement started slow with Alice sitting in a canoe looking over the lake, but then the movements picked up when the suspenseful music started playing and Pamela began to attack. The concept of blocking was demonstrated through how the characters mainly wrestled in the sand when they were both disarmed of their weapons and Pamela trying to choke her would be victim to death. But the biggest form of kinesis comes at the end of the fight when Alice charges at Pamela with the machete and beheads her. This moment stands out because the figure movements of Alice were in slow motion as a way to capture the moment of triumph in the movie for the hero putting an end to evil in the movie. As a whole, the kinetics of this scene were well rehearsed as a way of showing a power struggle between the forces of good and evil.

        After analyzing the four concepts of mise-en-scene, I can conclude that the fight scene near the end of Friday The 13th (1980) perfectly demonstrates what the course textbook shows in other movies. The design of the overall scene was naturally supportive for where the climactic fight would take place. The amount of lighting that was used at different angles during the fight shows how different light concepts and systems can come together within a narrative of a specific scene of a film. The overall composition adds enough stress to the mood of the fight, which continues its unsettling narrative after the chase that led up to this one scene. Finally, the use of kinesis and figure movements was demonstrated enough to make the fight seem realistic and feel the suspense that we can see on the screen as an audience. In conclusion, the two minute fight scene in Friday The 13th (1980) helps demonstrate the overall concept of mise-en-scene in cinematography.