In this “Game of Thrones” extract, the director is trying to create an imagery of a fictional story in a real-life time period that did exist at one point. The mis en scenes were included in order to make the scenes more realistic. The director conveyed this with specific shots, angles, and sounds. They were able to blend the elements of these scenes with editing in order to manifest a particular idea. This all goes into showing the audience the setting and context, which includes location and era.
The first scene starts out with an aerial shot in order to unveil a massive ship carrying many passengers. The ship is very large which is why an aerial shot is needed to capture the entire image. The ship is used to show the context of the upcoming scenes because is modern times, it is not usual for people to travel by ship. When people see a large ship, they often relate it to pirates or more medieval times when traveling by ship was efficient. The aerial shot then zooms into the characters aboard the ship to emphasize the focus on those characters. This shows their importance to the scenes. This scene also includes an establishing shot which shows the audience that this story is taking place somewhere in Europe. The establishing shot reveals an overview of where the ship is going as it zooms out from showing a close up shot of the characters on the ship. It then shows a large statue, what seems to be a Trojan warrior, which is what gives the indication that they are in Europe. The music in this scene accompanies the action going on very well because it is very deep and low. It creates suspense for the audience as they sail to their destination.
The second scene abruptly starts with a two shot in which two men begin a conversation. Within this time the music fades which leads the audience to infer that the mood is becoming more serious. All non-diegetic sound has faded and all that can be heard are the dialogue, the echo, and light footsteps. The echo from their voices shows how large and empty the castle-like building is. The size of the building is also shown by a wide shot taken of the men and where they are talking to each other. In the shot, the audience is shown the medieval architecture from the stone construction, to the details in the windows as well as the very high ceiling which are not often seen in working class structures. Therefore, this adds to the fact that the director trying to capture the essence of this time period in the most realistic way possible. The director mostly utilizes cross cuts within these scenes to show the two men speaking from different perspectives.
In the next part, the men seated behind the table are going back and forth in conversation with the same men who were aboard the ship. To show the physical back and forth in their conversation, shot reverse shots are used. The men had all foreign accents which portrayed their origins whether it was their current location or not. This adds to fact that this story was taking place somewhere in Europe. The costumes that the actors were wearing consisted of heavy coats, gloves, and boots. This dress code would not normally be seen in our modern era. These clothes are closely related to medieval times which further confirms the fact that the director wanted to closely resemble this time period in the most realistic way.
In summary, the director’s vision for the scenes in this extract were to recreate medieval times and portray realistic story lines. They did this using specific angles, shots, and sounds. The mis en scenes play a very important part in conveying this time period because they visually show features specific to the era in these scenes. The location and characters also play a huge part in conveying the right ideas to the audience. All the elements of film are crucial in portraying the theme for the audiences’ understanding and enjoyment.
